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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of
+Tewkesbury, by H. J. L. J. Masse
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury
+ with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire
+
+Author: H. J. L. J. Masse
+
+Release Date: August 7, 2007 [EBook #22260]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABBEY CHURCH OF TEWKESBURY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Transcriber's Note: |
+ | |
+ | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has |
+ | been preserved. |
+ | |
+ | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For |
+ | a complete list, please see the end of this document. |
+ | |
+ | The carat character marks the letter following as |
+ | superscript. For example: 15^o |
+ | |
+ | Diacritical marks found in some of the Latin text are not |
+ | available in Latin-1 and ASCII. These are presented in |
+ | square brackets as follows: Macron [=a] Tilde [~a]. |
+ | |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. D. Gwynne._
+ TEWKESBURY ABBEY, FROM THE EAST.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ABBEY CHURCH OF
+TEWKESBURY
+WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
+PRIORY CHURCH OF
+DEERHURST
+GLOUCESTERSHIRE
+
+BY
+H.J.L.J. MASSE, M.A.
+Author of "Gloucester Cathedral"
+"Mont S. Michel," "Chartres," etc.
+
+WITH XLIV ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1906
+
+
+
+
+First published, April, 1900.
+Reprinted with corrections, 1901, 1906.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+My heartiest thanks are here expressed to all who have helped me in
+any way during the compiling of this book--to Sir Charles Isham, of
+Lamport, for allowing me the use of his _Registrum Theokusburiae_ for
+several months, and for permission to reproduce two pages from it; to
+Mr. J.T. Micklethwaite for permission to make use of his paper on
+_Saxon Churches_ published in the Journal of the Archaeological
+Institute, and to the Institute for leave to reproduce the three
+blocks of Deerhurst; to Mr. W.H. St. John Hope for several
+suggestions; to Mr. A.H. Hughes, of Llandudno, Dr. Oscar Clark, and
+Mr. R.W. Dugdale, of Gloucester, for so liberally supplementing my own
+store of photographs; to Mr. S. Browett, of Tewkesbury, for the loan
+of the wood block on page 17; and, lastly, to Mr. W.G. Bannister, the
+sacristan of the Abbey, who placed his thorough knowledge of the
+building, its records, and its heraldry, together with the whole of
+his valuable MS. notes on these points, unreservedly at my disposal.
+
+ H.J.L.J.M.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER PAGE
+
+ I. History of the Foundation and Fabric of the Abbey Church,
+ and Some Account of its Benefactors 3
+
+ II. The Exterior 29
+ North Porch 30
+ The Tower 30
+ The West Front 32
+ The South Side 34
+ The Cloisters 34
+ The Lady Chapel 37
+
+III. The Interior 39
+ The Nave 39
+ The Roof and its Bosses 42
+ The Font 43
+ The Lectern 44
+ The Pulpit 44
+ The Screen 45
+ The Great West Window 46
+ The Aisles 47
+ North Aisle and its Windows 47
+ South Aisle and its Windows 49
+ North Transept 51
+ Interior of the Tower 53
+ St. James' Chapel 55
+ Early English Lady Chapel 57
+ St. Margaret's Chapel 58
+ St. Edmund's Chapel 60
+ The Clarence Vault 62
+ St. Faith's Chapel 63
+ The Vestry 65
+ South Transept 68
+ The Choir 71
+ Altar 74
+ Sedilia 75
+ Tiles 76
+ Windows of the Choir 76
+ De Clares 77
+ Despenser Graves 81
+ The Tombs and Chantries--Warwick Chapel 83
+ Founder's Chapel 88
+ The Despenser Monument 90
+ Trinity Chapel 91
+ Tombs in the Ambulatory 93
+ Abbot Wakeman's Tomb 95
+ Abbot Cheltenham's Tomb 95
+ Abbot John's Tomb 96
+ Abbot Alan's Tomb 97
+ The Organs 97
+ Specification of the Grove Organ 98
+ Church Plate 100
+ Church Registers 100
+ Arms of the Abbey 101
+ Old Tiles 101
+ Abbots of Tewkesbury 101
+ Dimensions of the Abbey 132
+
+
+DEERHURST.
+
+The Priory Church 105
+
+ Exterior--Tower 108
+ Interior--The Nave 108
+ The South Aisle 111
+ The North Aisle 112
+ The Font 114
+ The Choir 115
+
+The Monastic Buildings 121
+
+The Saxon Chapel 123
+
+Index 127
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+ PAGE
+Tewkesbury Abbey, from the East _Frontispiece_
+
+Arms of the Abbey _Title_
+
+The Abbey, from the North-west 2
+
+Tewkesbury Abbey in 1840, by Rev. J.L. Petit 3
+
+Page from the "Registrum Theokusburiae" 5
+
+Richard Beauchamp, first husband of Isabelle Despenser, and his
+ Armorial Connexions, from the "Registrum Theokusburiae" 11
+
+The Detached Bell-tower, demolished in 1817 17
+
+The West End in 1840, by Rev. J.L. Petit 19
+
+The Choir before 1864, from an old photograph 22
+
+The Nave before 1864, from an old photograph 23
+
+The Abbey Gate 25
+
+Tile showing the Arms of Fitz-Hamon and the Abbey impaled 27
+
+Tewkesbury Abbey, from the North 28
+
+The Abbey, from the South 31
+
+The Cloister Doorway 35
+
+The Nave, from the West End 40
+
+Masons' Marks 41
+
+The North Choir Aisle, looking West, showing the back of the
+ Despenser Monument 52
+
+Interior of the Tower above the Vaulting 54
+
+Wall Arcade in Early English Chapel 57
+
+The Ambulatory, looking towards St. Margaret's Chapel 59
+
+The North Choir Aisle and St. Edmund's Chapel 61
+
+The Vestry Door, South Choir Aisle 66
+
+The Apsidal Chapel, South Transept 68
+
+The Choir, looking West 72
+
+Rib-centres in the Choir Vault 73
+
+The Sedilia 75
+
+The Warwick Chapel 85
+
+Chantry of the Founder, Fitz-Hamon 89
+
+The Despenser Monument 90
+
+The Trinity Chapel 92
+
+The "Wakeman Cenotaph" 94
+
+The South Choir Aisle, looking West 96
+
+
+DEERHURST.
+
+Deerhurst Priory Church, from the South 104
+
+Interior, looking West 110
+
+Font 114
+
+Plan of Deerhurst Priory Church before the Conquest, by J.T.
+ Micklethwaite, F.S.A., from "The Archaeological Journal" 118
+
+The Tower, from "The Archaeological Journal" 119
+
+Fourteenth Century Window 122
+
+The Saxon Chapel 123
+
+Dedication Stone 124
+
+Plan of Saxon Chapel 124
+
+Dedication Slab of an Altar 124
+
+Chancel Arch in the Saxon Chapel 125
+
+PLAN of Deerhurst Priory and its Domestic Buildings as now
+ existing 129
+
+PLAN of Tewkesbury Abbey 130
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. Dr. Oscar Clark._
+ THE ABBEY--FROM THE NORTH-WEST.]
+
+ [Illustration: TEWKESBURY ABBEY IN 1840.
+ By _Rev. J.L. Petit_.]
+
+
+
+
+TEWKESBURY ABBEY.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION AND FABRIC OF THE ABBEY CHURCH, AND SOME
+ACCOUNT OF ITS BENEFACTORS.
+
+
+Tradition, originating in the desire to account for the name of the
+town, would assign the foundation of a cell or chapel to Theoc, or in
+Latin form Theocus, in or about 655. In support of this theory Camden
+and others assert that it was called in Anglo-Saxon times Theocsburg
+or Theotisbyrg. Others would derive the name from the Greek
+"Theotokos," as the Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and others again
+refer us back to a very early name, Etocisceu--Latinised as Etocessa.
+In Domesday Book the town is called Teodechesberie, and throughout the
+Chronicles of the Abbey is called Theokusburia.
+
+The Chronicles of the Abbey tell us that the first monastery at
+Tewkesbury was built by two Saxon nobles, Oddo and Doddo, in or about
+the year 715, a time when Mercia was flourishing under Ethelred, and
+later, under Kenred and Ethelbald. It was dedicated to the Virgin
+Mary, and endowed with the manor of Stanway and other lands for the
+support of the Benedictine monks who, under a Prior, were there
+installed. Oddo and Doddo died soon afterwards, and were buried in the
+abbey church of Pershore.
+
+Much has been written about these mythical founders, and confusion in
+the minds of the chroniclers, and in those of subsequent writers too,
+has been caused by the similarity between the names of Oddo and Doddo,
+and Odda and Dodda. It is stated in the old Tewkesbury Chronicle that
+Oddo and Doddo were brothers, who in 715 founded a small cell at
+Tewkesbury, and that Doddo built a church at Deerhurst to show his
+love for a brother who had died some time before. They seem to have
+been two noble dukes, members of an illustrious family and renowned
+for their great virtue. Oddo is said to have become a monk, and after
+his death to have been buried at Pershore Abbey.
