[This is the eleventh of a series of articles giving a brief
description of each of the 26 ancient Anglican cathedrals coupled with a sketch
of a person, activity or institution connected to the area]
Gloucester Cathedral
is one of the finest in England.
It dominates the historic City of Gloucester, now much less important than it
was, but once the former main river port for the export of Cotswold wool,
England’s staple in medieval times.
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| Gloucester Cathedral |
Founded by Robert de Losinga in 1089, the nave of the then
Benedictine abbey is in the massive Norman style. It saw the coronation of
Henry III in 1216 and the burial of Edward II in 1327. The East end and the
quire were remodelled in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the 14th
century. The huge Decorated windows, the space, the light within a cage of
glass are heart-stopping and of transcendent beauty.
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| The East end at Gloucester |
The impressively dominant Perpendicular tower was added in
1450, but perhaps Gloucester’s
most renowned feature is the glorious fan-vaulted Cloisters completed in 1377.
The richness of these cloisters, the finest in England, gives enormous pleasure. As
a cathedral Gloucester has everything: a superlative church, fine chapter
house, crypt, Lady chapel, stained glass, misericords, stonework and cloisters.
It is not to be missed.
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| The Cloisters at Gloucester |
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The Two Potters I wish to sketch are both from the realms of
children’s literature, Beatrix Potter and Harry Potter.
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)
was the author of 23 children’s
books mainly written between 1902 and 1913. She always maintained that her
favourite was The Tailor of Gloucester, her third book from 1903. It
tells the story of a tailor, who frees mice trapped under teacups by the cat,
Simpkin, who had been sent out to buy a twist of silk needed to finish a
waistcoat. The tailor falls ill, but in gratitude, the mice finish the
waistcoat themselves although the twist of silk is kept back at first by Simpkin;
he relents and returns it. The completed waistcoat makes the tailor’s fortune.
All Potter’s books were illustrated by her in a gentle
elegiac style (she was in fact an accomplished painter of fungi and a scholar
of the genus). The books soon became a
mainstay of the English nursery and generations of parents will have enchanted
their youngsters and delighted themselves by reading and acting aloud the parts
in the various stories. My own favourite was The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck – my mother was a Jemima, though she
was always called Jay – and I love the story of credulous Jemima, persuaded by “the
gentleman with black –prick ears and sandy coloured whiskers” to go and buy for
him sage and onions for stuffing – not realising she is to be stuffed. At the
critical moment she is saved by the sheepdog Kep.
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| Jemima and the Fox |
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| The Tailor of Gloucester's Mice |
My own children rather preferred the classic The Tale of Peter Rabbit (45 million copies sold) “who was a naughty little rabbit” and who disobeyed his mother’s precise instruction “Don’t go into Mr McGregor’s garden!” After various adventures he escapes to be tended at home with camomile tea.
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| Peter Rabbit in Mr McGregor's Garden |
Beatrix Potter was part of a well-established vein in
English literature with the animal as hero. Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877) was an earlier example and Tarka the Otter (1927) by Henry Williamson was much admired. In
time the characters became ever more anthropomorphic. A.A.Milne adapted Kenneth Graeme’s creations
from The Wind in the Willows to write
the delightful stage show Toad of Toad
Hall. The genre was later dominated by Walt Disney and others in Hollywood, but there was a later flowering in England with
Richard Adam’s charming 1972 Watership
Down. These books can easily descend into the twee and the sentimental, but
at their best they are a civilising influence on children the world over.
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| Toad of Toad Hall |
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| Watership Down |
The second Potter is Harry
Potter, now a global phenomenon. His creator J K Rowling was born and raised in Gloucestershire. Her famed
character returned to Gloucester Cathedral, notably to the Cloisters, which were used as a
set for Hogwarts School in three Harry Potter movies, The Philosopher’s Stone, The Chamber
of Secrets and The Half-blood Prince.
Harry Potter is aimed at an older age-group and is in the
long English tradition of fantasy adventure, stretching back I suppose to
Jonathan Swift’s 1726 masterpiece Gulliver’s
Travels (although it was sharply satirical) but in the 20th
century well represented by the complex and rather dark fantasies of J R R
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.
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| J K Rowling |
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| Harry Potter plays Quidditch |
J K Rowling has sold some 450million copies in the Harry
Potter series since 1997 and created an immense literary and movie franchise,
earning her substantial wealth. I have read only a few of the books and seen
only two films so I am no expert on the canon. However in my view Rowling
deserves every cent. Her imagination is breath-taking, her plots race along and
she writes with clarity and ease. She has added to the gaiety of the nation.
Good luck to her!
SMD
6.11.12
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2012
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