Gloucester Cathedral: Basics

Gloucester Cathedral is famous for a number of reasons, its Perpendicular style (although everything else is there, too), its several important monuments and tombs, and particularly the fan vaulting in the cloister (it was originally an abbey church), the oldest fan vaulting in a country known for its fan vaulting. Churchill and the Beatles, I have read, were just nuts about fan vaulting. Also Shakespeare.

Southwest view; not known for its outside sculpture

Knave view; England was not subject to the
Council of Trent, thank you very much, and so
the screens remain in most of the cathedrals, as
here, augmented by the organ, to provide further
barrier between the merely faithful and the
priests and their mysterious activities within

Elevation; no galleries; note the huge piers,
Norman vaulting, etc.; as with all English
cathedrals, low ceiling and relatively few
windows; they were just not into the height
and light thing

Choir; so-so

West transept window; nor were they much
into the Christian education via windows thing

Altar and very large east window; the shadow
beyond it (what an image!) is that of the Lady
Hall

The organ; we got to the cathedral about 1:30 and our whole
visit was serenaded, inside, by a wonderful organ recital, the
best way to tour a cathedral