+
+As Mr. Butterworth points out in his book on Deerhurst, this seems to
+be a travesty of what actually happened. There were in the eleventh
+century two brothers, Odda and AElfric, with probably a third brother,
+Dodda, who were related to Edward the Confessor, and were, besides,
+his friends and followers. Charters are extant bearing their
+signatures and names, and covering the period 1015-1051. It is this
+Odda who caused to be built the "aula regia" at Deerhurst in memory of
+his brother AElfric, with a stone[1] bearing an inscription of which a
+copy is now in the Saxon Chapel at Deerhurst. This Odda, with his
+brother, was buried at Pershore. Odda's existence at this time is
+further confirmed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (edited by Ingram),
+which states that Odda was in 1051 made Earl over Devonshire,
+Somerset, Dorset, and the Welsh. The same chronicle says that Odda was
+also called Agelwin. Florence of Worcester says that he was also
+called Ethelwin.
+
+It is perhaps easy to see how a chronicler writing 250 years later,
+should be led to assume that Oddo and Doddo were identical with Odda
+and Dodda. Sir Charles Isham's "Registrum Theokusburiae" gives a
+full-page illustration of this "_par nobile fratrum_," as Dr. Hayman
+calls them, in which they are termed "_duo duces Marciorum et primi
+fundatores Theokusburiae_" i.e., two Earls of the Marches and first
+founders of Tewkesbury. Each knight is in armour, and bears in his
+hand a model of a church. Both are supporting a shield (affixed to a
+pomegranate tree) bearing the arms of the Abbey, which the blazoning
+on their own coats repeats.
+
+ [Illustration: PAGE FROM THE "REGISTRUM THEOKUSBURIAE."
+ (_H.J.L.J.M._)]
+
+According to the chronicle, Hugh, a great Earl of the Mercians, caused
+the body of Berthric or Brictric, King of Wessex, to be buried in the
+chapel of St. Faith in the church at Tewkesbury, in 799 or 800, and
+Hugh himself was buried at Tewkesbury in 812. Of this fact
+confirmation is given by Leland, who said that Hugh's tomb was there
+in his time, on the north side of the nave.
+
+The Priory suffered terribly at the hands of the invading Danes--in
+fact, it was in the centre of the theatre of war in which, under
+Alfred, the decisive struggle was fought to an end at Boddington
+Field, where a spot called the Barrow still marks the site. In
+consequence of the continued ravages the Priory was so reduced in 980
+that it became a cell dependent on the Abbey at Cranbourn, in Dorset,
+a Benedictine foundation of which Haylward de Meaux, Hayward Snow, or
+Hayward de Meawe as the Isham MS. Chronicle spells it, was the founder
+and patron. He and his wife Algiva are depicted in that MS. as sitting
+on a mound with a cruciform building in their hands. The church has a
+lofty embattled tower surmounted with a spire. Hayward fell at
+Essendune in 1016, and was buried at Cranbourn. Tewkesbury Priory
+continued to be dependent on Cranbourn for about one hundred years.
+
+Hayward's son, Earl Algar, inherited the patronage of Cranbourn and
+Tewkesbury, and on his death it passed to his son Berthric, or,
+according to the Isham MS., Britricus Meawe. This Britric, while on an
+embassy in Flanders, refused the hand of the Earl's daughter Matilda,
+who was subsequently the wife of William Duke of Normandy, the
+conqueror of England. When the lady became Queen of England she had
+Britric's manors confiscated, and he died in prison at Winchester.
+Thus Tewkesbury passed into the hands of the Normans.
+
+At the time of the Domesday Survey the priory was possessed of 24-1/2
+hides (or 3,000 acres) of land, which in Edward the Confessor's reign
+had been valued at L1 per hide.
+
+In 1087 William Rufus bestowed the honour of Gloucester, together with
+the patronage of the Priory of Tewkesbury, upon his second cousin once
+removed, Robert Fitz-Hamon, or, to give him his full titles as
+recorded in the Charters, "Sir Robert Fitz-Hamon, Earl of Corboile,
+Baron of Thorigny and Granville, Lord of Gloucester, Bristol,
+Tewkesbury and Cardiff, Conqueror of Wales, near kinsman of the King,
+and General of his Highness' army in France."
+
+Robert Fitz-Hamon is the reputed founder of the present structure, but
+the credit of the founding, or rather refounding, is due to Giraldus,
+Abbot of Cranbourn. Like Abbot Serlo of Gloucester fame, he had
+originally come over from De Brienne, in Normandy, the ancestral home
+of the De Clare family, and a town closely connected with Tewkesbury
+at a later date. Giraldus had been chaplain to Hugh Lupus, Earl of
+Chester, and subsequently to Walkelyn, Bishop of Winchester. He was
+appointed Abbot of Cranbourn by William Rufus, who acted on the advice
+of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, and St. Osmund, Bishop of
+Salisbury. Giraldus then secured the assistance of Fitz-Hamon, and the
+munificent endowments of the latter supplied the means for building
+the noble foundation at Tewkesbury. Fitz-Hamon is said to have been
+inspired by a wish to make atonement for the wanton destruction of
+Bayeux Cathedral by Henry I.
+
+By the year 1102 Giraldus and the members of St. Bartholomew's Abbey
+at Cranbourn removed to Tewkesbury, which was by that time ready to
+receive them; and the establishment at Cranbourn, under the rule of a
+Prior and two monks, became in its turn (after 120 years) a cell
+dependent on the new Abbey of Tewkesbury. After a few years Giraldus,
+"having neither the inclination nor the ability to satiate the King's
+avarice (Henry I.) with gifts," was obliged to leave Tewkesbury and
+returned to Winchester, where he died in 1110.
+
+Fitz-Hamon had died in 1107 from the effects of a wound received at
+the siege of Falaise, and was buried temporarily in the Chapter House,
+which stood on the south side of the building.
+
+In 1123 the Abbey was complete, and was consecrated on November 20th,
+with much ceremony, by Theulf, Bishop of Worcester, assisted by the
+Bishops of Llandaff, Hereford, Dublin, and another whose name is
+unknown.
+
+The main part of the church, as it now stands, is usually assigned to
+about 1123, and substantially is as strong now as it was then.
+
+In the following year, 1124, Abbot Robert died, and soon afterwards
+Theulf, the old Bishop of Worcester, also passed away.
+
+Of Fitz-Hamon's four daughters two became abbesses, another was
+married to the Earl of Brittany, and Mabel was given to Robert, one of
+the many illegitimate sons of Henry I. She seems to have been a
+business-like lady, and to have hesitated at the proposed union with a
+nameless lord, unless a title could be made to go with him. As Robert
+of Gloucester writes:
+
+ "The Kyng understood that the mayde seyde non outrage
+ And that Gloucestre was chief of hyre eritage.
+ 'Damozel,' he seyde, 'thy lord shall have a name
+ For hym and for hys eyrs, fayr wyth out blame,
+ For Robert of Gloucestre hys name shall be and is:
+ For he shall be Erl of Gloucestre and his eyres, I wis.'"
+
+This Robert Fitzroy, thus made the first Earl of Gloucester, was a
+great benefactor to the Abbey. To him are due the completion of the
+church and the greater part of the tower. According to Leland, the
+stone was brought over from Caen, but some seems to have been local
+stone from Prestbury and Cheltenham. He was as prominent in the arts
+of peace as he was afterwards in those of war, inheriting his taste
+for the former from his scholarly father. It is to him that the
+chronicler William of Malmesbury dedicated his work.
+
+Robert Fitzroy died in Gloucester in 1147, but was buried at St.
+James' Priory, Bristol, another foundation which was indebted to his
+munificence. His successor was William Fitzcount, the second Earl of
+Gloucester.
+
+In 1178 the monastery was partly burnt down, the church fortunately
+suffering but little. There are some slight traces of fire on the
+exterior walls of the south and west faces of the tower, and on the
+interior of the south transept. The Annals of Winton say, "_Combusta
+est et redacta in pulverem Ecclesia de Theokesberia_"--an untenable
+hypothesis; but the Tewkesbury Chronicles merely mention that the
+monastery and the offices were destroyed. John, Earl of Cornwall,
+better known as King John, was entertained in the monastery soon
+afterwards, so that the damage cannot have been quite so overwhelming
+as the Winchester Chronicles allege it to have been. The fire might
+have been much more serious than it was, and it seems that only the
+fact of the wind being north-east saved the church. Judging by the
+marks of calcination on the outside of the tower, and the chief arch
+of the south transept, the roof must have been seriously damaged, and
+the roof of the cloister walk abutting on to the south aisle must have
+been completely burned. In all probability the group of roofing next
+to the south transept was destroyed.
+
+William Fitzcount, dying in 1183, after a long and successful life,
+was buried at Keynsham, a magnificent abbey built by him in memory of
+a son who died young. Earl William's other children were girls, and
+the lordship of Gloucester was vested in Henry II. for some years. In
+1189 the Abbey lands were granted by Richard I. to his brother John
+(who was afterwards king, 1199 to 1215), the first husband of
+Isabella, third daughter of William Fitzcount. Being divorced from
+John after his accession in 1199, she married Geoffrey de Mandeville,
+Earl of Essex, who paid 20,000 marks for the honour of Gloucester and
+the possessions of the Lady Isabel.
