Kenilworth Castle and Gloucester Cathedral

Since we wanted to drive to Gloucester today and the distance was a bit longer, we decided to make a stop at Kenilworth Castle halfway.

Once it was built as a medieval fortress, but was later expanded into an Elizabethan palace that belonged to her favorite and where even the queen visited.

First, we looked at the gatehouse, which was later converted into a residence.

Here there was an exhibition about Elizabeth I and her lover Robert Dudley, who owned the estate.

He built a multi-story new building for her visit so that she could be properly accommodated.

Only ruins remain of this building today.

The great hall and the Norman keep are also only partly preserved.

The Elizabethan garden was recreated for visitors as it once was.

Our journey continued to Gloucester, where we especially wanted to see the cathedral.

As it (like almost everything here in England) is not open for very long, we immediately made our way to the church.

It towers above the other roofs of the city center with its 75-meter high crossing tower.

The controversial and murdered King Edward II is buried here. He had come out as homosexual and bestowed his lover with the highest offices, which the rest of the nobility did not approve of and eventually deposed and murdered him.

No abbot wanted to bury him, but the abbot of Gloucester eventually retrieved the body himself and buried the former ruler in his cathedral.

This later brought many pilgrims (who had since forgotten the criticism of the king) to Gloucester and brought wealth to the monastery, allowing the cathedral to be renovated in the Gothic Perpendicular Style as the first sacred building in the country.

We also found the cloister next to the cathedral particularly impressive.

Scenes from three Harry Potter films were shot here and in the included lavatorium.

In the corridor, where Harry and Ron once fled from a giant troll, some teenagers were now walking through the corridor in similar cloaks, filming and taking pictures.

We strolled a bit through the city center, which impressed us significantly less than the cathedral.

Many stores stood empty, and overall many houses looked rather dilapidated.

We spent the night at a pub near the city center with the modest name “England’s Glory”.