A crazy day in Southern England going from one medieval church to another, exploring weird tombs and an even weirder map!
My adventure Around Great Britain brought me to a bunch of amazing churches and cathedrals around the island of Great Britain. However, Day 26 of 30 was an unforgettable day that ended up being full of beautiful churches and interesting tombs that didn’t even go completely according to plan (which normally would drive me nuts). I even found a strange medieval map! I didn’t just see churches. I wandered around a couple of towns and checked out a couple of museums (one of which contained that awesome map).
I had to cut a lot of photos to get this post to a reasonable size and it still is one of my longest Around Great Britain posts. (They really do get longer as they go along)
Google Maps Day 26’s route from Gloucester to Tewkesbury, basically a big circle of awesomeness. I stayed at the grossest hostel ever in Bristol and made a loop from there. It’s been 8 years and that hostel is still the worse I’ve ever stayed at and that’s saying a lot.
Stop 1: Gloucester Cathedral
I woke up early in a gross hostel in Bristol and drove to Gloucester (pronounced Glow-ster {ow like in cow}). My goal was to get to Gloucester Cathedral before morning mass. I was successful. I was leaving just as it was getting started. I also wandered around the town center a bit, since it was still very early, but I don’t have any room for the pictures of the cool things I found. So let’s focus on the gorgeous cathedral.
Gloucester Cathedral was built between 1089-1499. However, a church has been here since the 7th century, the early days of Christianity in England. It’s not a surprise that an early abbey was built here considering that some sort of urban habitation has been here since the Ancient Romans found Gloucester in 97 CE. Settlements equal ready-made worshipers.
A typical English cathedral front.
Those are some massive columns.
My favorite part of Gloucester Cathedral wasn’t the architecture of the church but the tombs! This is just a small sampling of all the cool ones that I found.
A fancy bishop’s tomb.
The fancy tomb of King Edward II (ruled from 1307-1327), one of the kings that fought Robert the Bruce of Scotland.
Tomb of Osric, Prince of Mercia and founder of the first monastic site on this spot in the 7th century.
A memorial to a Tudor noble woman, Elizabeth Williams. I love this tomb. Not only is it colorful, it is also fantastically detailed, even down to the ruffles.
Another very detailed Tudor tomb of a noble woman. The cushions just add pops of color to this otherwise dismal tomb.
Robert Curthose (c. 1051-1134), William the Conqueror’s son. Robert took over his father’s role as the Duke of Normandy, but never was the king of England. He actually died at one my favorite castles, Cardiff Castle in Wales. This tomb is just fantastic.
Stop 2: Kilpeck Church
The Church of St. Mary and St. David in Kilpeck, England (or simply just Kilpeck Church) is located just 5 miles from the Welsh border. Kilpeck Church is a small Norman parish church built in 1140. It has been called “one of the most perfect Norman churches in England.”
Just a lovely country parish church.
Kilpeck church is covered with finely covered carvings in red sandstone. It’s amazing how well preserved the carvings are considering they are almost 900 years old. Carvings feature snakes and other animals, people, and mythical creatures.
The main entrance. Just look at those carvings! Look at that door! Just so much awesome!
The interior of the church. Lovely sandstone carvings along the arches of the entire apse.
The lower front arch has saints carved into it. Pretty cool that they were not removed at any point.
Outside, around the top of the church, are lintels with weird animal faces and some human ones. My favorite is the hound and rabbit one in the middle.
Kilpeck Church also has a pretty cool cemetery. Lots of greenery around the tombs.
Who couldn’t love a cemetery with tombs like this?
Stop 3: Hereford
Hereford is medieval town found on the River Wye, near the border with Wales. This was actually an unscheduled stop. I had planned to drive up to Ludlow, further north. However, when I was on the outskirts of Hereford coming from Kilpeck, I saw a brown sign for the Mappa Mundi. Right before I left for this trip, I watched a BBC documentary on this fantastically weird medieval map. I decided right then and there to scratch Ludlow and follow those brown signs. I was not disappointed at all with Hereford.
