After an administrative day in Wells, we drove on to a motel at Michaelwood, from which we would visit Kilpeck, Gloucester, and other sites of interest in the area. First up, May 20th, was Gloucester and its great cathedral, which we'd visited twice before:
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/07/gloucester.htmlhttps://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/07/gloucester-cathedral-basics.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/07/gloucester-cathedral-extras.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/05/gloucester-cathedral-2016.html.
The 2013 posts are the most comprehensive and give a pretty good account of the old town and cathedral. The 2016 post is exclusively about the fan vaulting in the cloisters. Below we will offer the usual new items and angles. We wandered in the cathedral first, then took the tour, then wandered some more...hence the posts below will not seem very well organized....
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| Approaching from the north |
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| A bit of the exterior sculptural program |
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| The windows range from Medieval to Victorian to contemporary; this one depicts the coronation of Henry III at Gloucester |
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| And this the burial of Edward II at Gloucester, then an abbey; neither the royal events associated with Gloucester were happy ones...look them up! |
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| Much internal buttressing here |
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| The great east window, completed in 1350, largest in the world at the time; much of the Medieval glass is intact, including the topmost depiction of Pope Clement; it is equally curious why Clement would be at the top and not the Sky Daddy and also why he apparently escaped the notice of Protestant reformers and their sharpshooters |
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| Refurbishing the great old organ |
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| Altar |
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| Tomb of Edward II |
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| Handwashing station outside the abbey refectory |
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| Now, some glimpses of the cloisters and the fan vaulting |
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| The fans are hollow and merely decorative; during WWII there was concern that a damaged roof might allow water into the fans and thus destroy them...so each fan had a hole drilled into it to allow the water to drain...above center leftish |
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| View of the central tower from the cloister |
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| Many great pix of the fan vaulting in the 2016 post |
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| My one decent shot of the nave, with its enormous Norman piers; and Norman (Romanesque) arches |
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| Screen |
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| One of the contemporary windows, "Rhapsody in Blue" |
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| Can you hear the clarinet "smear"? |
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