Monasteries

In the13th century a town's status was measured by the number of religious houses it contained. At that time Gloucester was one of twenty towns in England, but only four towns in the western half of the country had three or more different orders. Gloucester had five; the Benedictines at St Peter's, the Franciscans at Greyfriars, the Carmelites at Whitefriars, the Dominicans at Blackfriars and the Augustinians at St Oswalds and Llanthony.

Of their buildings only Whitefriars has completely vanished, probably somewhere under Gloucester Bus Station. Apart from Blackfriars the others survive as ruins or as part of later structures.

Apart from the spiritual benefits the monks brought to the town, they were also instrumental in bringing the earliest piped water from springs on Robinswood Hill, and in 1438 the Franciscans granted three-quarters of their water to the local community.