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If you can’t hold a history festival in Gloucester, you can’t hold one anywhere! That’s been my feeling since the event was first proposed nearly 15 years ago and it’s a sentiment that’s shared by thousands of people who flock to the city every spring and autumn to see, hear and meet some of Britain’s top historians, writers, broadcasters, actors and leading figures from public life.
After all, where else can you rub shoulders with such an eclectic range of guests as Springwatch presenter Chris Packham, veteran BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen, former Prime Minister Theresa May, and Led Zeppelin ‘rock god’ Robert Plant? Despite the sheer quality and variety of the speakers who appear at the Spring Weekend in April and the main Festival in September, people who’ve yet to visit will sometimes ask, ‘What makes the event so special?’
Well first it has a reputation as the friendly festival and one that’s glocal – global in reach and local at heart. That localness is key for a gathering that’s rooted in Gloucester and with Gloucester Day, celebrated on the first Saturday in September, at its core. The historic city is the perfect place to hear great stories and new discoveries about the past. It’s not an overstatement to say that the story of Gloucester is the story of England. It’s been a Roman settlement, a royal resting place, a besieged city in the Civil War and home to one of the world’s finest cathedrals. Along the way it has witnessed William the Conqueror, the Domesday Book, an Anglo-Saxon Warrior Queen, a bishop burned at the stake, the birth of the jet age and the only coronation of a British monarch outside Westminster since 1066.
Secondly, the Festival’s main venue is an awe-inspiring historical gem in its own right. Blackfriars was built in the 1230s and is nothing less than a time-capsule in stone; it’s the most complete Dominican Priory standing in Britain, home to the oldest surviving purpose-built library in Northern Europe and a site of national importance.
If all that wasn’t enough, the eyes of every festivalgoer are drawn upwards from the moment they walk into the original church building, the North Range. High above, their gaze is fixed on the magnificent scissor-braced ceiling of 13th century oak beams put there by Henry III and gifted from the royal forests. It’s the first ‘wow’ moment before they’ve even taken their seats.
Looking at the admiration audiences have for the venue, it’s almost impossible to imagine how for decades this remarkable group of buildings set around a central courtyard stood neglected, largely hidden and mostly forgotten. Harried office workers and busy shoppers rushed past it unnoticed and even Gloucester’s most-ardent fans would have struggled to include it in a list of top ten attractions. Then in 2011 new life was breathed into Blackfriars when ambitious renovations were unveiled to the public and the sleeping giant of Gloucester’s proud heritage awoke after 70 dormant years. The focal point being the impressive floor-to-ceiling glass wall which floods the ancient stones with light in a way unseen for seven centuries.
It's a superb setting to share with an array of world class speakers and the 2024 line-up reads like the guest-list for a dream dinner party; Fleet Street legend Sir Max Hastings, broadcasting royalty Jonathan Dimbleby, top historians and TV stars Dan Snow and Bettany Hughes, best-selling Empireland author Sathnam Sanghera, Call The Midwife actor Stephen McGann, prankster and comedian Dom Joly, leading British novelist Kate Mosse… and more than 100 others.
If you’re still asking, ‘What makes the Gloucester History Festival so special?’ the only answer is to follow the crowds to Blackfriars and experience it all for yourself. And don’t forget to look up.
Be sure to secure your tickets, click the button below to book.
The Autumn Festival takes place from 7-22 September 2024
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