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England Gloucester (city)

Guide to Gloucester (city) history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Ancient British ‘Caer Glow’, Roman ‘Glevum’ or Saxon ‘Gloweceastra’; Gloucester has stood proud at the crossroads of history for more than 2000 years.

The actual city of Gloucester was founded in AD 97 by the Romans under Emperor Nerva as Colonia Glevum Nervensis as a fort on the western borders of England.

Due to its proximity to Wales, as well as its closeness to the River Severn, it has been an important frontier town defending England from Welsh incursions since before the Norman conquest. The origins of its name can be traced to Caerloyw in the modern Welsh.

Gloucester was captured by the Saxons in 577. 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.

It was at Gloucester that William the Conqueror ordered the vast survey of his new land that ended up as the Domesday Book.

Gloucester was granted its first charter in 1155 by King Henry II. 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.

In the Middle Ages the main export was wool which came from the local hilly area called the Cotswolds and was processed in Gloucester; other exports included leather and iron (tools and weapons).

In 1580 Gloucester was awarded the status of a port by Queen Elizabeth I. It has always had links to the sea through its access to the River Severn that flows into the Irish sea. The fact that the River Severn is navigable all the way north past Worcester, a distance of 140 miles.

Located almost exactly halfway between the bustling seaport of Bristol and the powerhouse of Midlands industry in Birmingham, Gloucester fulfilled a central role as Britain’s most inland port. The large sea going vessels would bring their cargoes up to Gloucester where many would then be off loaded onto smaller crafts, such as the longboats, which would take the goods on up into the Midlands.



In 2009, Gloucester Day was revived as an annual day of celebration of Gloucester's history and culture. The day originally dates from the lifting of the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, during which the city held out against Royalist forces during the First English Civil War.

LOCATION
Gloucester is the county town of the county of Gloucestershire. The city is located on the eastern bank of the River Severn, sheltered by the Cotswolds to the east, while the Forest of Dean and the Malvern Hills rise to the west and north, respectively.

Gloucester is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which runs from Gloucester's docks to the Severn Estuary, allowing larger ships to reach the docks than would be possible on the tidal reaches of the river itself, which go well north of the city to Haw Bridge.

RELIGION
Gloucester has many churches associated with the mainstay Church of England, and historically has also had many dissenting chapels.

According to tradition, Christianity was adopted in Britain in AD170 under King Lucius, who according to local legend built St Mary de Lode, Gloucester’s oldest church.

Gloucester was the host of the first Sunday school in England; this was founded by Robert Raikes in 1780. In the neighborhood around St Mary de Crypt there are slight remains of Greyfriars and Blackfriars monasteries, and also of the city wall.

INDUSTRY
Originally Gloucester was known as a walled city and market town. However during the eighteenth century, Gloucester developed into an industrial center thanks to nearby deposits of iron ore, coal and timber from the Forest of Dean. These deposits are now mined out. The city was also famed for its pin manufacturing and bell founding.

The Victorian era saw the completion of the Gloucester-Sharpness Canal which brought further growth to the timber industry and opened up the city to Scandinavia.

Gloucester’s industry continued to expand into the twentieth century adding aircraft production (including the first allied jet, the Gloster E28 designed by the legendary Frank Whittle). The company was named GLOSTER, due to the difficulty for non English speaking people to spell GLOUCESTER. Additionally, the city became known for the manufacture of railway rolling stock, motorbikes and the matches.

As most of these industries have disappeared, Gloucester is undergoing something of a modern day renaissance, rediscovering and celebrating its rich history.

CIVIL REGISTRATION
Birth, marriages and deaths records have been kept by government since July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, local parishes of the Church of England, and local branches of other faiths were the only repositories of this information. The following link provides access for Gloucester records:


 * Gloucester


 * Gloucestershire BMD records


 * Parish records

CENSUS RECORDS
Census records for Gloucester can be found using the following links:


 * UK census on line


 * Genuki Gloucestershire census records

PROBATE RECORDS
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by several locations for Gloucester. Please follow the links below:


 * Gloucestershire wills and probate records


 * Ancestry Gloucestershire probate wills and records


 * Findmypast Gloucestershire

CEMETERIES AND GRAVES
The links to information on cemeteries for Gloucester follow:


 * Gloucester city information


 * Genealogy links for Gloucestershire cemeteries


 * billion graves for Gloucestershire


 * Family Search for Gloucestershire

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES AND GENEALOGY

 * Archives for Gloucester


 * Gloucestershire Family History Society


 * Gloucestershire county family history links


 * Billion graves for Gloucestershire