+
+The earldom of Gloucester finally passed in 1221 to Amice--sister of
+the Lady Isabella--great granddaughter of Fitz-Hamon the founder, who
+had married Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford. This Richard de Clare
+was the ancestor of the Tewkesbury De Clares, a family which held the
+honour of Tewkesbury for nearly a century.
+
+His son, Gilbert de Clare, married Isabelle de Marechal. His name, as
+also that of his father, is among the signatories of Magna Charta, and
+he was a strenuous supporter of the barons against the King. Though he
+died in Brittany, his body was brought home and buried in Tewkesbury,
+at the foot of the steps leading up to the high altar. In a few
+months' time his widow, Isabelle, married Richard, Earl of Cornwall,
+brother of King Henry III. At her death she wished to be buried next
+to Gilbert de Clare, but as her husband objected to this, she
+bequeathed her heart to the Abbey, and this was duly interred in
+Gilbert de Clare's grave. As the Register quaintly says in its rhyming
+hexameters--
+
+ "Postrema voce legavit cor comitissa
+ Pars melior toto fuit huc pro corpore missa
+ Haec se divisit dominum recolendo priorem
+ Huc cor quod misit verum testatur amorem
+ His simul ecclesiae sanctae suffragia prosint
+ Ut simul in requie caelesti cum Domino sint."
+
+Gilbert de Clare bequeathed to the Abbey the manor called Mythe, on
+the hill just outside the town, and Isabelle also left to it many
+relics, besides vestments, and much valuable church furniture.
+
+On the death of Gilbert de Clare, his son Richard became a ward of the
+King. Marrying Margaret de Burgh, a daughter of the great Earl of
+Kent, without permission, he incurred the royal displeasure, and was
+eventually forced to divorce his young wife in favour of the lady
+chosen for him. He supported the barons against the King, with whom he
+had never been in agreement. In 1262 he died, and was buried in the
+Abbey. One of his wife's sisters married Robert Bruce, competitor for
+the Scottish Crown and grandfather of King Robert Bruce.
+
+His son Gilbert the second, Rufus or Rubens, _i.e._ Red, is another
+well-known figure. Like his father, he at first supported the barons,
+but soon after the battle of Lewes he took the King's side, and fought
+for him at Evesham. Again from pique he deserted him, returning to his
+allegiance once more in 1270. He was buried in the Abbey in 1295.
+
+Gilbert de Clare the third, who was born at Tewkesbury in 1291, was
+perhaps the most famous of the De Clares. Whilst he was still in early
+manhood, he was twice chosen by Edward II. to serve as Regent of
+England in his absence, once even before he had attained full age. His
+promising career was cut short at Bannockburn in 1314, and the last of
+the De Clares was buried in the Choir in 1314, his widow being placed
+later by his side.
+
+The lordship of Tewkesbury then passed from the De Clares, who had
+held it for ninety years, to Eleanor, Gilbert's eldest sister. By her
+marriage in 1321 to Hugh le Despenser, the lordship came into the
+hands of the Despensers. This Hugh the younger, or Hugo Secundus as
+the Register calls him, was too faithful a supporter of Edward II.,
+and he paid for his fidelity with his life in 1326, having been
+hanged, drawn, and quartered in Hereford about three weeks after his
+aged father had suffered a similar fate at Bristol. His remains were
+collected and buried in the tomb at the back of the sedilia, where
+Abbot John's tomb was placed at a later date.
+
+The next lord of Tewkesbury was Hugh, the son of Hugh the younger and
+Eleanor de Clare. His tomb is to be seen on the north side of the high
+altar, with his effigy upon it, together with that of his wife, the
+Lady Elizabeth, who, though thrice married, preferred to be buried
+with him. She retained the manor of Tewkesbury after her marriage to
+Sir Guy de Brien, and on her death in 1359 it passed to her nephew,
+Edward le Despenser.
+
+This Edward le Despenser took part in the battle of Poitiers, and was
+one of the first Knights of the Garter. On his death at Cardiff in
+1375 his body was brought to Tewkesbury, and his effigy is to be seen
+on the roof of the Trinity Chapel on the south side of the high altar.
+He was buried close to the presbytery, and his wife was, in 1409,
+buried next to him.
+
+Thomas le Despenser, the third son of Edward, was for two years only
+Earl of Gloucester, and being attainted, was executed at Bristol in
+1400. No trace remains of his grave at Tewkesbury.
+
+ [Illustration: RICHARD BEAUCHAMP, FIRST HUSBAND OF ISABELLE
+ DESPENSER, AND HIS ARMORIAL CONNECTIONS.
+ From the _Registrum Theokusburiae._
+ (_H.J.L.J.M._)]
+
+With the death of his son Richard in 1414, the lordship of the
+Despensers in the male line, after ninety-three years, became extinct.
+
+Once again the Manor of Tewkesbury passed by the female line, and into
+the distinguished family of the Beauchamps, with whom Richard le
+Despenser's sister Isabelle was connected by her marriage with Richard
+Beauchamp, or Ricardus de Bello Campo as the Register calls him when
+it does not give his name as Becham. He was killed at the siege of
+Breaux in France in 1421, and his young widow erected the sumptuous
+chantry chapel known as the Warwick Chapel over his remains. She then,
+by special papal dispensation, married her cousin, also a Richard
+Beauchamp, and from henceforth was generally known by her new title,
+the Countess of Warwick. On her husband's death at Rouen in 1439, she
+brought his body to England and had it conveyed to the Beauchamp
+Chapel at Warwick. The widowed countess died in December of the same
+year, but elected to be buried at Tewkesbury.
+
+Her young son Henry was a favourite of Henry VI., who bestowed most
+unusual favours upon him, creating him Duke of Warwick and King of the
+Isle of Wight, and later King of Jersey and Guernsey. The young Duke,
+who was married to Cicely Neville, died at the age of twenty-one, and
+was buried in the choir of the Abbey. As he left no children, the
+manor passed in 1449 to his sister Anne, the wife of Richard Neville
+the "King-maker." All the "King-maker's" estates were confiscated to
+the Crown after he fell at Barnet in 1471, but were eventually shared
+between his two daughters Isabelle and Anne. Isabelle married George,
+Duke of Clarence, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, who in 1477, a few
+days after Isabelle's supposed death by poison at Warwick, was put to
+death in the Tower. Both were buried at Tewkesbury (_vide_ p. 62).
+
+The young Edward, son of the Duke of Clarence, was imprisoned in the
+Tower till his execution in 1499.
+
+The Manor of Tewkesbury, as a possession of the Warwicks, passed into
+the hands of Lord Seymour of Sudeley, the husband of Catharine Parr,
+until his attainder, when they once more came into the hands of the
+Crown. James I. sold the manor to the Corporation in 1609. During the
+present century the lordship of the manor again passed by sale into
+private hands.
+
+In the chronicles of the Abbey the following facts are recorded:--
+
+In 1218 the dormitory roof fell down upon the monks when they returned
+from an early service, and Gilbert, a monk, had a thigh broken and his
+head injured, while the Prior Gunfrey escaped unhurt.
+
+In 1224, Robert Travers, Bishop of Kildelo (_i.e._ Killaloe), in the
+winter dedicated two large bells in the tower.
+
+In 1234 the principal gate of the monastery and two stables were burnt
+down.
+
+In 1237, Hervey de Sipton, the then Prior, pulled down and rebuilt the
+chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas. Nothing can be said definitely as to
+its size, owing to the later work done in this part. The chronicle,
+however, distinctly states that divine service was first held in Prior
+Sipton's new chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, on St. Nicholas'
+Day.[2]
+
+The roof bears the arms of the Clares and Despensers, and this would
+give the date of the bosses as 1321-1337, _i.e._, about a century
+later than the date of the chapel.
+
+The two chapels which are now usually known as those of St. James and
+St. Nicholas were, at one time, supposed, without authority, to have
+been the chapter-house of the monastery. They were so described as
+recently as 1881, in the plan used by the members of the Architectural
+Association for their excursion to Tewkesbury. For many years they
+were in use as a grammar school, and were walled off from the rest of
+the church.
+
+In 1239 a grand altar was dedicated to the honour of the Virgin,
+"gloriosae Virginis Mariae." This is by some supposed to refer to the
+present altar-stone of Purbeck marble.
+
+In 1241, Oct. 25, the body of Fitz-Hamon, the founder of the existing
+fabric, was brought in from the Chapter House and placed on the site
+of the Founder's Chapel built later.
+
+In 1243 the dormitory, which had been rebuilt (chiefly by Abbot
+Peter), was re-opened for use.
+
+In 1246 the Prior, Henry de Banbury, built an Early English Chapel,
+dedicated to St. Eustachius. It seems probable that this was erected
+on the site of the apsidal Norman chapel, and the space (6 feet)
+between it and the Early English chapel. The vaulting corbels are all
+that remain.
