Gloucester Via Sacra

Walk through the past!

Discover Gloucester’s unique history with the Via Sacra, a circular walk around the City. The route approximately follows the lines of the City walls and is recognised by the pattern of dark paving in the footpath passing many of the City’s historic buildings. The walk starts and finishes at the Cathedral and takes about an hour to walk. As well as the main Via Sacra route we have added a few little detours to take in more hidden historical gems. Simply follow the marked circular routes on the map and they will eventually bring you back to the main Via Sacra walk. You may want to do them all in one day or why not mix and match the routes and create a number of different walks. We hope you enjoy the walk. Gloucester City Council would like to thank Phillip Moss of Gloucester Civic Trust and the Gloucester Pride Group for their support of this leaflet.

Via Sacra Walk Monks and Maritime Walk 1 Cathedral and Cathedral Close 1 Gloucester Docks 2 King Edward’s Gate 2 Llanthony Secunda Priory 3 Shire Hall – Sir Robert Smirke 1816 Old Father Time and the Bell Walk 4 The Fountain Inn 1 Robert Raikes House 5 Bearland House 2 Emperor Nerva Statue 6 Bearland Lodge 3 9 Southgate Street 7 Ladybellegate House 4 5 Southgate Street 8 Blackfriars 9 St Mary De Crypt Church and School Park and Spa 10 Addison’s Folly 1

©All rights reserved. Gloucester City Council Licence No.100019169, 2006. Crown copyright. Brunswick Square 11 Greyfriars Friary 2 Christ Church 12 City Museum and Art Gallery 3 The Park 13 Eastgate & City Wall 4 Robert Raikes Statue 14 The Bastion 15 St John’s Church Eastgate Street 1 16 St Lucy’s Garden Market Portico 2 17 Entrance to Cathedral Way Guildhall Martyrs Walk Potter and Pilgrims 1 1 Parliament Room New Inn 2 2 St Mary’s Gateway The Cross and 3 Bishop Hooper’s Monument St Michael’s Church Tower 3 4 St Mary de Lode Church 26 Westgate Street 4 5 St Mary’s Street College Court and 6 St Oswald’s Priory St Michael’s Gateway 7 Folk Museum 8 St Nicholas Church To help children enjoy the 9 Cherubs from Booth Hall walks, pick up a copy of the 10 Via Sacra Self Guided Walks Statue of King Charles II for Children. Subject to availability

Public toilet Tourist information Shopmobility Parking Church Pedestrianised/little traffic Walk Links

4. Robert Raikes Park and Spa Statue 1. Brunswick Square Statue to Robert Raikes, the pioneer The development of Brunswick Square began of the Sunday in 1825 on a site just south of the ancient City School GLOUCESTER walls. Royalist artillery was stationed here for movement. the bombardment of Gloucester during the Civil War siege of 1643. 2. Christ Church The Church was built to serve the expanding population of the Spa and was built by Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson in the neo- classical style. In 1865 the church was enlarged then in 1899 – 1901 the original façade and bell turret were removed and replaced with a Romanesque type front. 3. The Park Gloucester Park was created from the Spa pleasure grounds laid out in 1815. In 2005/06 Gloucester Park had a £1.28 million refurbishment. Via Sacra Self Guided Eastgate white street façade but still the finest galleried courtyard inn of its age in England. Walks Street 2. The Cross and St Michael’s 1. Market Portico Church Tower Entrance portico of The cross has been Gloucester’s focal point the former Eastgate since its origin; here was the entrance to Market, originally the Roman Forum, which extended beneath situated just west Southgate Street, and from Saxon times of its present site, the junction of the City’s four main streets. dismantled in 1969 and rebuilt in 1973, an exuberant Victorian 3. 26 Westgate Street monument to the earth’s abundance. Georgian street façade, but behind it is the City’s finest timber-framed building. Access 2. Guildhall by side door to narrow alley, the medieval Late 19th century, Renaissance style building Maverdine Lane. A 16th-century four-storey on the site of the original Bluecoat School, elevation with carved overhangs and rich one of the City’s oldest schools, founded original detailing. by a wealthy native in 1666. 4. College Court and St Michael’s Gateway Site that inspired Potter and Pilgrims illustrations for Beatrix Potter’s 1. New Inn Tailor of Gloucester. Built as an inn by St Peter’s The gate, in the late Abbey c.1440 to accommodate Perpendicular style, pilgrims visiting the shrine of is to the lay cemetery Edward II. At the time of within the St Peter’s completion it was the largest Abbey precinct. To the inn in the county, which held right of the gate can over 200 people. Remarkably be seen part of the intact behind the black and original abbey wall.

