The Romanesque Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester

Abstract

Gloucester Cathedral is a remarkable building. Built as a Benedictine abbey between AD 1089 and the early twelfth century, it is one of England’s finest examples of Romanesque architecture, which retains most of its original layout, and although partially concealed, much of its original fabric. Heighway served as the cathedral’s archaeological consultant for almost 30 years, during which time numerous architectural surveys and small-scale archaeological excavations were undertaken in and around the cathedral. This book draws together the results of these disparate records, with the aims of producing a detailed reconstruction the Norman abbey’s original appearance, and to highlight just how much of its original fabric survives. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first four describe the surviving Romanesque fabric in different areas of the building. Subsequent chapters explore the use of painted colour decoration, traces of which survive in the choir; and detail the surviving Romanesque carvings. The penultimate chapter explores that wider context of the abbey and the relationships between its architecture and those of analogous churches, both locally and in the wider Norman cultural sphere. The book is heavily illustrated with colour and monochrome photographs of extant structural elements, and detailed line drawn elevations and plans of the reconstructed abbey. Where there is debate or ambiguity as to the form of certain elements (e.g. the form of western entrance and presence of Westwork towers, pp. 64–72, or the size and positions of the clerestory windows of the choir, pp. 22–23), the arguments for various interpretations are clearly presented. The book could have benefited from a full elevation of the east/west axis of the abbey in its entirety, however this omission is counterbalanced by the inclusion of R. Bryant’s perspective reconstruction (Fig. 128, p. 106), which provides an excellent overall impression of the abbey as it may have originally appeared. The book is accessible and clearly designed to appeal to a wide audience, however some of the architectural terminology can be quite technical, and a glossary of these terms would help the lay reader. These minor quibbles aside, Heighway and Bryant’s book succeeds admirably in its aims of creating the fullest possible reconstruction of this incredible building and encouraging an appreciation of the surviving remains. This book serves as a model for what can be achieved when hard-won, though often very inaccessible, architectural and archaeological surveys of the nation’s great churches are synthesized and analysed, though few who undertake this task will be as blessed with the wealth of surviving Romanesque fabric that presents itself at Gloucester Cathedral.