+
+In 1259 the Chapter-House was newly paved at the expense of the
+Convent.
+
+The chronicles, as reprinted in "Annales Monastici" stop short in
+1263, and from that time onwards there is a dearth of direct
+information as to the Abbey and its history.
+
+The choir was altered in the time of Abbot Parker, by Elizabeth, the
+wife, successively, of Lord Badlesmere, of Hugh Lord Despenser, and
+Sir Guy de Brien. The original Norman clerestory was taken down and
+the Norman columns of the choir slightly raised, as will be seen from
+the choir aisle on the side where the original capitals were left
+unaltered. At the same time the beautiful series of apsidal chapels
+was added; stone vaulting took the place of the earlier wooden
+roofing and the space between the four piers that support the tower
+was vaulted. This work contains the arms of Sir Guy and of the
+Montacutes.
+
+1397. The Founder's Chapel was erected by Abbot Parker.
+
+In 1422 Henry VI. granted the patronage of Deerhurst Priory to
+Tewkesbury. Much litigation followed with Eton College in consequence,
+but in 1469 the grant was confirmed and carried out by John Carpenter,
+Bishop of Worcester.
+
+On May 30, 1471, the Abbey, which had been polluted with blood during
+the battle of Tewkesbury, and had not been available for divine
+service for a month, was cleansed with special ceremony by the Bishop
+of Down and Connor, who was acting as suffragan to the Bishop of
+Worcester and reconsecrated.
+
+At the Dissolution the whole establishment, which, from the lists of
+what was to be kept and what was to be destroyed, was of considerable
+size, was seized by the King's Commissioners. The houses and buildings
+assigned to remain "undefaced" were "The lodging called the New Warke,
+leading from the gate to the late Abbot's lodging, with buttery,
+pantry, cellar, kitching, larder, and pastry thereto adjoining; the
+late Abbot's lodging; the hostery; the great gate entering into the
+court, with the lodging over the same; the Abbot's stable, bakehouse,
+brewhouse and slaughter-house, the almery, barn, dairy-house; the
+great barn next Avon; the malting-house with the garners in the same,
+the ox-house in the Barton, the Barton-gate and the lodging over the
+same." At the same time "the Church, with chapels, cloisters, chapter
+house, misericord; the two dormitories, infirmary with chapels and
+lodgings within the same; the workhouse, with another house adjoining
+to the same; the convent kitchen; the library; the old hostery; the
+chamberer's lodgings; the new hall; the old parlour adjoining to the
+Abbot's lodging; the cellarer's lodging; the poulter house: the
+gardner; the almary, and all other houses and lodgings not otherwise
+reserved," were "deemed to be superfluous" and were committed to the
+custody of Sir John Whittington.
+
+The eight bells in the tower were estimated at 146 cwt., and were
+ordered to be melted down, as was also the lead upon the roofs of the
+choir, the aisles and the chapels annexed, the cloister, chapter
+house, frater, St. Michael's Chapel, halls, farmery and gatehouse. The
+weight of lead was estimated at 180 fodders, _i.e._, about 190 tons.
+
+The jewels naturally were specially reserved to the use of the King's
+Majesty, and the two mitres garnished with gilt, rugged pearls, and
+counterfeit stones, and 1,431 ounces of silver and silver-gilt plate
+were, together with the vestments, ornaments, and everything else of
+value, taken away.
+
+The public-spirited inhabitants of Tewkesbury, however, meant to
+preserve their cherished Abbey from destruction if they could compass
+it, and after petitioning their "most dread victorious sovereign
+lord," succeeded in doing so for a consideration, viz., the sum of
+L453. This sum was arrived at by roughly valuing the lead on the roofs
+at 5d. a square foot, and the bells at something like 2-1/2d. per lb.
+They had to pay L200 down, L100 the ensuing Easter, and the balance,
+L153, at Christmas. It was further stipulated that the said
+parishioners should "bear and find the reparations of the said church
+perpetually."
+
+The word "church" in this connection seems to be limited to mean that
+part of the building other than the nave. The nave seems to have been
+looked upon as belonging, as was the case elsewhere, to the
+inhabitants of Tewkesbury, for their use, more or less as a parish
+church. Mr. Hayman says that "parochial worship was enshrined there
+side by side with the monastic, far in the past, before its
+re-foundation in the eleventh century.... This parochial constitution
+survived the great successive shocks of change which altered or
+cancelled everything else. The change from Saxon to Norman, the havoc
+of civil war, the concentration of power in the Tudor crown, the
+Dissolution itself, and the Reformation which followed, all left this
+as they found it, or left it stronger still. To this constitution
+alone the noble church was indebted for its preservation. The King
+could grasp all else from pinnacle to basement, but the nave was the
+parishioners', and that he could not touch. The result is a church
+surviving entire and substantially as its vanished patrons and
+banished brethren left it. Therefore if this church is a monument of
+baronial and abbatial power long departed, it is yet more so of the
+strength of the popular principle, and of the vitality of the
+parochial system which survives."
+
+In the same way the good people of Great Malvern, or Moche Malverne as
+it was then termed, clubbed together and bought the Priory Church for
+L200, to serve as their parish church in place of the older parish
+church, which then, after two hundred and fifty years' use, was in
+need of repair. Their Lady Chapel, cloisters, dormitories, Chapter
+House, &c., were rased to the ground, and all that had a market value
+was sold.
+
+After the purchase of the church by the good people of Tewkesbury, the
+nave seems to have been utterly neglected, and only used for purposes
+of burial and for the occasional performances of stage-plays. Such
+plays were acted in 1578, 1584, 1585, as is shown by items which
+appear in the list of "church goods," as "sheepe skins for Christ's
+garments," "shippe skins for the sinners gear," "eight heads of heare
+for the Apostles and ten beardes," together with a "face or vizor for
+the devil."
+
+In 1559, on Easter morning, during divine service, the wooden spire
+fell down, causing damage to the tower masonry in its fall. This
+steeple may have been the original one which had been put up by
+Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester.
+
+In 1576 the two chapels of St. James and St. Nicholas were cut off
+from the church and turned into a free school.
+
+In 1582 the campanile, which stood on the north side of the church not
+far from the North Transept, was converted into a House of Correction
+for half the shire.
+
+In 1593 the Corporation records state that the long roof was taken
+down, and replaced in the following year. Six years later there is
+another interesting entry as follows: "The churchwardens after
+Michaelmas, intending of themselves to build a battlement upon the top
+of the church tower, offered to do the same without any charge, and
+for that purpose did set forth three stage-plays, played in the Abbey
+at Whitsuntide following."
+
+To raise more money they then proposed to hold a Church Ale, but there
+were difficulties in the way, and the proposal was dropped.
+
+The cost of the battlements was L66. These same churchwardens, with
+the help of others, "joined in entreating the benevolence of the best
+disposed of the inhabitants, and thereby finished the free school by
+glazing the windows, boarding the floors, and making the galleries."
+
+In 1602 the monks' stalls, which had been in the body of the church,
+were removed into the chancel.
+
+In 1603 "the roof of lead over the chancel was taken down, new framed,
+laid lower, and covered new," at the expense of the town.
+
+In 1607 a large grey marble slab was discovered buried in the church.
+It measured 13 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 6 inches, and 7 inches thick.
+This was placed for some time in the middle of the chancel and was
+used for a Communion table.
+
+ [Illustration: THE DETACHED BELL-TOWER, DEMOLISHED IN 1817.
+ _From Bennett's "Tewkesbury" lent by Mr. S. Browett._]
+
+In 1653-54 there is an interesting entry in the churchwardens'
+accounts: "Item. Paid the ringers 24th December, my Lord Protector
+being proclaimed that day--who was the Grand Rebel." (The last few
+words are by a different hand, perhaps that of the other
+churchwarden.)
+
+In 1661 the west window was blown in, and was rebuilt in 1686.
+
+In 1720 the external re-roofing of the nave was carried out, and the
+western gable, occupying the space between the two western turrets,
+disappeared in the process.
+
+By 1720 the "long roof," repaired in 1593, was again in want of
+repair, and to raise money a brief was granted by Parker, the Lord
+Chancellor. During the years 1723-26 the work was carried out and
+finished. Before this, the eaves of the roof overlapped the side walls
+of the nave.
+
+In 1726 the "old wall at the East end of the Chancel" was taken down,
+and foundations were dug upon which an altar-piece was to be erected.
+
+About the same time, the marble Communion table, which Mr. Gough
+called "the finest Communion table in the kingdom," was moved into the
+nave. It was then cut longitudinally into two pieces, which were used
+as seats in the porch.
+
+In 1737 the organ now in the choir was erected over the old screen.
+
+A stone altar-piece, Doric in character, with an elliptical pediment,
+was set up in 1725, the cost being partly met by private
+subscriptions. It must have struck most people as incongruous, for it
+was not liked, and in 1848 it was removed.
+
+A flood in 1770 rose to such a height that service could not be held
+in the church; and the old feoffee book states that "the graves in the
+church were shocking to behold, for scarce a stone was to be seen that
+was not removed from its proper situation. Several parts of this
+venerable building were materially injured, particularly the large
+pillar next the seats of the Corporation, and the arch over the same."
