Northgate Street Gloucester
The North Gate of Gloucester was the main entrance from London and by the middle ages Northgate St. had become a large trading area . By the 1340s , cordwainers ( workers in leather ) had established themselves here making belts, shoes , sword sheathes etc. THE New Inn dates from around 1450, and was built by Gloucester Abbey as an inn for pilgrims who came to the Cathedral and has a medieval courtyard with galleries on all sides. Although it has been sadly neglected by previous owners, the Chapman Group have just bought it and promise to restore the bedrooms that were converted into offices, and refurbish the buildings. It has been described as the finest example of a medieval galleried Inn to be seen in Britain today. It was originally built by St Peters Abbey between 1430 and 1450 and replaced an earlier Inn, giving it the Title New Inn.
Turn right at Oxebode Lane into Kings Square, a pedestrianised square with seating and water pools and stepping stones that are always popular with small children .Oxebode Lane ( pronounced oxbody ) was like many streets of the time narrower at the bottom than the top.Local legend has it that it was so narrow at one point that an ox got stuck on the way to market . A local nursery rhyme shown on the right bar on this page relates this .
Just off Kings Square is Gloucester bus station , occupying the old cattle market position . Many locals ( including the author ) can still remember driving cattle up Westgate Street to the market .Gloucester railway station is just across the road from the bus station.If you have a good connection to the web, you can see video clips of Gloucester on our broadband Gloucester section
St. John's Lane runs from Northgate Street to Westgate and the offices of the Local newspaper " The Gloucestershire Citizen " are located here although the printing is now done at their new plant . You can get to the Via Sacra here and walk through through the cathedral gardens.
Hare Lane , next on the left also leads to the Via Sacra , and thence to Gloucester cathedral . Bear left into Worcester Street and keep going until you see on your left the Rugby Pitch. Gloucester has always had a strong Rugby side and Gloucester Rugby football club can be found at Kingsholm. This area was rich in archaeological finds when it was redeveloped . ( See a history of Gloucester
From this point the road winds towards the ring road . Turn left here for Gloucester cattle market . On Saturdays a lot of market stalls provide a great choice of meat fish and vegetables . There is a park and ride scheme operating from here to the city centre . If you are driving here, then we recommend you take advantage of it as parking in Gloucester is difficult and expensive.
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