The River Wye at Hereford, with Hereford Cathedral, our first stop, on the left.
Hereford Cathedral. I love the red sandstone color of the cathedral.
There has been a religious site here since the 8th century. The current Hereford Cathedral dates from around the 11th century and beyond. It’s a pretty cathedral, with some cool tombs but the main draw was its museum.
The nave is very Norman with its giant columns and rounded arches. I love it.
Super awesome knight’s tomb. Love the detail on the armor.
Canopied bishop’s tomb. Bishops tended to be one of the richest people in the medieval era, so they could have some huge, fancy tombs.
Now for the reason I deviated to Hereford, the Mappa Mundi!
Not a map we would recognize today.
The Mappa Mundi is a medieval T and O map, with Jerusalem as the focal point in the center and the Mediterranean and other seas making a T shape. It is the largest existing medieval map still in existence, dating from around 1300. The Mappa Mundi is not accurate in the least. The map records how 13th century scholars interpreted the world and past sources on which the map was derived. The map features the history of humankind and the marvels of the natural world. There are around 500 drawings, including around 420 cities and towns, 15 Biblical events, plants, animals, strange creatures, and images of people around the known world and 8 pictures from classical mythology.
I also took a short stroll through Hereford to check it out. I’m glad that I did because I found a cool little museum, the Black and White House Museum. The Jacobean House was built in 1621 as part of a row of matching buildings. Now, only this building remains and is now a museum dedicated to the era.
The Black and White House Museum, a very apt name.
It’s a small museum, but its full of authentic artifacts from the time.
The house itself has some cool features too, like this fireplace. The carvings are just wow!
Stop 4: Worcester Cathedral
Worcester brings me back on my planned route. I was in Hereford for quite a while, so I only made a quick stop at Worcester Cathedral. It took about 500 years to build the current cathedral, from 1084-1504. Worcester is a beautiful English Gothic church and I’m glad I stopped for a visit. I wish I could share more photos from this church but there isn’t any more room.
Another beautiful cathedral that I should have tried to get a better picture of. It really was stunning on the outside.
I loved the reddish glow that the stained-glass windows gave off in the cathedral.
Looking up towards the altar and the quire (choir). I love this carved quire screen that looks like a stained-glass window. The painted ceiling was also fantastic in this church.
This tomb may have made me giggle. The necks on the reliefs are just awkward. Yes, medieval churches were colorful, but this just seems gaudy.
Tomb of the infamous King John, despised King of the English, signer of the Magna Carta.
Stop 5: Tewkesbury Abbey
The very last stop and a very quick one. Tewkesbury Abbey, formally known as Abbey Church of St. Mary, is one of the best examples of Norman architecture in Great Britain. The abbey church even has one of the largest Romanesque (what Norman is) towers in Europe. Most of the abbey church dates to the 12th century. However, the site was a religious site since the 7th century.
The backside of Tewkesbury Abbey. You can see all the changes that happened to the back of the church. On the ground, there is an outline of former abbey building. The abbey complex shrunk after Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.
Giant Norman columns and curved arches. Many Norman features were later changed to Gothic ones later on.
The arches had really interesting lintels, gilded carved images. I’m not sure what Biblical character this lady is supposed to represent.
The apse and altar are very dark on a cloudy day, but very open and beautiful. There are some early Gothic architecture elements here. Later Gothic architecture will bring in even bigger and more airy windows, bringing more light into churches, even on cloudy days.
The last tomb of this post and it doesn’t even have a body underneath. In 1539, Abbot Wakeman erected himself this cadaver monument, which is rather creepy. He ended up never being buried there.
Day 26 was an absolutely jam-packed day full of awesome churches, tombs and a couple of cool museums and I barely scratched the surface of this area of England. Just in this little loop England that I drove, I discovered history of early kings of England, Norman architecture, cool Tudor tombs, weird medieval maps and discovered how medieval scholars saw their place in world that they only knew through books. It was very interesting day.
Check out Days 27-28 where I head into Cornwall and Devon!
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Start at the beginning of my 30 days around Great Britain!