+
+In January, 1795, it was agreed at a parish meeting that "the church
+shall be whitewashed as soon as convenient, and other repairs be done
+... that shall appear necessary." The part of the church that was in
+use was re-pewed, galleries were put up in the two transepts, and in
+the easternmost bay of the aisles of the nave.
+
+During the years 1824-30, the exterior of the tower, probably
+untouched from the date of its first completion, was repaired, all
+decayed stones being made good. The windows which had been partially
+bricked up were opened, and shelving stones inserted instead. One of
+the pinnacles was entirely rebuilt, and the three others repaired. The
+turrets on the west front were also restored.
+
+At this time also the transept walls and the roofs were repaired and
+strengthened. The interior of the church previous to its
+colour-washing was scraped and cleaned, and the walls and pillars
+were repaired, pointed, and cemented. All the tombs were cleaned and
+most of them restored. The greater part of the nave was paved with
+Painswick stone, and in the rest of the church the gravestones were
+relaid.
+
+ [Illustration: THE WEST END IN 1840.
+ By _Rev. J.L. Petit_.]
+
+In 1825 the vicar and churchwardens posted to Worcester, that they
+might inspect the colouring of the Cathedral and other churches there
+with a view to decorating the Abbey. The committee decided in favour
+of colour-washing the Abbey, and this was done three years later.
+
+1828. The monuments of Sir Hugh le Despenser and Sir Guy de Brien,
+being very dilapidated, were extensively repaired. Most of the
+buttresses and pinnacles were entirely renewed. All this restoration
+involved the outlay of a considerable amount of money, and if more had
+been forthcoming more would have been undertaken, such as the
+restoration of all the tombs and chapels, and the old windows in the
+choir.
+
+The font in 1828 was removed from the nave and placed in the apsidal
+chapel in the south transept, from which position it was again removed
+in 1878.
+
+A final restoration was set on foot in 1864, and Sir Gilbert Scott
+reported that L15,000 was necessary to make good the dilapidation and
+decay which extended, in his opinion, from the foundations to the
+roof. The necessary amount was not forthcoming for several years. Then
+a new committee was appointed, with Sir Edmund Lechmere as its
+chairman. In 1875 the restoration began, the choir being undertaken
+first. For this purpose the church was divided into two parts by means
+of a hoarding. When the pavement in the choir was removed, the graves
+there were all carefully examined and their identification verified
+where possible. Many fragments of historic stonework were found, and
+these have been grouped together in the south-east chapel, which forms
+a kind of museum.
+
+After the work in the choir was advanced enough, the nave was
+undertaken and thoroughly done; the floor was relaid on a foundation
+of cement, all open graves being filled up.
+
+On September 23, 1879, the building was re-dedicated with a service
+modelled somewhat on the lines of the original dedication service in
+1123.
+
+During the last twenty years little has been done to the fabric.
+Windows and other decoration have been lavished upon the interior, the
+money expended amounting to several thousands of pounds, a sum which
+might have been spent with more benefit to the fabric, upon purchasing
+the precincts, and on repairing the timber-work which supports the
+roof.
+
+Interesting though the general question of the "restoration" of
+ancient buildings is, and interesting though Tewkesbury is as a
+particular case, this is not the place to go into it, but it may be
+well to quote from Mackail's "Life of William Morris," vol. i., p.
+340, a letter which William Morris wrote to the _Athenaeum_ about the
+restorations proposed at Tewkesbury.
+
+"My eye just now caught the word 'restoration' in the morning paper,
+and, on looking closer, I saw that this time it is nothing less than
+the Minster of Tewkesbury that is to be destroyed by Sir Gilbert
+Scott. Is it altogether too late to do something to save it--it and
+whatever else of beautiful and historical is still left us on the
+sites of the ancient buildings we were once so famous for? Would it
+not be of some use once for all, and with the least delay possible, to
+set on foot an association for the purpose of watching over and
+protecting these relics, which, scanty as they are now become, are
+still wonderful treasures, all the more priceless in this age of the
+world, when the newly-invented study of living history is the chief
+joy of so many of our lives? Your paper has so steadily and
+courageously opposed itself to these acts of barbarism which the
+modern architect, parson, and squire call 'restoration,' that it would
+be waste of words to enlarge here on the ruin that has been wrought by
+their hands; but, for the saving of what is left, I think I may write
+a word of encouragement, and say that you by no means stand alone in
+the matter, and that there are many thoughtful people who would be
+glad to sacrifice time, money, and comfort in defence of those ancient
+monuments; besides, though I admit that the architects are, with very
+few exceptions, hopeless, because interest, habit, and ignorance bind
+them, and that the clergy are hopeless, because their order, habit,
+and an ignorance yet grosser, bind them; still there must be many
+people whose ignorance is accidental rather than inveterate, whose
+good sense could surely be touched if it were clearly put to them that
+they were destroying what they, or, more surely still, their sons and
+sons' sons, would one day fervently long for, and which no wealth or
+energy could ever buy again for them.
+
+"What I wish for, therefore, is that an association shall be set on
+foot to keep a watch on old monuments, to protest against all
+'restoration' that means more than keeping out wind and weather, and,
+by all means, literary and other, to awaken a feeling that our ancient
+buildings are not mere ecclesiastical toys, but sacred monuments of
+the nation's growth and hope."
+
+The interest of the quotation lies in the fact that the Society for
+the Preservation of Ancient Buildings was formed, with Morris as its
+first secretary--a very practical outcome to such a very forcibly
+expressed letter.
+
+ [Illustration: THE CHOIR BEFORE RESTORATION.
+ _From an old photograph._]
+
+ [Illustration: THE NAVE BEFORE RESTORATION.
+ _From an old photograph._]
+
+A chance presented itself in 1883 of re-purchasing the Abbey House, a
+building which stood in its own grounds on lands embracing the site of
+the whole of the original monastic buildings. Subscriptions poured in,
+and at the auction, held in the town, the Abbey House Estate was
+bought for L10,500, and became once more, after 344 years, the
+property of the church. This estate included the Abbey House, the
+Abbey Gateway, three cottages, and about nine acres of land. A portion
+of the latter, viz., that which comprised the Cloister Walk, was added
+to the churchyard. The Abbey House comprises portions of the infirmary
+and perhaps of the misericord, which survived destruction at the time
+of the suppression of the monastery. Part of the original wall remains
+on the north side, between the gateway and the church. It is a pity
+that the inscription under the bay window is illegible.
+
+At the sale there was a curious lot (Lot 2) put up for sale, but it
+was withdrawn, and eventually given to the church. This lot was known
+as the _Vaulted Chamber_, and formed a portion of the south aisle of
+the nave which had been cut off from the rest of the building, and to
+which access was given by a stone staircase outside the church and a
+doorway in the wall by the nave.
+
+Very few traces of the old monastic buildings are to be found, for
+when the neighbouring ground has been levelled at various times large
+quantities of stone have been dug up from the old foundations, and
+utilised partly in constructing boundary walls, partly in repairs to
+the building. The Abbey Gateway, which is well worth inspection, is
+Perpendicular work, and is in surprisingly good repair, mainly owing
+to the fact that for many years it was in private hands. It stands
+very solid and square, and looks formidable with its battlements, but
+the view through the open doorway is very fine--the foliage on the
+trees beyond showing up the stonework. The work in the arches is good,
+and the gargoyles are worthy of notice. The gateway was restored in
+1849-50, and the gates are of about the same date.
+
+In the cloister there are traces at the west of the outer parlour of
+the monks, and the size of the cloisters is clearly seen to have been
+eighty feet.
+
+Of the place of this glorious Abbey in our own English history much
+might be written, and in fact it has been a difficult task to steer a
+course which, while avoiding too much history, should show that the
+history is there. In all the great events of history down to the end
+of the fifteenth century Tewkesbury Abbey has its place, and like the
+Abbey of St. Peter at Westminster and the Cathedrals at Canterbury and
+at Winchester, is in every respect a representative structure. "It
+represents all the greatest influences in our social development, it
+directly embodies in its memories both the Crown, at the time when the
+Crown was a _primum mobile_ in politics, and all the estates of the
+realm. It shows the Church as the keystone in which the various
+thrusts of those contending masses met and balanced each other. It
+exhibits in the Church patron the official link between things
+spiritual and temporal. Its great lay potentates, Saxon or Norman,
+either deduce their lineage from royal blood, or at once mix their own
+with it, and renew again and again their touch of royalty by fresh
+inter-marriages until the pedigree is absorbed into that of the
+reigning or rival sovereign. The House, after blazoning a leading
+name, often _the_ leading name of each successive period, after
+scoring repeated Plantagenet affinities, at length shares the
+internecine havoc of the York and Lancaster factions, and its last
+scions which survived that havoc are cut off on the scaffold for the
+crime of being too near the throne. But the almost princely rank of
+these founders, patrons, and benefactors is their least claim to
+historical remembrance. They are always to be found grouped in the
+very focus where the light of history falls strongest, men of the
+foremost mark for high trust and safe counsel for foreign strife, or
+civil broil" (_Hayman_).
