AD1700s - AD1900s

In the eighteenth century the city experienced another revival and several fine brick-built town houses replaced the now unfashionable timber framed structures. Many fine public and ecclesiastical buildings were built in the classical style during this period of civic renewal.

The Georgian period was also a period of commercial expansion and the city had to be significantly remodelled to cope with increased traffic volumes. Westgate Street and the Cross were substantially widened and the historic Eastgate was demolished. By 1770, the appearance of the city had fundamentally changed as brick replaced timber in the city centre and urban sprawl developed.

A range of impressive Regency properties in the Brunswick Road area of the city give witness to Gloucester's brief attempt to promote itself as a Spa resort in the early 1800s, when its new prison and hospitals were the envy of the whole country. In 1819 there were gas street lamps here before even Paris had them. An even more significant legacy from this period is the completion of the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal in 1827.

The canal, which enabled sea-going vessels to gain access to Gloucester without having to navigate the dangerous lower River Severn, was begun in 1791 and completed thirty five years later as England's longest and deepest canal, heralding a century of intense commercial activity for the city as huge volumes of sea-borne traffic were attracted by Gloucester's strategic access to the English Midlands.

The burgeoning Gloucester Docks was the stimulus for a period of almost uninterrupted growth that was to last throughout the nineteenth century and the city prospered as an important manufacturing, engineering and commercial centre.

As the century drew to an end ocean-going ships became too large to move through the canal and the docks rapidly declined as materials were transmitted by rail rather than water. Nevertheless the city remained a vibrant commercial centre and large-scale engineering, including the famous Gloucester Wagon Works, moved into the south of the city.

Between 1870 and 1890 the population rose from 7,000 to over 15,000 and a massive house building boom ensued with crowded artisan houses springing up on the edge of the city centre and more affluent residencies extending its outskirts.

The city centre became a congested, heaving, commercial centre, crowned by many impressive new civic buildings, including the Eastgate Market portico (1855), the Guildhall (1892), the Science College (1872) and the City Library (1899).