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Every care has been taken by Gloucester City Council to ensure the accuracy of the information in this guide. You accept all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using the guide and any information or material available from it. To the maximum permitted by law, Gloucester City Council excludes all liability to any person arising directly or indirectly from using this guide and any information or material available from it. Great for Produced by APT Marketing Solutions 01242 250692. History www.visitgloucester.info Gloucester Civic Trust 8. Blackfriars 12. City Museum and Art Gallery 13th-century church and Treasures from all over Gloucestershire Via Sacra Walk cloister buildings which reveal the county’s early life – dinosaur form part of the best bones, unusual Roman remains and the 3. Shire Hall – Sir Robert Smirke 1816 preserved Dominican Friary amazing Birdlip mirror, to name but a few! The central Ionic portico formed part of the in Britain. Guided tours Regular special exhibitions, activities and original Shire Hall building designed by the are available at weekends events take place and admission is free. architect, Sir Robert Smirke, in 1816. The grand during the summer. entrance is said to be styled on the temple 13. Eastgate & City Wall that stands on the River Illissus in Greece. 9. St Mary De Crypt Church and School Remains of Gloucester’s successive Roman, The plan of the church is Norman, though medieval and post-medieval East Gates. 4. The Fountain Inn the structure is mainly Perpendicular style Free tours of the East Gate are available during The 17th-century building with some 13th-century features. summer months from the City Museum. with garden courtyard occupies Gloucester’s famous 18th-century the oldest known pub site in preacher George Whitefield 14. The Bastion Gloucester. Brewing was delivered his first sermon after Roman city wall showing the meeting-point of first recorded here in the ordination in 1734. The school, stretches built in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The early 14th century. built onto the north of the 4th-century build has lower courses of massive church, dates from 1539 blocks of stone and small rectangular ‘putlog’ 5. Bearland House with a stone street holes on the inside, where the horizontal Dignified townhouse façade and brickwork staging of the builders’ scaffolding was set. built in the 1740s at the back. by William Jones, 15. St John’s a distinguished 10. Addison’s Church Gloucester attorney. Folly On the site of one The ornamental Built in 1864 in of the City’s ten façade is complemented memory of Robert parish churches by a forecourt and Raikes by a local solicitor, of pre-Norman- fine wrought iron Thomas Fern Addison. Conquest date. 1. Cathedral and Cathedral Close railings and gate. The tower and Twelve acres of historic Gloucester, 11. Greyfriars Friary truncated spire are which has remained largely 6. Bearland Lodge The standing remains of 14th century, the unchanged for the last 200 years. A very attractive early the nave and north aisle rest of the building There has been a religious house 18th-century date from the early mainly early 18th on this site since 679AD and the house with an interesting 16th century when the century with fine present building was begun in pediment above the façade. medieval Franciscan friary internal details. the 11th century. Guided tours was rebuilt. and guide books are available 7. Ladybellegate House 16. St Lucy’s Garden from the Cathedral. A fine town house built in The garden was the north-east corner of the 1705. The Raikes family St Peter’s Abbey precinct. The only surviving 2. King Edward’s Gate came to live here in 1732 piece of the precinct east wall can be seen in Entrance from the main street of and remained for many the corner of the garden behind the Northgate medieval Gloucester to St Peter’s years. The interior Hall. The north wall, which is better preserved, Abbey. The body of King Edward II contains some of the runs along Pitt Street. was received here by the Abbot City’s most ornamental for burial after the King’s murder plasterwork. 17. Entrance to Cathedral Way at Berkeley Castle in 1327. The last lap of the Via Sacra leading to the East window of the Lady Chapel.

