St Mary de Lode Church is aChurch of England^[1] church immediately outside the grounds ofGloucester Cathedral. It is believed by some to be on the site of the first Christian church in Britain. The church is in theDiocese of Gloucester and Grade I listed byEnglish Heritage.^[2] It has also been known asSt. Mary Before the Gate of St. Peter,St. Mary Broad Gate andSt. Mary De Port.^[3]

The word "Lode" is from the old English word for water course or ferry and in this case it refers to a ferry that once crossed a branch of theRiver Severn to the west of the church, which no longer exists.^[1]

In 1979, archaeological excavations in the nave showed that the church is built over two Roman buildings. The first, probably a baths building erected in the second century, was destroyed in the fifth century and replaced by a timbermausoleum containing three burials. The mausoleum was destroyed by fire and followed by a sequence of buildings interpreted as churches, culminating in the medieval church of St Mary. It is suggested that the original church was a post-RomanBritish foundation, before theAnglo-Saxons occupied this area.^[4]

The earliest reference to a church in written records dates from the late eleventh century. It then comprised a nave, chancel and tower which was destroyed by fire in 1190. A new chancel was built in the thirteenth century.^[1][5]

A local legend, first recorded in the eighteenth century, holds that the church was the burial place of the legendaryKing Lucius, first Christian king of Britain, who was said to have established a bishopric in Gloucester in the second century A.D.^[1][6] This legend combined with the results of the archaeological work has apparently inspired the local belief that the church was built on the site of an ancientRoman temple, and was the first Christian church in Britain.^[7]

A tomb effigy in the north wall of the chancel formerly pointed out as marking the grave of King Lucius is of fourteenth-century date, and shows a tonsured priest, perhaps William de Chamberleyn who was vicar in 1302–5.^[8][2]

In March 1643 and also in 1646, during theEnglish Civil War, the church was used as a prison to hold royalist soldiers captured by SirWilliam Waller and Lieut. Col.Edward Massey.^[3]

The church has aNorman central tower of about 1190. The nave was rebuilt in 1826 in earlyGothic Revival style with cast iron columns, by James Cooke, a localmonumental mason. A Norman arch leads from the nave into the tower, which isbarrel-vaulted and connected through a thirteenth-century arch with the chancel. The chancel was begun like the tower in about 1190 but extended and vaulted in the thirteenth century. Further restorations to the church took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the west part of the nave was converted for use as a church hall in 1980. There is an octagonal pulpit, apparently made up of fifteenth-century carved wooden panels, and an eighteenth-century organ brought in 1972 from the now-redundant church ofSt Nicholas, Westgate Street.^[2][9][10]

There arestained glass windows commemorating theRoyal Gloucestershire Hussars and the Gloucester poetIvor Gurney.^[1]

In the grounds is a monument to BishopJohn Hooper, who was burnt at the stake in Gloucester.

St Mary de Lode remains a functioning church with regular services and a Sunday School.^[1] The parish is now combined with those of St Swithun's,Hempsted, andSt Mary de Crypt.^[11]

The church is the regular venue for concerts by theGloucester Music Society.^[12]

• Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSt Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester.

• Detailed description of the church organ.
• Inside view.
• Location map.

51°52′07″N2°14′57″W / 51.8685°N 2.2492°W /51.8685; -2.2492

• Church of England church buildings in Gloucester
• Grade I listed churches in Gloucestershire
• History of Gloucester
• English churches with Norman architecture
• Gothic Revival church buildings in England

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