Cirencester - Stalybridge

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This morning we left the Cotswolds behind us to head north, but not before one final stop at Gloucester Cathedral. We were going to drive into Gloucester yesterday afternoon but Bernie checked their opening times before we left only to discover that much of the cathedral was going to be closed from 4.00pm. We decided that we could fit a quick visit in on our way this morning when we would be able to explore more of the the cathedral.

A place of worship on or near this site dates as far back as Osric, King of the Hwicce, when he established a minster, Gloucester Abbey, in around 679. In approximately 1058 a new abbey was built and construction of the present building commenced in 1089 following a devastating fire the previous year.

This marked a turnaround in the abbey’s fortunes with rising revenue and royal patronage seeing the construction of a major church. William the Conqueror held his Christmas Court at the chapter house in 1085, at which he ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book. In October 1216, Henry III was crowned at the abbey. Following another disastrous fire in 1222, they abbey was rebuilt bigger and better than ever. During the 14^th-century the Great and Little Cloisters were constructed, displaying some of the earliest fan vaulting anywhere.

The cathedral contains the shrine of Edward II which is the only reason that the building survived the Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Because his ancestor was interred there, he spared the abbey but evicted the monks and re-founded it as a cathedral.

The cathedral underwent major restoration in the 18^th and 19^th-centuries and celebrated its 900^th anniversary in 1989. Work to restore and conserve this amazing building in ongoing. We encountered scaffolding in the cloisters where their current restoration works are taking place. To fund some of these works the cathedral has been used as a filming location, perhaps most famously as a stand-in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.

We arrived just in time for the 10.30am guided tour of the cathedral so we decided to take the tour to learn as much as we could about the cathedral’s history in a short amount of time. As with yesterday’s tour we found it fascinating to have the different eras and styles of the building pointed out and explained. We found it very interesting that a building that has been re-imagined countless times over almost a century remains cohesive. Despite the different parts constructed and repaired through Saxon, Norman, Tudor, Mediaeval and Victorian times the building seen as a whole is stunning.

After the cathedral we set the SatNav for Ironbridge. On our last trip to the UK, we spent a few days based in Shrewsbury largely because of its proximity to the Iron Bridge near Telford. We duly visited the Iron Bridge in 2018 … only to find it wrapped in shade-cloth undergoing restoration!!! Since it is only a small diversion from the M6 we decided that we would drop in to see the now restored Iron Bridge!

I felt sure that the SatNav would take us across country most likely via Kidderminster or Stourbridge then through Bridgnorth and into Ironbridge from the south but, no, today Syri was all about the motorways taking us up the M5, onto the M6 north-west of Birmingham and then west towards Wales on the M54. Near Telford she directed us south into Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale.

The bridge over the River Severn at Coalbrookdale was the world’s first iron bridge when it was erected in 1779. This now world-famous industrial monument gave its name to the town that grew around it and to the picturesque, wooded gorge considered to be the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

The area was rich in minerals, coal, iron ore, limestone, sand and clay and the gorge was home to potters, salt boilers, tobacco pipe makers, lead smelters, glass makers, blacksmiths, rope makers, coopers and basket makers. The catalyst for the Industrial Revolution was a man named Abraham Darby who leased the blast furnace in Coalbrookdale and began to make iron there in 1709 using (coal-based) coke as his fuel instead of the customary (wood-based) charcoal. This made smelting much more efficient which led to a vast increase in iron production which in turn enabled the production of more machinery which heralded the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

By the middle of the 18^th-century crossing the River Severn was problematic with many ferry crossings and only one mediaeval bridge at Buildwas, three kilometers upstream. Abraham Darby III was commissioned to build a new iron bridge that would make crossing the river in all seasons more viable without being reliant on whether the river was running high in winter or low in summer. Because a new material was being proposed to construct the bridge (previously all bridges were constructed from wood or stone) the equivalent of a media campaign ensued to convince everyone that the bridge would be both beautiful AND effective.

After construction of the bridge was authorized by an Act of Parliament in 1776 it was built from cast iron sections between 1777 and 1779. The first bridge in the world to use cast iron structurally, the elegant arch drew artists, writers, spies and engineers from all over the world to marvel at, in its time, an incomparable piece of architecture.

We went to all the museums in 2018 so we didn’t re-do those. We literally drove into Ironbrige, parked the car, ate a quick lunch, walked across the bridge and back with our ice creams and then we were back in the car and on our way to Stalybridge!

To return to the M6 from Ironbridge we travelled over the M54 and then east on the A5 via Crackleybank and the very strangely named Weston-under-Lizard!! English villages have the funniest names! There must be a story behind that one?? We rejoined the M6 at Junction 12 and continued on our way towards Manchester after our stop off to see the bridge!

Onwards around Newcastle-under-Lyme and then off at Junction 19 to take the A556 across to the M56 before merging onto the M60, Manchester’s ring road. With it being around peak hour, the traffic was heavy with commuters heading out of the city. After turning off the ring road we made our way via Denton and Hyde to Stalybridge. For once we didn’t stuff up the roundabout at Denton. Too many times we have been in the left lane and we have ended up IN Denton rather than continuing on the motorway!! After a quick trip to Tescos in Stalybridge we arrived at Kath and Albert’s with some supplies just after 5.00pm. After being on the go for most of our holiday it will be great to relax here with them for the next few days.

It was lovely to have a home-cooked meal after all of the eating out. After dinner we broke out the cards and the money jars. Bernie cleaned up at Jo then Albert cleaned up at the first game of Crash. I won a game of Crash and Bernie won a game of Crash before we called it a night.



Steps: 7,216 (4.84 kms)

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