12s. 0d. 9s. 6d.
Return 33s. 3d. 21s. 0d. ...
=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Bell Hotel," "New Inn Hotel,"
"The Wellington Hotel," and others.
=Alternative Route.=--None.
Gloucester is one of the most thriving cities in the south of England.
It has been a town of some description from quite early times, for the
British had a fortress on the site which the Romans are believed to have
occupied as a strong position on the road into Wales. The Danes
repeatedly made incursions into this part of the country, and Gloucester
suffered very much from their ravages; but probably through the fact
that the kings of Mercia instituted a palace and priory there, the city
seems to have had sufficient strength to recover after each disaster.
Gloucester was even of sufficient importance for Edward the Confessor to
have kept his courts there for a considerable time. Being in the west
country, it naturally suffered severely during the parliamentary
struggle, and a great portion of the city was destroyed. But although
the town lost many of its old buildings at this time, it has still a
good deal of antiquity to boast, and for this reason alone is attractive
to the stranger. Its main streets are modelled on the Roman plan of a
cross, the four arms bearing the names North, South, East and West-gate
Streets.
The cathedral is not many minutes' walk from the railway station, and is
remarkable for its influence upon the English architecture which
succeeded it, for it directed the course of the curvilinear movement in
the direction of the Perpendicular style of Gothic.
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