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ THE ABBEY GATEWAY.]
+
+Thus in the four centuries after the Conquest we find Fitz-Hamon, the
+second founder, connected by marriage with the great Norman soldier.
+In the civil wars of Stephen, Robert Earl of Gloucester and Lord of
+Tewkesbury, and his half-sister, Maud or Matilda, played the parts we
+know so well. Again, Gilbert de Clare, who is buried in the Abbey, was
+one of the chief signatories of Magna Charta. The last of the three
+Gilberts de Clare fell at Bannockburn in 1314, at the age of
+twenty-three. The heiress of the latter married a Despenser, a family
+closely connected with Tewkesbury, two prominent members of which,
+viz., the favoured ministers of Edward II., will be remembered as
+by-words in history. Sir Guy de Brien, the valiant standard-bearer of
+Edward III., was the second husband of the widow of the fifth Lord
+Despenser, and, with her, helped to rebuild the choir, in the
+ambulatory of which his splendid monument is still to be seen. The
+Despensers in turn passed away, the last heiress marrying in
+succession two cousins, each named Richard Beauchamp. Of her second
+marriage were born two children--a son, who married the sister of
+Warwick the king-maker, and a daughter, who became the wife of the
+Earl of Warwick himself. The king-maker's two daughters were
+unfortunate in their husbands, one of them having been married to the
+luckless Duke of Clarence, and the other to the young Prince Edward,
+who fell in 1471 at the battle of Tewkesbury. Of these noble patrons
+of the Abbey from the first Tewkesbury De Clare to the time of the
+ill-fated Duke of Clarence, all save two, _i.e._, the second Richard
+Beauchamp and the great king-maker, Richard Neville, who are both
+buried at Warwick, found their last resting-place in Tewkesbury.
+
+ [Illustration: TILE SHOWING THE ARMS OF FITZ-HAMON AND THE ABBEY
+ IMPALED.]
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. D. Gwynne._
+ TEWKESBURY ABBEY, FROM THE NORTH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The original stone is in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.
+
+[2] Mr. Blunt, in his "Tewkesbury and its Associations," assigns the
+northernmost chapel to St. James, and the one between it and the choir
+aisle to St. Nicholas, but in his plan he reverses them. The plan in
+the _Builder_ of December, 1894, follows Mr. Blunt's plan in so naming
+the two chapels. Some have thought the present Northern Chapel to be
+that dedicated to St. Eustachius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE EXTERIOR.
+
+
+One of the most characteristic views of the exterior is to be got from
+the iron gates which give admission to the churchyard. The view thus
+obtained presents to us, with the exception of the windows and the
+pinnacles on the tower, features almost entirely Norman.
+
+As it is impossible to make a complete circuit of the church, it is as
+well to begin at the north transept. Here a wall will be found
+projecting from the north-east corner, of which the western face is in
+a very dilapidated condition. This wall contains a good Early English
+pointed arch, which is now filled up with stonework and contains a
+modern window. At the sides of the arch are Purbeck marble shafts with
+a central shaft of the same, which divides it into two subordinate
+arches, with an opening in the spandril between them. The base of the
+dividing shaft is a block of marble, curiously carved, representing
+four cats playing round the column. Each of the cats has in its mouth
+the tail of the cat immediately in front.
+
+On each side are the remains of a smaller recessed arch, and the only
+portion of the north wall which is still standing contains one bay of
+a trefoil-headed arcading which formerly was carried round the walls
+of this chapel.
+
+On the north wall of the transept the four bays of the vaulted roof
+are discernible, and a fine Early English doorway in the wall (lately
+restored) used to give admission to the main building. Originally,
+when the church was perfect, this was an open arch. At the last
+restoration a wall was built up inside, so that the arch might be left
+clear. This chapel can hardly have been the one mentioned on p. 13,
+which was dedicated to St. Eustachius, and was consecrated in 1246 by
+Prior Henry de Banbury. It is much more likely to have been the nave
+of the Early English Lady Chapel, of which the enclosed chapel to the
+east was the choir. Bristol Cathedral has its elder Lady Chapel in a
+similar position, though it was no doubt originally quite detached
+from the main building. The corner buttress at the north-west angle of
+the north transept was erected about the year 1720, and there is a
+corresponding support to the south transept at its south-west angle.
+
+The clerestory on this north side of the nave has a Norman arcade,
+supported on short shafts, which extends from the tower to the west
+front. The insertion of the later windows, which presumably were
+enlarged when the nave was vaulted, has destroyed the regularity of
+the arcading.
+
+A flying buttress of very slight proportions will be seen on the north
+side between the north transept and the north porch.
+
+=North Porch.=--For a porch of Norman construction this is of unusual
+dimensions, measuring 24 feet by 20 feet and 39 feet high. It is
+extremely simple in character inside and out. The roof is a plain
+barrel vault of stone.
+
+Both the internal and the external doorway have a circular arch
+composed of a series of mouldings supported by shafting, just as in
+the arch of the great west window.
+
+Over the outside door of the porch stood an image of the Virgin Mary
+with the infant Christ, typical of the Incarnation, but it has
+suffered much at the hands of would-be zealots. Over the porch is a
+room or parvise, very difficult of access and badly lighted.
+
+This north porch was in all probability built on to the church soon
+after the completion of the rest of the Norman building, and this may
+account for the difficult means of access.
+
+Between the porch and the west end there are traces of some earlier
+building, abutting on to the north wall of the church.
+
+The iron gates at the main entrance to the churchyard near the "Bell
+Hotel" were formerly mounted in the external doorway of the porch.
+They were given to the church by Lord Gage in 1750.
+
+=The Tower.=--This is generally considered to be one of the finest and
+most perfect Norman towers in existence. Its massive size (each side
+measuring 46 feet) takes off from its actual height. It stands well,
+and is impressive from its proportions and the simplicity of its
+ornament. It is 132 feet high from the ground to the battlements
+inclusive, and 148 to the top of the pinnacles. The pinnacles and
+battlements were added in 1660, as the inscription on the north-west
+pinnacle testifies. They were restored in 1825.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. D. Gwynne._
+ THE ABBEY, FROM THE SOUTH.]
+
+As to what was there before 1660 one can only conjecture, but it had
+been undoubtedly damaged by the fall of the wooden spire covered with
+lead, which event occurred on Easter Day, 1559.
+
+From whichever point of the compass it be studied, there is ever a
+different charm displayed, and the charm varies according to the light
+that plays upon the time-honoured handiwork of the Norman builders.
+The tower looks equally well from the north-west end of the
+churchyard, seen through the trees, from the extreme west, and from
+the open ground to the south-east, where the eye can also take in the
+graceful battlementing of the choir. Perhaps the best view of the
+tower and the building generally is that obtainable from the
+Gloucester road, just as one turns the last corner coming into
+Tewkesbury.
+
+The tower is supported by four piers, which, as will be seen from an
+inspection of the plan, are very massive. The two easternmost piers
+are in plan very similar to the two corresponding piers in Gloucester
+Cathedral.
+
+There are two windows in each side of the lower storey or base,
+immediately over the roofs of the nave and transepts, and between the
+windows is the stone ridge or wall-plate which indicates the pitch of
+the earlier roof. On three sides of the tower the dripstone is almost
+perfect.
+
+The next stage or storey has an arcade with two lights in each side of
+the tower. The third stage has a narrower intersecting arcade of great
+beauty and delicacy, with a curious effect produced by the warm
+colouring of some of the stones.[3]
+
+In the topmost stage there is another range of arcades and columns.
+
+=The West Front.=--The chief feature in this front is the noble
+recessed arch, 65 feet high and 34 feet wide. There are seven columns
+on each side of the arch, one being partially concealed by the
+masonry of the Debased Perpendicular window which was inserted
+originally to give light to the nave. Portions of the seventh shaft
+have been, however, exposed for inspection.
+
+There is one slight defect in this unique west front as it now is,
+viz., that apart from the window, the arch is on too large a scale for
+the size of the front, or, as Dean Spence puts it (he himself is
+quoting from some other writer), "As this noble arch stands at
+present, it is extremely beautiful in itself, but it has an incomplete
+appearance, seeming to want a _raison d'etre_, and being too large a
+jewel for its setting."[4] Exactly the same may be said of the window,
+though its excessive size will not be felt so much from the outside as
+from the inside of the church, where the low vaulting of the nave
+further accentuates the excessive size of the window.
+
+As was the case at Gloucester, larger western towers were originally
+contemplated to contain the bells, and there are indications of this
+in the rough stonework in the clerestory on the south side, evidently
+designed to carry a tower 22 feet square. The towers in the west front
+at Southwell are an example of this design carried out. When it was
+decided to build smaller towers, the bell tower or campanile (which is
+shown on p. 17) was built. Later again the lantern or open part of the
+interior of the tower was vaulted over (_vide_ p. 74), and the bells
+were hung in the great central tower. The campanile was then diverted
+to other uses. In later times it was used as a prison for several
+years, but having become structurally unsafe, was demolished in 1817.
