Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Whitefriars Friary (Demolished),
Market Parade,
Gloucester, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We don't know whether this Church had a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded about 1268, but we understand it was closed in 1538.

The former Carmelite (Whitefriars) monastery is to be the subject of a "dig" referred to in an article Archaeologists hope they will discover the 'elusive' Whitefriars..., published in the Gloucester Citizen on 19th June 2014. The article expresses uncertainty as to whether any remains will be found, but cites evidence from 1974, when archaeologists found the remains of a medieval building below Market Parade, which may have formed part of the Whitefriars precinct, possibly a chapel.

The location of the Friary is marked on Old Maps of 1955, showing it lay at a "crossroads" in the middle of what was then the Cattle Market, an area which lay between George Street (now Bruton Way) and Market Parade. Understandably, there are no visible remains, certainly since the Cattle Market is now subsumed by Bruton Way multi-storey car park and the Bus Station.

The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 2: The religious houses of the County (1907), pp. 111-112 (Friaries: Gloucester) records that the Friary, "outside the north gate" had its origin about 1268, probably founded with the help of Queen Eleanor, Sir Thomas Giffard, and Thomas II of Berkeley. In 1347, "by an agreement with the prior and brethren of the hospital of St Bartholomew, they obtained an aqueduct running through a leaden pipe from a spring called 'Gosewhytewell' to their enclosure".

At the time of the Dissolution, Gloucester was visited by Richard Ingworth, who reported to Cromwell on 25th July 1538 that the Black and White Friars were ready to surrender. "The White Friars had but a small house, 'and in decay, and some houses taken down and sold..." Three or four days after, the three remaining [white] friars declared ... "they could not keep the visitor's strict injunctions and tarry in their house, and therefore gave it into Ingworth's hands for the use of the king.".

Denomination

Now or formerly Carmelite.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference SO8350318601. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Whitefriars Friary (Demolished), Gloucester shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Gloucester shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Gloucester, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Previously published articles by Gloucester Citizen (null) (verified 2018-11-03)
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 2: The religious houses of the County (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.