Upper Westgate Street was presumably a much less constricted area when it first became the site of market trade. It may be only the remnant of an irregularly shaped market place, which occupied the whole area bounded on the north by the Gloucester Abbey precinct and which perhaps also included the west side of upper Northgate Street bounded by Grace (later St. John's) Lane, the eastern limit of the precinct. The irregular shape of the area bounded by upper Westgate Street, upper Northgate Street, and the precinct was governed partly by the fact that the main east-west route through Gloucester, that between London and South Wales, made a sharp turn in the centre of the town, entering by Northgate Street but leaving by Westgate Street; the ancient alignment of Ermin Street on the first Roman fort at Kingsholm, rather than on the later Roman town, had made Northgate Street, which joined Ermin Street at Wotton Pitch, the London road. If the irregular central area had once been an open market place, the infilling with the long and narrow burgage plots was early in date. A plot extending between Holy Trinity church and the precinct wall contained a house and three shops in 1176, and the whole of the area adjoining the south and east sides of the precinct was evidently closely built up by 1223 when fires raged from the Cross along the west side of Northgate Street and along both sides of Westgate Street as far as the present College Street. The burgage plots laid out along the north side of upper Westgate Street remained separated from the abbey wall by a narrow lane running from Three Cocks Lane to St. John's Lane. By the late Middle Ages other buildings, including houses and shops and the covered butter market called the King's Board, had been put up in the centre of upper Westgate Street, dividing it into two narrow lanes.
Gloucester, Upper Westgate Street
The principal trading area of the town in the Middle Ages remained around upper Westgate Street, the Cross, and upper Northgate Street. The houses and shops on the north side of upper Westgate Street were occupied mainly by the mercers, together with beltmakers and coifmakers, while on the south side were the butchers' shambles. Shoemakers and drapers had their premises at the top of Northgate Street on the west side. Shops clustered at the Cross around the churches of All Saints, St. Michael, and St. Martin. There were, however, premises for trade along the length of the main streets and in the principal side lanes. Two shops outside the east gate at the entrance to Barton Street and two in the Island between the bridges were mentioned c. 1285, and seven shops fronting a tenement in the Island were mentioned in 1318. Oxbode Lane was lined with shops, fronting the tenements, in 1315. Craft's Lane on the north side of Westgate Street took its alternative name of Ironmongers' Row from premises of the ironmongers. The main industrial quarter near the centre of the town was formed by the smiths' forges in Longsmith Street and, presumably, Broadsmith Street. Other industrial activity took place on the outer fringes, with fulling and dyeing at the quay and by the Twyver, in the north-eastern suburbs, and tanning based in Hare Lane.
Upper Westgate Street was presumably a much less constricted area when it first became the site of market trade. It may be only the remnant of an irregularly shaped market place, which occupied the whole area bounded on the north by the Gloucester Abbey precinct and which perhaps also included the west side of upper Northgate Street bounded by Grace (later St. John's) Lane, the eastern limit of the precinct. The irregular shape of the area bounded by upper Westgate Street, upper Northgate Street, and the precinct was governed partly by the fact that the main east-west route through Gloucester, that between London and South Wales, made a sharp turn in the centre of the town, entering by Northgate Street but leaving by Westgate Street; the ancient alignment of Ermin Street on the first Roman fort at Kingsholm, rather than on the later Roman town, had made Northgate Street, which joined Ermin Street at Wotton Pitch, the London road. If the irregular central area had once been an open market place, the infilling with the long and narrow burgage plots was early in date. A plot extending between Holy Trinity church and the precinct wall contained a house and three shops in 1176, and the whole of the area adjoining the south and east sides of the precinct was evidently closely built up by 1223 when fires raged from the Cross along the west side of Northgate Street and along both sides of Westgate Street as far as the present College Street. The burgage plots laid out along the north side of upper Westgate Street remained separated from the abbey wall by a narrow lane running from Three Cocks Lane to St. John's Lane. By the late Middle Ages other buildings, including houses and shops and the covered butter market called the King's Board, had been put up in the centre of upper Westgate Street, dividing it into two narrow lanes.
Upper Westgate Street was presumably a much less constricted area when it first became the site of market trade. It may be only the remnant of an irregularly shaped market place, which occupied the whole area bounded on the north by the Gloucester Abbey precinct and which perhaps also included the west side of upper Northgate Street bounded by Grace (later St. John's) Lane, the eastern limit of the precinct. The irregular shape of the area bounded by upper Westgate Street, upper Northgate Street, and the precinct was governed partly by the fact that the main east-west route through Gloucester, that between London and South Wales, made a sharp turn in the centre of the town, entering by Northgate Street but leaving by Westgate Street; the ancient alignment of Ermin Street on the first Roman fort at Kingsholm, rather than on the later Roman town, had made Northgate Street, which joined Ermin Street at Wotton Pitch, the London road. If the irregular central area had once been an open market place, the infilling with the long and narrow burgage plots was early in date. A plot extending between Holy Trinity church and the precinct wall contained a house and three shops in 1176, and the whole of the area adjoining the south and east sides of the precinct was evidently closely built up by 1223 when fires raged from the Cross along the west side of Northgate Street and along both sides of Westgate Street as far as the present College Street. The burgage plots laid out along the north side of upper Westgate Street remained separated from the abbey wall by a narrow lane running from Three Cocks Lane to St. John's Lane. By the late Middle Ages other buildings, including houses and shops and the covered butter market called the King's Board, had been put up in the centre of upper Westgate Street, dividing it into two narrow lanes.