+
+It would be interesting to know the original scheme of windows in this
+west front. There is a trace of the original Norman doorway inside the
+present doorway, and it is supposed that the original window was
+either a large round window, with possibly one or two tiers of
+round-headed lights below. Later, a larger window, probably of
+fourteenth century work, was inserted, which lasted till it was blown
+into the church in 1661. The present window, which was built in 1686,
+may probably have been an attempt to follow the lines of the previous
+window. At either side of the large arch is a Decorated window of two
+lights.
+
+The stonework of the towers, above the point where the arch springs,
+is decorated with a Norman arcading in two tiers. They are finished by
+two partly Norman turrets, with later pinnacles and spires.
+
+=The South Side.=--This side has a blank appearance owing to the total
+disappearance of the claustral and conventual buildings, all of which
+were "deemed to be superfluous." There are traces on the south wall of
+the "outer parlour," and there is blocked up into it a doorway from
+the west end of the south aisle of the nave. Traces are there, too, of
+Norman work on the wall, which prove that the Norman cloisters were of
+the same extent and size as those of Perpendicular times.
+
+=The Cloisters.=--These were of two periods of Perpendicular work, and
+though smaller than those at Gloucester (80 feet as compared with 148
+feet) seem to have been enriched with panelling and arcading in every
+way as fine, judging from the stone which shows the spring of the
+arches near the cloister door.
+
+The doorway from the cloister to the south aisle is a beautiful piece
+of fifteenth century work. It consists of a low pointed arch, struck
+from two centres, in the hollow moulding of which are canopies. Below
+are pedestals for figures. At the top the arch is embattled, and above
+it are niches, seven in all, with pedestals and canopies, richly
+ornamented and carved. On either side, over the canopy is an angel
+bearing a plain shield. This doorway was filled with stonework up to
+1892, and had been so filled for many years, but has since undergone
+restoration of a very careful kind. The oak door is new, and is an
+example of very florid work executed with the great mechanical
+precision which now characterises modern wood-carving. One bay of the
+cloister has been vaulted to protect the doorway; and the wall arcade
+has been restored, at the expense of the Freemasons of the county.
+
+On the south front of the south transept there are to be seen traces
+of a building of the same width, through which there were means of
+communication with the church. The wall of this south transept has
+been considerably strengthened since the Dissolution.
+
+Separated from the south transept by a slype or passage, was the
+Chapter House, of which nothing is known beyond the fact that it was
+repaved in 1259, and destroyed at the Dissolution with other buildings
+on this side. Over the Chapter House there was a dormitory, also with
+an entrance to the church. This entrance has been walled up. There
+were stairs giving access to a room built over the apsidal chapel in
+the south transept, and also to the transept itself.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ THE CLOISTER DOORWAY.]
+
+To the east of the south transept a very good view of the choir and
+its chapels is to be obtained. The westernmost chapel is the Norman
+apsidal chapel, and here the original Norman work comes to an end as
+far as the exterior is concerned.
+
+The Norman arcading on the east and west walls will be noticed, but it
+has been lately restored.
+
+The chapel (marked Vestry in the plan) has an upper chamber with two
+commonplace modern windows in it, the mullions having been destroyed.
+There is a massive buttress attached to the wall of this chapel, much
+larger than any of the other exterior buttresses. It is quite hollow,
+and is entered from the interior of the chapel, which is now used as
+the clergy vestry.
+
+The windows of the choir are elaborately decorated with a crocketed
+gable.
+
+The east end of the church[5] and the exterior of the chapels on the
+north side of the church are in private gardens, which unfortunately
+extend up to the very wall of the church, and prevent access.
+
+The actual east end now consists of an arch which was formerly the
+entrance to the destroyed Lady Chapel, of which nothing remains but
+the modern masonry in the arch, now walled up, and containing a modern
+window of three lights; and above this is the original west wall above
+the vestibule of the Lady Chapel, with a restored window of four
+lights.
+
+The parapet of open work which runs round the summit of the apse is
+another beautiful feature of the exterior of the eastern part of the
+church. It seems to be formed of stalks from a thorn tree intertwining
+in such a way as to form triangular openings. This parapet or coronet
+is as much like lacework as it is possible for stonework to be, and
+gives to the building a peculiarly delicate and subtle finish.
+
+A very good exterior view of this east end can be obtained from the
+battlement of St. Faith's Chapel. The pitch of the roof and the
+character of the mouldings can thus be seen.
+
+=The Lady Chapel.=--Nothing is left but the partly concealed mouldings
+of the arch in the east wall of the ambulatory of the choir. On the
+outside of the east end may be seen portions of the lofty
+vaulting--just where it sprang from the walls--which would indicate
+that the masonry was very beautiful and delicate work.
+
+Much uncertainty exists as to the size of the Lady Chapel, though
+traces of the foundations have been found for some distance to the
+eastward of the present building. Unfortunately the ground in which
+the foundations are hidden is private property, and the chance of a
+thorough investigation of the site very remote. Traditionally, the
+Lady Chapel is said to have been 100 feet long, or about a third of
+the length of the building. There is no documentary evidence to
+support this tradition, and in the absence of such confirmation Mr.
+Blunt supposes that there was no large Lady Chapel,[6] but that a
+chapel somewhat similar to those still surviving, and specifically
+referred to as "Capella Beatae Mariae Ecclesiae Conventualis," was
+destroyed not long before the Dissolution for the purpose of making
+room for a larger and more splendid chapel. This chapel, Mr. Blunt
+adds, was never completed, the plans of the builders being upset by
+the general dissolution of the monasteries.
+
+The Capella Ecclesiae Conventualis above mentioned would rather imply
+the existence of another Capella Mariae to which the parishioners had
+ordinary access, and this reference to it tends to strengthen the
+theory that on the north side of the north transept there was a
+detached Lady Chapel as at Bristol.
+
+On the other hand, the orders of Henry VIII.'s Commissioners expressly
+mention the Lady Chapel as a part of the building to be pulled down,
+as being superfluous. This is a matter of exact history, and we have
+either to accept the conclusion that the Commissioners ordered the
+chapel to be destroyed, and that it was done, or else that they
+ordered the destruction of a building which did not exist. To support
+the former alternative we have the tradition, and it is nothing more,
+that the Lady Chapel was destroyed because of the delay of the good
+people of Tewkesbury in buying the choir.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] Some of the stone in the tower is undoubtedly Caen stone, brought
+from Normandy for the work.
+
+[4] Mr. W. St. John Hope suggests that there was to be _one_ central
+western tower, within which this arch would not look out of place.
+
+[5] A good view of the north-east end at close quarters can be
+obtained from the Abbey Tea Gardens.
+
+[6] There are records of interments in the Lady Chapel: William Lord
+de la Zouch of Mortimer in 1335, another Lord de la Zouch in 1371, and
+the widow of the latter in 1408. In 1472 the Bishop of Worcester
+appropriated the church of Little Compton to the Convent of Tewkesbury
+to augment the salaries of the priests officiating in the chapel of
+the Virgin Mary there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE INTERIOR.
+
+
+THE NAVE.
+
+The Norman nave bears a close resemblance to that at Gloucester, and
+has the distinguishing feature of the simple cylindrical columns.
+These massive piers are found at the Priory Church at Great Malvern,
+and also at Pershore; but those at Gloucester and Tewkesbury are
+considerably larger than the others.[7] At Tewkesbury the nave is
+particularly impressive from the height of the piers, and from the
+severely formal character of the arches supported by them. The
+simplicity of the nave as a whole has led some to ascribe the building
+of it to a date earlier than that of the nave at Gloucester; but if
+the received accounts go for anything, the building of the two fabrics
+was contemporaneous. Pershore, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury are by some
+considered to have been the production of one master-builder. If this
+be so, it is a matter of regret that his name has not come down to our
+time.
+
+At Gloucester and at Tewkesbury many of the stones bear on their faces
+the interesting devices incised by the Norman masons. These marks are
+in many cases the same, but there are some found at Gloucester which
+are not found at Tewkesbury, and _vice versa_. One small point may be
+noticed which may perhaps interest a few, viz., that the same workman
+set out and worked at the first few courses of the stone work of the
+staircases, and then was followed by others, possibly less
+intelligent, but capable of following the indicated plan. A monk named
+Alfred was the "Master of the Work," and it would be interesting to
+know if the stones marked A are marked with his mark.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE NAVE, FROM THE WEST END.]
+
+The nave here was being built in all probability while the great
+Flambard was busy with Durham (1105-1130), and very soon after he had
+finished his labours at Twynham or Christchurch, Hants. Gloucester is
+generally assigned to Serlo, 1089 to 1100, and Norwich was begun in
+1096.
+
+ [Illustration: MASONS' MARKS.]
+
+Above the arches of the nave are small double round-headed openings
+into a very narrow triforium walk, which is vaulted, as at Gloucester,
+with a quadrantal arch.
