Spring is coming to Gloucester, and history is ready to burst into life. From 23 to 25 April 2027, Gloucester History Festival returns for a exciting programme of talks, discoveries and lively conversations with the country’s leading historians, broadcasters and thinkers.

This Spring the city has a special story to tell as it marks 200 years since Gloucester Docks opened on 26 April 1827. When the first vessels entered the basin crowds gathered, guns fired and church bells rang. What began as a simple route for ships became a gateway between Gloucester and the wider world, leaving an important legacy on the city’s waterfront.

Travel across centuries and continents and explore the people and events that changed our world. Come for the big ideas, stay for the conversations, and discover how the past still flows through Gloucester today.