Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral
Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity
Gloucester Cathedral Shown within Gloucester
51°52′03″N 2°14′48″W / 51.8675°N 2.246667°W / 51.8675; -2.246667
Location	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	gloucestercathedral.org.uk
History
Status	Active
Dedication	St Peter Holy Trinity
Consecrated	15 July 1100
Architecture
Functional status	Formerly abbey, dissolved 1540. Cathedral since 1541.
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Style	Romanesque, Gothic
Groundbreaking	1089
Completed	1482[1]
Specifications
Length	426 ft 6 in (130.00 m)
Nave length	174 ft (53 m)[2]
Choir length	140 ft (43 m)[2]
Nave width	34 ft (10 m)[2]
Width across transepts	144 ft (44 m)
Nave height	68 ft (21 m)[2]
Choir height	86 ft (26 m)[2]
Number of towers	1
Tower height	225 ft (69 m)
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Gloucester (since 1541)
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Rachel Treweek
Dean	Andrew Zihni
Precentor	Craig Huxley-Jones
Chancellor	Rebecca Lloyd
Canon(s)	Nikki Arthy (City Rector)
Archdeacon	Hilary Dawson
Laity
Director of music	Adrian Partington
Organist(s)	Jonathan Hope
Chapter clerk	Theo Platt (COO)
Lay member(s) of chapter	Canon Peter Clark, Canon John Coates, Canon Paul Mason[3][4]
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Cathedral Church of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity
Designated	23 January 1952
Reference no.	1245952

Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster, Gloucester Abbey, dedicated to Saint Peter and founded by Osric, King of the Hwicce, in around 679.

The subsequent history of the church is complex; Osric's foundation came under the control of the Benedictine Order at the beginning of the 11th century and in around 1058, Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, established a new abbey "a little further from the place where it had stood". The abbey appears not to have been an initial success, by 1072, the number of attendant monks had reduced to two. The present building was begun by Abbott Serlo in about 1089, following a major fire the previous year.

Serlo's efforts transformed the abbey's fortunes; rising revenues and royal patronage enabled the construction of a major church. William the Conqueror held his Christmas Court at the chapter house in 1085, at which he ordered the compilation of Domesday Book. In October 1216, Henry III was crowned at the abbey.

Following another disastrous fire in 1222, an ambitious rebuilding programme was begun. In the 14th century, the Great and Little Cloisters were constructed, displaying the earliest, and perhaps the finest, examples of fan vaulting anywhere. The cathedral contains the shrine of deposed King Edward II, who was believed to have been murdered at nearby Berkeley Castle.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536, the abbey was refounded as a cathedral. The cathedral underwent much restoration in the 18th century, and again in the 19th. In 1989, it celebrated its 900th anniversary. In 2015, the installation of Rachel Treweek saw the Church of England appoint its first woman as a diocesan bishop. The cathedral has frequently been used as a filming location, including as a stand-in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.

The cathedral is a Grade I listed building. There are a large number of other listed buildings within the cathedral complex, many also listed at Grade I, the highest grade. These include the Treasury, the Chapter House, the Cloisters, the precinct wall and a number of the medieval gates into the cathedral enclosure. Others are listed at Grade II* and Grade II.