St Mary de Crypt, Southgate, Gloucester

I accompanied Camilla and Anne, my fellow trustees of the Stroud Preservation Trust, to the meeting of SWAPT, the regional group of such trusts, in Gloucester. It was held in the main meeting room of Gloucester City Council at their headquarters in an old restored warehouse at Gloucester Docks.

It was a very good meeting and I learnt a lot about the other groups' activities and particularly what is happening in Gloucester and the dockland area.  After lunch together we were given a guided walk to the Llanthony Secunda priory (see 'Extra photo' of part of its remains), which lies close to Baker's Quay from where I blipped the burnt out warehouse a few weeks ago.  Then our walk went into the old centre of the city and we were shown another project site at the church of St Mary de Crypt, Southgate, Gloucester.  From the nave we were taken up a wooden staircase and through an old doorway into the old Crypt school rooms next door.

On the way back as I stood at the top of the stairs I liked the scene below of the church arches in the dull light.

St Mary de Crypt, Southgate, Gloucester:
The church was first recorded in 1140 and has played an important part in Gloucester's history since then.
The Crypt School was founded adjacent to the church in 1539 by Joan Cooke with money she inherited from her husband John, and the school room still exists, although the school has now moved to larger premises. Mr and Mrs Cooke were both buried in the church and the north transept includes brasses to their memory.
In 1643, during the Siege of Gloucester in the First English Civil War, the church was used as an ammunition factory and store.