The Medieval Legacy

Gloucester was a city of great prestige and importance during the medieval period. In 1216, Henry III was crowned in St. Peter′s Abbey and went on to allocate funds for the construction of the Greyfriars, (1231), Blackfriars (1239) and Whitefriars (1268) monasteries. Blackfriars Priory is an important Scheduled Ancient Monument in the centre of Gloucester and represents the largest and most complete Dominican Priory in England.

1327 witnessed the murder of Edward II in Berkeley Castle and his body was brought to St. Peter′s Abbey for burial. His tomb became a site of pilgrimage, creating great wealth for the Abbey and the city. St. Peter′s was greatly extended during the next 50 years, during which time the finest fan vaulting in England was created in its magnificent Cloisters.

Gloucester was a medieval city of great commercial and ecclesiastic importance. St. Peter′s Abbey became the only church outside London to witness the coronation and the burial of a Monarch and it became the birthplace of English perpendicular architecture. Its magnificent English Perpendicular Tower was completed in 1450 as was the New Inn, a timber framed courtyard hostelry which survives today almost complete.