Civil War

The Tudor period established Gloucester as a great entrepreneurial and mercantile city, much favoured by Henry VIII who bestowed Cathedral status on St Peter's Abbey in 1541. Several timber framed buildings from this period still survive to bear witness to the great prosperity of the city in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

By 1600 many markets were held in Gloucester, where cattle, sheep, grain and farm produce were traded alongside goods brought up via the River Severn or made in the city itself. Textiles were manufactured in Gloucester at this time and by 1700 the city was also to boast many important professional and judicial services.

Gloucester was a Parliamentarian stronghold in the Civil War of 1642. The largely uniform political and religious beliefs of the citizens caused Gloucester to play a pivotal role in the conflict when in 1643 it famously resisted a lengthy Royalist siege. Large areas of the city were damaged in the fighting - you can still see the holes made by musket balls in the cathedral tower - and after the Restoration the city walls were demolished by a vengeful Charles II.