5. St Mary’s Street Monks and North Europe, the The street – medieval Mediterranean and Wateringstrete – approximately Maritime Walk the Black Sea. follows the line of a ditch or watercourse outside the 1. Gloucester Docks Other highlights within precinct wall of St Oswald’s. In 1580, Queen Elizabeth I the docks include Mariners The cottages are early granted Gloucester the status Chapel built in 1894 and the 16th century. of a Port, allowing direct trade Dry Docks which were first with foreign ports. Trade commissioned in 1818 and 6. St Oswald’s Priory continued to grow over the are still working today. The standing next two centuries and in Guided walks of the remains 1793, the Act of Parliament docks are available originated as for the Gloucester and at the weekends the north wall Berkeley Canal was passed. throughout the of Aethelflaed’s summer. Free Chapel The superb collection of Royal, founded warehouses within the in 909. One docks owe their existence large round- to the corn trade of the Martyrs Walk headed arch is 19th century, when huge 3. Bishop Hooper’s Saxon, the others are of the quantities of wheat, 1. Parliament Room Monument 12th and 13th centuries. oats, barley and maize Late 15th-century half- 19th-century memorial to The ruin has been in its were shipped into timbered hall at first floor Gloucester’s martyred second present state since the the port from Ireland, level, set in 13th-century bishop, set up on the site 1643 bombardment. where he was burnt at the stone building where Richard II 7. Folk Museum 2. Llanthony held his parliament in 1378. stake for his Protestant Secunda Priory The building formed part faith in 1555. 99 Westgate Street. The museum houses an Parks and ruins of of the domestic ranges of Llanthony Secunda Priory, St Peter’s Abbey and was 4. St Mary de Lode 18th-century pin factory together with a popular a priory of Augustinian perhaps the Abbot’s Hall. Church canons. The church was built ‘Lode’ means watercourse, Victorian schoolroom. within sixteen months and the 2. St Mary’s Gateway possibly here the stream which priory was completed in 1150. The western entrance into supplied St Peter’s Abbey – 8. St Nicholas Church the St Peter’s Abbey precinct. the Cathedral – with water Structure of Norman date and later. The truncated leaning The houses either side are before flowing into the now century additions spire in the Perpendicular on the line of the precinct wall. vanished eastern channel of to its rear. The style is one of the City’s most This can be seen in places the Severn just to the west interior is still handsome landmarks. in St Mary’s Street and of the church. The impressive. Robert Three Cocks Lane. church tower Raikes a pioneer of and some 9. Cherubs from Booth Hall the Sunday School internal details movement, lived 18th-century carving of the are Norman, here from 1768 Glevensis and its people would City Arms on wall of modern the rest early to 1801. have felt highly honoured that building: preserved from 19th century. their town carried his name. Booth Hall, the medieval 2. Emperor ancestor of the modern Nerva Statue 3. 9 Southgate Street Guildhall, which was situated Nerva, a A Jacobean timber-fronted beside the present Shire Hall distinguished house built by Thomas Yate, and demolished in 1957. lawyer, was over Apothecary. (Yate was 10. Statue of King 60 years of age distantly related to the Charles II when he was Berkeley’s but their town proclaimed house was in College Green.) Carved in 1662 by Stephen Old Father Roman Emperor in Baldwyn and set up in the 96AD. When he died in 98AD 4. 5 Southgate Street Wheat Market in Southgate Time and it was said nobody could have Clockmaker’s shop with chiming Street. It was removed in the the Bell Walk done more for the Empire in clock of 1904. The chimes middle of the 18th century such a short time. are attended by the figures and re-discovered in 1945, For more information on the history of Gloucester, why not purchase a copy of Historic Gloucester 1. Robert Raikes House of an Irishwoman, John Bull, in a garden at Chaxhill near by Philip Moss. This illustrated guide to Gloucester will enlighten you further about Gloucester and A fine late 16th-century timber The Roman City of Gloucester Father Time, a Scotsman the important and sometime troublesome part it has played in English history. This is available from Westbury-on-Severn. Gloucester Tourist Information Centre, 28 Southgate Street, Gloucester. Tel: 01452 396572. framed house with 18th- was known as Colonia Nerviana and a Welshwoman. 