Gloucester is a city and district in south-west England, close to the Welsh border. It is the county town of Gloucestershire. It is located on the right (east) bank of the River Severn. It is sheltered by the Cotswolds on the east, while the Forest of Dean and the Malvern Hills rise prominently to the west and north-west, respectively.
Gloucester is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary, allowing larger ships to reach the docks than would be possible on the tidal reaches of the river itself. The wharves, warehouses and the docks themselves fell into considerable disrepair until their renovation in the 1980s. They now form a public open space. Some warehouses now house the National Waterways Museum, others were converted into luxury residential apartments, shops and bars

Attractions

Gloucester Cathedral, in the north of the city near the river, originates in the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter in 681. It is the burial place of King Edward II of England, Walter de Lacy and was recently used in scenes for the Harry Potter films. Attached to the deanery is the Norman prior's chapel. In St Mary's Square outside the Abbey gate, Bishop Hooper suffered martyrdom under Queen Mary in 1555.
Many quaint gabled and timbered houses survive from earlier periods of the city's history. At the point of intersection of the four principal streets stood the Tolsey or town hall, replaced by a modern building in 1894. None of the old public buildings are left except for the New Inn in Northgate Street, a timbered house, strong and massive with external galleries and courtyards; it was built in 1450 for the pilgrims to Edward II's shrine, by Abbot Sebroke.
There are a large number of churches and in the past there were also many dissenting chapels. It may have been the old proverb, "as sure as God's in Gloucester," that provoked Oliver Cromwell to declare that the city had "more churches than godliness." The first Sunday school in England was held in Gloucester, founded by Robert Raikes in 1780. Four churches are of special interest:

St Mary de Lode, with a Norman tower and chancel, and a monument of Bishop Hooper, on the site of a Roman temple which became the first Christian church in Britain;
St Mary de Crypt, a cruciform structure of the 12th century, with later additions and a beautiful and lofty tower;
the church of St Michael, said to have been connected with the ancient abbey of St Peter; and
St Nicholas church, originally of Norman erection, and possessing a tower and other portions of later date. In the neighbourhood of St Mary de Crypt are the slight remains of Greyfriars and Blackfriars monasteries, and also of the city wall. Early vaulted cellars remain under the Fleece and Saracen's Head inns.
There are three endowed schools: The King's School, refounded by Henry VIII of England as part of the cathedral establishment; the school of St Mary de Crypt, founded by Dame Joan Cooke in the same reign (1539); and Sir Thomas Rich's Blue Coat Hospital for boys (1666). At the Crypt school the famous preacher George Whitefield (1714-1770) was educated, and he preached his first sermon in the church.
The noteworthy modern buildings include the museum and school of art and science, the county gaol (on the site of a Saxon and Norman castle), the Shire Hall and the Whitefield memorial church. A park in the south of the city contains a spa, a chalybeate spring having been discovered in 1814. West of this, across the canal, are the remains (a gateway and some walls) of Llanthony Priory, a cell of the mother abbey in the vale of Ewyas, Monmouthshire, which in the reign of Edward IV became the secondary establishment.
King's Square is at the heart of the city Centre and occupies what was once a cattle market and bus station. Officially opened in 1972, it was the centrepiece of a radical redesign of the city, The Jellicoe Plan, which was first proposed in 1961. Parts of the plan can be found via this link:
There are few tall buildings in Gloucester, the Cathedral being the most obvious. The tower of Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, constructed during the years 1970-1975, can be seen from miles around. In Brunswick Road, a brown concrete tower houses classrooms at the Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology. The tower was added incongruously to the existing 1930s Technical College buildings in 1971. A tall block of flats stands in Columbia Close, between London Road and Kingsholm Road. It was built in 1972 and stands on what was once Columbia Street in a small district formerly known as Clapham.
Roman remains were discovered in 1974 during the construction of the Boots store on the corner of Brunswick Road and Eastgate Street. These can be viewed through a glass "ceiling" at street level. It was once possible to take tours of the underground site but the tour guide was later replaced by a "talking bollard" beside the viewing window. Parts of the city's south gate can be seen tucked away at the back of the Gloucester Furniture Exhibition Centre - a showroom on the corner of Southgate Street and Parliament Street.