Cathedral Treasury, Vestry And Library

Cathedral Treasury, Vestry and Library

This building served as the cathedral treasury and library for Gloucester Cathedral, originally the church of the former Benedictine Abbey of St Peter. Built in stages from around 1100 through to the 14th century, with major restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries, it stands between the north transept of the cathedral and the Chapter House.

The structure is constructed of ashlar and rubble with a gabled stone slate roof. It rises to three storeys and originally functioned as a wide, vaulted passage or slype dating from around 1100, which provided access from the east alley of the Cathedral Cloister to the former monastic cemetery to the east. In the 14th century, the vestry and library were built above this passage, extending it further eastward, with a staircase to the library accessed from the cloister at the north-west corner.

The exterior shows various periods of alteration. At the west end, a wide archway was infilled in the 14th century when the Cloister was rebuilt; in the 19th century this blocking was pierced to create a small doorway above the lean-to roof of the cloister. The gable-ends feature large windows: on the west gable, the first floor has a six-light window with flat head dating from the 16th century, and the second floor has a seven-light arched window with arched lights above and below a transom. The east gable-end has a doorway at ground-floor level with a five-light window above the arch, and a large seven-light panelled window on the upper floors, with a row of blind panels at second-floor level. The north side has eleven two-light windows with square heads at second-floor level.

The original passage of around 1100 survives with its plain plastered barrel vault. It features continuous blind arcading of fifteen bays along the north wall and similar arcading between the pilaster buttresses of the north transept wall forming the south side. The arcading has shafts with moulded bases, scalloped capitals, and plain arches. The 14th-century eastern extension has plain walls and a barrel vault. The first floor vestry is entered from a staircase in the north-west corner of the transept. The second floor library features an open timber roof with trusses having moulded tie-beams supported on timber corbels finely carved with heads wearing crowns or hats, with exposed purlins and rafters. The north-side windows originally lit carrels or study bays.

The building's history reflects its changing functions. Originally the monastic library, the second floor served as the first school room of the King's School until the mid-19th century, when it was refitted as the cathedral library. The former passage, originally open at either end, is now used as the cathedral treasury and is entered from the north transept through a small doorway formed in 1978.