Historical Facts About Gloucester

The City of Gloucester has an exceptional history from its Roman foundations to its Victorian docklands. It is an exciting multi-cultural city which combines historic architecture with a distinctive blend of entertainment and festivals, visitor attractions, a collection of high street and specialists’ shops, and a mouth-watering array of pubs, wine bars, restaurants, and tea shops, all offering drinks and food for all tastes. Gloucester city is overlooked by the Cotswolds Hills in the plush Severn Valley and is easily reachable from all corners of the country.

Below are the top five interesting historical facts about Gloucester:

1. In the United Kingdom, the Crecy-Window inside Gloucester-Cathedral is the biggest window made of a stained-glass window. The window measures in at 12m x 12m. The window is a commemoration of the Gloucestershire knights who fought on the winning side at the Battle of Crecy.

2. The United States national anthem is set to a tune that was composed by John Strafford-Smith. The tune is known as the Anacreontic Song and was written for a London-based gentleman’s social club. It became so popular in the US and the ‘Defence of Fort McHenry’ lyrics, written by Francis Scott were set to the music. The song was later renamed the ‘Star-Spangled-Banner’ and it became the patriotic anthem for the US. Before the USA adopted the tune in 1931, it was used by Luxembourg as a national_ anthem. The intriguing thing about this is that John Strafford Smith, the composer, is buried in Gloucester, Cathedral.

3. Gloucester’s Walls Ice Cream factory is the largest in all of Europe. It was built in 1959, and the factory underwent a major expansion in 1981 when Unilever merged all ice-cream production in Gloucester with the shutting down of its factory in Acton, London. Walls initially were a meat producer and Walls sausages were one of its well-known brands. In 1922, the sales were falling in the summer season, to avoid layings-off in their work force, they began to manufacture ice cream, and that is how it came to expand.

4. The very last battle of the English Civil War was crusaded at Stow-on-the-Wold. In 1646, the Royalists knew the battle was a lost cause. However, 3,000 soldiers stood to fight and attempt to make their way to Charles I and Oxford to buy the monarch more time. Sir Jacob Ashtley and his army were despondently outnumbered and the commander was forced to make a last stand in the marketplace, where he finally surrendered.

5. Cheltenham owes its status a spa-town to a flock of pigeons. The locals kept noticing a big flock of pigeons pecking away in a field on the edge of the town. On further exploration in 1715, it was discovered that the pigeons were gathering at the site of a mineral-spring, which is what was attracting them. To show the town’s gratitude, the pigeons were featured on the town’s crest.