Gallifrey Gallifrey was the homeworld of the Time Lord s . ( TV : " The Time Warrior " ) It was believed to have been destroyed in the Last Great Time War ( TV : " Dalek " ) but was , in fact , frozen in a pocket universe by the first thirteen incarnations of the Doctor , ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " , " The Time of the Doctor " ) and later discovered at the end of the universe . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) The literal translation of Gallifrey was " They that walk in the shadow s " . ( PROSE : " The Pit " ) Location . Gallifrey was located in the constellation of Kasterborous , at galactic coordinates 10 - 0 - 11 - 00 : 02 from Galactic Zero Centre . ( TV : " Pyramids of Mars " , " Full Circle " , " Death in Heaven " ) Several accounts placed it more or less at the centre of its galaxy . ( PROSE : " The Devil Goblins from Neptune " , " Interference - Book Two " , " Human Nature " ) Indeed , I . M . Foreman once specified to the Eighth Doctor that it wasn ' t in " the exact dead centre , but it ' s as close as you can get without ending up in a black hole " . ( PROSE : " Interference - Book One " ) According to another account , the Eighth Doctor explained to human s Grace Holloway and Chang Lee that Gallifrey was " [ o ] n the other side of your galaxy " and " 250 million light - years away " from Earth . ( TV : " Doctor Who " ) A Time Lord who came to speak to the Third Doctor , who was on Earth , said that he had just travelled " 29 , 000 light years " . ( TV : " Terror of the Autons " ) Another account put Gallifrey 30 , 000 light - years from Earth . ( PROSE : " The Devil Goblins from Neptune " ) Gallifrey was also called " the Shining World of the Seven Systems " . ( TV : " The Sound of Drums " ) At one point , Gallifrey was removed from the time lock during the Last Great Time War and relocated to near Earth with potentially devastating consequences for the latter planet . It returned to the time lock when the Tenth Doctor shot and destroyed the diamond which connected Gallifrey to Earth . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) At the end of the Time War , it was frozen in time in a pocket universe for its own protection by " all thirteen " incarnations of the Doctor . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) Missy later told the Doctor that Gallifrey had returned to its original position . The Doctor travelled to these coordinates and found only empty space , believing Missy to have lied . ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) The truth was , Gallifrey had in fact returned to the universe as Missy said . However , it had been placed at the extreme end of the time continuum for protection . The General described Gallifrey ' s location as " the end of the universe , give or take a star system . " ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) Astronomical data . Size . Gallifrey was several times larger than Earth . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) According to another account , Gallifrey was the same size as Earth . ( PROSE : " Dead Romance " ) Star system . Gallifrey was in a binary star system . The second star seemed to rise in the south in the morning , making the mountains glow . ( TV : " Gridlock " ) The main star was large and golden red . ( AUDIO : " The Forever Trap " ) The system contained five other planets ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " ) , among them Karn ( TV : " The Brain of Morbius " ) and Polarfrey , and an asteroid named Kasterborous the Fibster . ( PROSE : " Lungbarrow " ) The Sixth Doctor claimed that Gallifrey was " just to the left " of Karn . ( AUDIO : " Vortex Ice " ) Satellites . Gallifrey had at least two large moon s and a ring system , similar to Saturn in Earth ' s solar system . ( COMIC : " Agent Provocateur " ) One of the moons was the copper - coloured Pazithi Gallifreya , which shone so brightly it could be seen during the day . ( PROSE : " , Lungbarrow " ) Gallifrey ' s moons perished with the Daleks when Gallifrey disappeared . ( COMIC : " Agent Provocateur " , TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) Landscape . From orbit , the planet ' s surface appeared mostly barren , with only a few visible buildings . ( COMIC : " Return of the Daleks " ) Its landscape was rust - coloured , with brown lakes and grey clouds . ( PROSE : " " ) Following the Last Great Time War , it was still rust and brown coloured , but had a more volcanically - active appearance . