Place Information
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Gloucester (pronounced ) is a city and district in the English county of Gloucestershire, close to the Welsh border.
History
Roman timesThe traditional existence of a British settlement at Gloucester (Caer Glow, Gleawecastre, Gleucestre) is not confirmed by any direct evidence, but Gloucester was the Roman municipality of Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or Glevum, founded in the reign of Nerva. Parts of the walls can be traced, and many remains and coins have been found, though inscriptions are scarce. Evidence for some civic life after the end of Roman Britain includes the mention in the Historia Brittonum that Vortigern's grandfather ruled Gloucester, and that the Battle of Deorham in 577 resulted in Wessex controlling Gloucester. Saxon timesGloucester may mean fort (Old English ceaster 'fort') on the glowing river. (Glowancestre, 1282). In Welsh, the city is known as Caerloyw, Caer = Castle, and loyw from gloyw = glowing/bright. Its situation on a navigable river, and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by Æthelred favoured the growth of the town; and before the Norman Conquest of England, Gloucester was a borough governed by a portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence, and a mint. Medieval timesThe first overlord, Earl Godwine, was succeeded nearly a century later by Robert of Gloucester. King Henry II granted the first charter in 1155 which gave the burgesses the same liberties as the citizens of London and Winchester, and a second charter of Henry II gave them freedom of passage on the Severn. The first charter was confirmed in 1194 by Richard I of England. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of King John (1200) which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough. Tudor and Stuart timesSubsequent charters were numerous. Gloucester was incorporated by King Richard III in 1483, the town being made a county in itself. This charter was confirmed in 1489 and 1510, and other charters of incorporation were received by Gloucester from Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. The Siege of Gloucester in 1643 was an important battle of the English Civil War in which the besieged parliamentarians emerged victorious. Modern notorietyIn 1991 Gloucester City Council worker Anna McGurk was murdered by a man whilst he was an inmate at a bail hostel in Ryecroft within the city. The murder led to changes in the law affecting those held on bail for serious offences. 1994 saw the arrest of Fred West and his wife Rose West for the abduction and murder of more than a dozen young women between 1967 and 1987, including one of their daughters. Their home, 25 Cromwell Street, where the remains of many of the victims were buried, was later demolished and a public walkway laid in its place. To deter souvenir-hunters, the rubble was reduced to dust before disposal. Research Tips
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