GLOUCESTER (abbreviated as pronounced Glo'ster), city, port and county town, Gloucestershire, England, on the river Severn, 114 m. W. of London. Pop. (1931) 52•937. It is served by the G. W. and L.M.S. railways, while the Berkeley Ship Canal runs south-west to Sharpness Docks in the Severn estuary (161 m.). Gloucester is sheltered by the Cotswolds on the east and the Forest of Dean on the west.
The cathedral originates in the foundation of an abbey in 681, the present church being founded (1072-1104) and its first mitred abbot being appointed in 1381. Gloucester lay in the see of Wor cester until 1541 when the separate see was constituted, with John Wakeman, last abbot of Tewkesbury, as first bishop. The diocese covers the greater part of Gloucestershire, with small parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire. The cathedral consists of a Norman nucleus, with additions in every style of Gothic architec ture. It is 420 ft. long, and 144 ft. broad, with a beautiful 15th century pinnacled tower rising 225 feet. The nave is massive Norman with Early English roof ; the crypt, aisles and chapels are Norman, as is the chapter-house. The crypt is one of the four apsidal cathedral crypts in England. The south porch is Perpen dicular, with fan-tracery roof, as also is the north transept, the south being transitional Decorated. The choir has Perpendicular tracery over Norman work, with an apsidal chapel on each side. The splendid late Decorated east window is partly filled with ancient glass. Between the apsidal chapels is a cross Lady chapel, and north of the nave are the cloisters, a very early example of fan-tracery, the carols or stalls for the monks' study and writing lying to the south. There are shrines of Edward II., Robert Curt hose (eldest son of the Conqueror), Bishop Warburton, Dr. Jenner and others. The Festival of the Three Choirs is held annually in this cathedral and those of Worcester and Hereford in turn.
Quaint gabled and timbered houses preserve the ancient aspect of the city. None of the old public buildings is left, but the New Inn in Northgate Street is a beautiful timbered house, built in 1450. Of the churches St. Mary de Lode, with a Norman tower and chancel, is on the site of a Roman temple which became the first Christian church in Britain; St. Mary de Crypt is a cruci form structure of the 12th century, the church of St. Michael is said to have been connected with the ancient abbey of St. Peter; and St. Nicholas church, originally of Norman erection. In the neighbourhood of St. Mary de Crypt are remains of Greyfriars and Blackfriars monasteries, and also of the city wall. Early vaulted cellars remain under the Fleece and Saracen's Head inns.
There are three endowed schools: the College school, refounded by Henry VIII. ; the school of St. Mary de Crypt, founded by Dame Joan Cooke and Sir Thomas Rich's Blue Coat hospital (1666) . The first Sunday school was held in Gloucester, being originated by Robert Raikes, in 1780.
A park in the south has a spa, a chalybeate spring having been discovered in 1814. West of this are the remains of Llanthony Priory.
Gloucester possesses match works, foundries, marble and slate works, saw-mills, chemical works, rope works, flour-mills, engines and agricultural implements, and boat and ship-building yards. Gloucester was declared a port in 1882. The Gloucester-Berkeley ship canal (opened 1827) has a depth of water of 18 ft. Principal imports are timber and grain; and exports, coal, salt, iron, manu factured articles and bricks. The salmon and lamprey fisheries in the Severn are valuable. The tidal bore in the river attains its extreme height just below the city, and sometimes surmounts the weir in the western branch of the river.