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) Susan Foreman once described it as " a brown , green , snow - capped planet . " ( AUDIO : " The Beginning " ) From the planet ' s surface , it boasted an orange sky at night , ( TV : " A Desperate Venture " ) snow - capped mountain s , fields of red grass , ( TV : " Gridlock " ) and tree s with bright silver leaves . ( TV : " A Desperate Venture " , " Gridlock " ) These reflected the morning sunlight , making it look like the forests were on fire . ( TV : " Gridlock " ) There were also green forests , golden fields , and red deserts ( PROSE : " " ) , but overall it was a much drier world than Earth . ( PROSE : " Lungbarrow " ) The Sixth Doctor once declared the climate to be " like the Serengeti all year round " . ( PROSE : " Spiral Scratch " ) There was also a river called Lethe . ( AUDIO : " Master " ) The wastelands around the Capitol were referred to as " outer Gallifrey " by the Time Lords . ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " ) Rassilon later referred to the area that the barn in which the Doctor had slept as a child as the Drylands , claiming that no one of importance lived there . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) The sky during the day resembled that of Earth ' s blue sky . ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " ) As such , the shift from night to day ( and vice versa ) appeared to be half orange and half blue . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) Known geographic features . Regions of Gallifrey . While talking to Martha Jones and Jack Harkness about his life on Gallifrey , the Tenth Doctor mentioned the continent of Wild Endeavour and how the Time Lords would stand proudly overlooking the universe in the Capitol , Gallifrey ' s first city , spaced between the mountains of Solace and Solitude . ( TV : " The Sound of Drums " ) The Drylands were on Gallifrey , typically the area where , according to Rassilon , " nobody who mattered " lived . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) The Doctor once slept in a barn found in the drylands ( TV : " Listen " ) shortly after being accepted into the academy . ( TV : " The Sound of Drums " ) He later returned there in his War ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) and twelfth incarnations . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) The Death Zone was an area used as a battle ground in which Time Lords would watch other species fight to the death . Although these battles were stopped by Rassilon , the Death Zone remained and later became home to the Tomb of Rassilon . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " ) The City of Arcadia was Gallifrey ' s second city , where it notably marked a turning point in the Last Great Time War as the Dalek s successfully penetrated the Sky trench es and laid siege to the city . The War Doctor was present at the battle , the horrors he saw convincing him to end the war by using the Moment . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) Seeing the city fall haunted the Doctor , his tenth incarnation was still scarred by the horrors he witnessed . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) There was also a mountainous region known as Southern Gallifrey . ( TV : " State of Decay " ) Mountains . Mount Cadon ( PROSE : " " , " Lucifer Rising " , " The Three Paths " ) was also known as Mount Lung ( PROSE : " Lungbarrow " , " The Three Paths " ) and Mount Plutarch . ( PROSE : " The Three Paths " ) The Tenth Doctor mentioned Mount Perdition ( TV : " The End of Time " ) The Tenth Doctor mentioned the Mountains of Solace and Solitude while discussing his childhood . ( TV : " The Sound of Drums " ) The Mountain of Serenity was mentioned . ( PROSE : " The Stranger " ) The Myridian mountains separated the Arcadian desert from the lowlands of Outer Gallifrey . ( AUDIO : " Mistfall " ) Rivers , lakes , and oceans . There were at least two known rivers and one lake : Cadonflood River ( PROSE : " Lungbarrow " ) , the Lethe river . ( AUDIO : " Master " ) , and Lake Abydos ( AUDIO : " Neverland " ) . History . In preparation for war Gallifrey was duplicated in the Nine Gallifreys project . ( PROSE : " The Shadows of Avalon " ) The enemy destroyed the original Gallifrey during the War , though the Time Lord s continued fighting from the other Gallifreys . ( PROSE : " Alien Bodies " ) One Gallifrey was destroyed by the Eighth Doctor . ( PROSE : " The Ancestor Cell " ) On the final day of the Time War , the Time Lords , now led by Rassilon , broke the time lock to materialise Gallifrey in Earth ' s skies in 2009 , thinking the War Doctor would precipitate their ultimate demise on that final day through the Moment . However , the Tenth Doctor sent the planet , Time Lords included , back to its doomed fate , by breaking the link that brought the Time Lords to Earth . