Geograph - photograph every grid square

There has been a church at this location since about 678, when an abbey was founded here. The present church was originally consecrated as St Peter's Abbey church in 1100. The choir was remodelled in Perpendicular Gothic style around 1330 and is now considered the earliest surviving major example of this style. Perpendicular is the latest of the three periods in the English Gothic and features tall vertical structures with little decorative tracery. The tower Link was added after 1450.

The abbey was dissolved during the English Reformation by Henry VIII in 1540, and the church was made the cathedral of the new Gloucester diocese the year after. The diocese was split off the territories of the dioceses of Worcester and Hereford.

In 2016 solar panels were fitted on the roof of the cathedral, making it the oldest building in the world so equipped.

The area in front of the church was until recently a car park but has been turned into a small public garden Link featuring blocks of stone commemorating events from Gloucester's history.