8. Blackfriars 12. City Museum and Art Gallery 13th-century church and Treasures from all over Gloucestershire Via Sacra Walk cloister buildings which reveal the county’s early life – dinosaur form part of the best bones, unusual Roman remains and the 3. Shire Hall – Sir Robert Smirke 1816 preserved Dominican Friary amazing Birdlip mirror, to name but a few! The central Ionic portico formed part of the in Britain. Guided tours Regular special exhibitions, activities and original Shire Hall building designed by the are available at weekends events take place and admission is free. architect, Sir Robert Smirke, in 1816. The grand during the summer. entrance is said to be styled on the temple 13. Eastgate & City Wall that stands on the River Illissus in Greece. 9. St Mary De Crypt Church and School Remains of Gloucester’s successive Roman, The plan of the church is Norman, though medieval and post-medieval East Gates. 4. The Fountain Inn the structure is mainly Perpendicular style Free tours of the East Gate are available during The 17th-century building with some 13th-century features. summer months from the City Museum. with garden courtyard occupies Gloucester’s famous 18th-century the oldest known pub site in preacher George Whitefield 14. The Bastion Gloucester. Brewing was delivered his first sermon after Roman city wall showing the meeting-point of first recorded here in the ordination in 1734. The school, stretches built in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The early 14th century. built onto the north of the 4th-century build has lower courses of massive church, dates from 1539 blocks of stone and small rectangular ‘putlog’ 5. Bearland House with a stone street holes on the inside, where the horizontal Dignified townhouse façade and brickwork staging of the builders’ scaffolding was set. built in the 1740s at the back. by William Jones, 15. St John’s a distinguished 10. Addison’s Church Gloucester attorney. Folly On the site of one The ornamental Built in 1864 in of the City’s ten façade is complemented memory of Robert parish churches by a forecourt and Raikes by a local solicitor, of pre-Norman- fine wrought iron Thomas Fern Addison. Conquest date. 1. Cathedral and Cathedral Close railings and gate. The tower and Twelve acres of historic Gloucester, 11. Greyfriars Friary truncated spire are which has remained largely 6. Bearland Lodge The standing remains of 14th century, the unchanged for the last 200 years. A very attractive early the nave and north aisle rest of the building There has been a religious house 18th-century date from the early mainly early 18th on this site since 679AD and the house with an interesting 16th century when the century with fine present building was begun in pediment above the façade. medieval Franciscan friary internal details. the 11th century. Guided tours was rebuilt. and guide books are available 7. Ladybellegate House 16. St Lucy’s Garden from the Cathedral. A fine town house built in The garden was the north-east corner of the 1705. The Raikes family St Peter’s Abbey precinct. The only surviving 2. King Edward’s Gate came to live here in 1732 piece of the precinct east wall can be seen in Entrance from the main street of and remained for many the corner of the garden behind the Northgate medieval Gloucester to St Peter’s years. The interior Hall. The north wall, which is better preserved, Abbey. The body of King Edward II contains some of the runs along Pitt Street. was received here by the Abbot City’s most ornamental for burial after the King’s murder plasterwork. 17. Entrance to Cathedral Way at Berkeley Castle in 1327. The last lap of the Via Sacra leading to the East window of the Lady Chapel.