Cherie's Place

An intimate space for worship and contemplation, Gloucester Cathedral’s magnificent Lady Chapel was the last part of the church to be built during the Medieval period in the 15^th century.

Dedicated to ‘Our Lady’, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Lady Chapel is unique in its design and decoration.

It has a vaulted roof on a series of stone arches filled with stained-glass windows; these were made by the famous Arts and Crafts designer Christopher Whall in the early 1900s.

In front of the altar are the wooden rails made in 1617 on the orders of William Laud (Dean of Gloucester until 1621). Behind the high altar, the Chapel’s reredos bears the scars of the Reformation and the Civil War  – a poignant reminder to all.

Devotion to the Virgin Mary in England was demonstrated not only by the building of Lady Chapels but also through the development of a particular type of musical anthem. Whereas the monks of the medieval abbeys sand Gregorian plainsong, the songs in praise of the Virgin –  Marian antiphons’, as they are known – required a full range of voices; treble, alto, tenor and bass. This led to boys being brought in to sing in the lady chapel. By the middle of the fifteenth century adult male singers who were not monks would be employed. At Gloucester two singing galleries were constructed, one n the north and one on the south, from which two choirs could sing, calling and responding to each other – ‘antiphonally’ – across the chapel.

Dazzling to the eye heavy with incense and filled with glorious music for the Virgin, the Lady Chapel was intended to overwhelm the worshipper with devotional intensity.*

*From Gloucester Cathedral FAITH, ART AND ARCHITECTURE: 1000 YEARS by Chapter of Gloucester Cathedral 2011

Tags: Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral, Lady Chapel, Mini Break