The Berkeley family rebuilt Gloucester's Franciscan friary church shortly before Henry VIII closed England's monasteries for good
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Gloucester’s Franciscan friars, the grey friars, had been established in the city since 1231, but the ruined church you see today is a much later building. The Berkeley family, lords of nearby Berkeley Castle, paid to have it rebuilt from around 1518, just two decades before Henry VIII shut the friaries down for good. The result was an unusually modern design for a monastery, two matching, equal-sized naves side by side rather than the usual single nave with narrower aisles, and no tower at all.
After the friary closed in 1538, a Gloucester merchant turned the buildings into a mansion and, later, a brewery, a short way from Blackfriars and Gloucester Cathedral. The ruin is free to visit whenever you’re passing. Cannon fire during the Civil War siege of Gloucester in 1643 probably brought down the east end, and conservation work in the 1960s stripped away what remained of later additions, leaving the tall walls standing open to the sky, their two matching naves still side by side.