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) Gallifrey was thought to have been destroyed by the Doctor in the Time War ( TV : " The End of the World " , " Dalek " ) but was frozen in time in a pocket dimension by the first thirteen incarnations of the Doctor , " like a painting " as the War Doctor put it . The vast majority of the Daleks died in the crossfire when Gallifrey disappeared . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) The Doctor in his last incarnation of his first regeneration cycle would subsequently spend 900 years ( PROSE : " " ) defending a crack in time linking Gallifrey with the planet Trenzalore ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) , unsuccessfully attempting to find the planet after told him untruthfully that it had returned to its original position in time and space ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) , and finally spend 4 . 5 billion years ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) trapped inside a confession dial , gradually beating his way through a wall of solid azbantium , until he finally broke through , revealing a portal back to Gallifrey . ( TV : " Heaven Sent " ) The Doctor learned that at some point , Gallifrey was unfrozen and moved to " the end of the universe give or take a star system " for its own protection . Clara Oswald suggested that the Time Lords moved Gallifrey there to hide as " everybody " hated them . After returning , the Doctor overthrew Rassilon and used an extraction chamber to save Clara ' s life before fleeing once more in a stolen TARDIS . Gallifrey continued to exist at the exact end of the universe with part of the Cloisters still being intact and used by Me to watch the end of everything , preserved by a reality bubble . After Me discussed The Hybrid with the Doctor , the two left in the TARDIS he had acquired , after which the reality bubble gave out and the universe finally ended . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) Settlements . A major city on Gallifrey was known as the Citadel ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " , " The Sound of Drums " ) or sometimes , the Capitol . Arcadia , Gallifrey ' s " second city " , was protected by a large number of sky trench es . These defences failed on the last day of the Time War , and the city was ravaged by the Daleks . The War Doctor was present at the Fall of Arcadia , and it was there that he left his warning of " No More " for the combatants . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) Two other cities , called Olyesti and Slothe , also existed . ( PROSE : " The Infinity Doctors " , " Blind Fury " ) Native species . Flora . Gallifrey had a wide variety of plant life , ranging in colour from silver to green and golden . Known plant species included the Schlenk Blossom , ( PROSE : " Island of Death " ) ulanda , ( PROSE : " Blind Fury " ) and the " Madevinia aridosa " . ( PROSE : " " ) The Master ' s father ' s estate was lush with red grass . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) The Third Doctor also once said that there were daisies on Gallifrey . ( TV : " The Time Monster " ) . There was also a red flower that resembled a cross between a rose and a daisy , known to Gallifreyans as a Sarlain . ( PROSE : " " ) Fauna . Animals native to Gallifrey included flutterwing s ( TV : " The Pirate Planet " ) , flies ( TV : " Heaven Sent " ) , Woprat s ( PROSE : " Heart of TARDIS " ) , trunkike s , yaddlefish ( PROSE : " Blind Fury " ) , flubble s ( PROSE : " Island of Death " ) , tafelshrew s ( PROSE : " " ) , plungboll s ( AUDIO : " The Ghosts of N - Space " ) , rabbit s ( AUDIO : " Caerdroia " ) , rovie s ( AUDIO : " No Place Like Home " ) , mice , cat s ( TV : " The Mark of the Rani " , PROSE : " Human Nature " ) pig - rat s ( AUDIO : " Panacea " ) and , of course , the Gallifreyan s themselves . In the past , the dinosaur - like Gargantosaur s lived on the planet . ( COMIC : " The Stolen TARDIS " ) According to one account , no animal had gone extinct from the planet . ( PROSE : " The Last Dodo " ) However , according to another account , a large lizard - like creature that had been placed out of its time in the Death Zone was described by the War Doctor as a " a long - extinct species from before the Time Lords ever walked the planet " . ( PROSE : " Engines of War " )