+
+There is another peculiarity, too, here, in that the vaulting of the
+roof springs from corbels which rest directly on the capitals of the
+piers. As a result of this the roof looks low and heavy.
+
+The triforium openings, which are divided by small shafts, similar in
+character to those in the tower chamber, are 5 feet 6 inches high and
+4 feet 10 inches wide. The passage is 26 inches wide and 6-1/2 to 7 feet
+high.
+
+The two western bays of the triforium are not alike. On the north the
+openings correspond to those in the other bays, and are not contracted
+to correspond with the narrowed arch below; whereas on the south side
+they are so contracted. By this means the square angle of the western
+pier was continued to the roof. On the north side the western pier
+ends abruptly at the capital of the respond.
+
+The clerestory windows are partly concealed by the vaulting. Of course
+the original windows were much smaller, and were removed and the space
+enlarged when the re-roofing was done in the fourteenth century.
+
+=The Roof.=--Originally, no doubt, as at Peterborough, where it
+remains, the inner roof was a flat panelled ceiling of wood, supported
+by a moulded framing. Whether the wooden roof decayed or was destroyed
+by fire, it was found necessary in the early part of the fourteenth
+century to re-roof the nave, and the present vaulting was then
+constructed. Beautiful though it is architecturally, it has the effect
+of dwarfing the nave, as it springs directly from the tops of the
+piers in the nave. In character it is a simple pointed vaulting, and
+the ribs at their many points of intersection are lavishly decorated
+with bosses.
+
+Originally the vaulting was painted and gilded, but owing to the
+idiosyncrasies of those who fancied they were having things done
+"decently and in order," it was colour-washed in the early part of
+this century. The present scheme of colour decoration was carried out
+by Mr. T. Gambier Parry. Its chief merit is that it throws out the
+bosses in very strong relief. The bosses can be studied with an
+opera-glass, but it is less fatiguing to examine them with the help of
+a pocket mirror. There is a tradition that the bosses were carved by a
+monk who was not held in much esteem by his companions, and was a butt
+for their gibes and witticisms. Whether this was so or not, he knew
+how to carve rudely and effectively in stone, and long may his work
+remain with us. They represent in a highly pictorial manner the life
+of our Lord. Beginning at the west end, the central bosses depict: (1)
+The Nativity. (2) The Shepherds rendering homage. (3) The Magi on
+their journey. (4) The Magi in adoration. (5) The finding of Christ in
+the Temple. (6) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (7) The Last
+Supper.[8] (8) The Betrayal. (9) The Flagellation. (10) The
+Crucifixion. (11) The Resurrection. (12) The Ascension. (13) The Day
+of Pentecost. (14) The Coronation of the Virgin. (15) The Last
+Judgment.
+
+The other bosses contain angels bearing musical instruments of every
+known kind, and alternating, more or less regularly, with angels
+censing and angels bearing emblems of the Passion.
+
+On the south side: (1) Angels with pipe and tambourine. (2) Angels
+with cymbals and bagpipes. (3) Angels with hurdy-gurdy and harp. (4)
+Angels with dulcimer and organ. (5 and 6) Angels censing. (7) St.
+Matthew and St. John with their emblems, a scroll and an eagle. (8)
+Angel with a violin; others with emblems of the Passion, _i.e._,
+posts, spear, and scourges.
+
+On the north side are to be found: (1) Angel with pipe and tabor;
+another censing. (2) Angel with harp; another censing. (3) Angels with
+rebec and zither. (4) Angels with tabor and zither. (5 and 6) Angels
+censing. (7) St. Luke and St. Mark, with their emblems, a winged ox,
+and a winged lion. (8) Angel with a harp; others with emblems of the
+Passion, _i.e._, a crown of thorns, a sponge, a cross, and a scourge.
+
+Mr. Gambier Parry, who personally supervised, where he did not
+personally execute, the decoration of the roof, termed it "a
+marvellous specimen of English carving," and says that "together with
+the cathedrals of Gloucester and Norwich, it combined some of the
+finest features of mediaeval sculpture." Further he adds that though
+"fine details must not be looked for, yet it exhibited a vigour of
+conception and a charm of inspiration which quite atoned for any
+faults."
+
+At the west end of the building are two half-figures, male and female,
+like the figure-heads of ships, which serve as corbels for the
+vaulting of the roof. They have been thought by some to represent Adam
+and Eve, and by others to represent the founder, Fitz-Hamon, and
+Sibylla his wife.
+
+=The Font= (p. 40).--With the exception of the shaft, which has some
+good hall-flower ornament,[9] and the Purbeck marble base, this is
+entirely new work, dating only from the restoration carried out
+1875-79. Formerly the old font, of which portions remain in the
+church, stood in the apsidal chapel in the south transept, and the
+choice of position for the new one is not quite happy. The canopy is
+very fine work, but the font as a whole is as much too high as the
+choir screen is too low. It is also placed at far too great a height
+above the surrounding floor to be comfortable for a party of sponsors,
+and from its height it interferes with the beautiful vista of the nave
+as viewed from the outside of the open west door on a fine day in
+summer. There is no reason for placing the font in this position, and
+a Baptistery could have well been made in the north-west corner of the
+nave.
+
+=The Lectern=, also a gift from Rev. C.W. Grove in memory of his wife,
+was presented in 1878. Formerly it blocked up the central passage up
+the nave, but was removed to counterbalance the pulpit.
+
+=The Pulpit= was given to the church by Mrs. Glynn, of Tewkesbury, in
+memory of her husband. In style it is Perpendicular. The shape is
+octagonal, and it is supported by seven shafts of Purbeck marble,
+springing from a base of the same, polished; the bases and capitals of
+the octagonal shafts being of stone. Of the seven panels, four are of
+pierced work, and three are sculptured representing our Lord blessing
+little children; preaching on the Mount; giving His charge to the
+Apostle Peter. Below the panels is a brattice of Purbeck marble--from
+this at the angles rise octagonal columns supporting angels, which
+again support a canopy of elaborate work. The pulpit rests on a base
+of Purbeck marble.
+
+The nave must have terminated in the same way as the nave at
+Gloucester, viz., with an altar and with two side chapels--one in each
+aisle. In the handbook to Gloucester, page 44, will be found the
+illustration of the altar and chapels redrawn by Mr. Waller from the
+drawing given in Browne Willis' "Survey of Gloucester Cathedral,"
+published in 1727. This arrangement no doubt obtained at Tewkesbury,
+which, like Gloucester, was a Benedictine foundation.
+
+The space thus given up to the altar and chapels is indicated by the
+step which comes in the nave near the second pillar, counting westward
+from the western tower piers. In each of these, on the aisle side are
+to be seen the ascending spiral made by the recently inserted pieces
+of stone which show the exact position of the staircase that led up to
+the rood-screen overhead.[10] This step no doubt marks the site of the
+original western termination of the ritual choir. It seems strange
+that, after undergoing so many vicissitudes as a whole, the survival
+of so interesting a point should have been permitted. Gloucester
+Cathedral was repaved in 1720, and no doubt the corresponding step
+disappeared in the process in the levelling-up of the nave to a height
+nearly ten inches higher than the original floor level. This step was
+restored by Sir Gilbert Scott when the floor of the nave was lowered.
+
+On the face of the pillars here some traces of fresco-painting are in
+some lights still to be seen.
+
+A screen of most uninteresting work separated the choir from the nave
+up to the time of the restoration work that was begun in 1875, and
+upon this stood the organ. In front of the organ was hung a huge and
+unsightly gas corona, portions of which are still lying in the north
+transept.
+
+Two bays of either aisle were also disfigured with low galleries, as
+were also the transepts. These erections, with the screen and the
+screens across the aisles, have fortunately disappeared. As Bennett
+wrote, "These additions, however much they may add to the convenience
+and comfort of those who attend divine service, little harmonise with
+the general character of the building."
+
+=The Screen.=--This dates from the restoration of 1892, and was
+erected in memory of Mrs. Glynn, by Archdeacon Robeson and Mr. E.F.
+Glynn. The screen is of carved oak, and consists of a central door,
+with wrought-iron gates, and on either side four openings. At the top,
+which is seventeen feet above the floor level, is an overhanging
+cornice with elaborate cresting of carved work on both sides. The
+cross in the centre is richly ornamented on the stem and the arms.
+These latter are terminated with paterae, with pierced and carved work.
+The centre of the cross is composed of a quatrefoil in which is
+carved the Agnus Dei. Flanking the cross are two figures, one
+representing St. John, and the other the Virgin Mary. These figures
+are well carved (by Boulton, of Cheltenham), but, like the cross, look
+too small on the top of the screen.
+
+The side sections of the screen terminate in ogee arches, elaborately
+cusped and crocketed, with perpendicular tracery in the spandrils. The
+separating shafts terminate with pinnacles.
+
+In the central section there are two arches, one being semi-circular
+with very delicate foliated tracery; the other is an ogee trefoil
+supported from brackets which take the form of angels.
+
+The lowest stage of the screen is solid panel work and calls for no
+special mention.
+
+The gates were made by Clarke, of Brackley, and were designed by Mr.
+J.O. Scott for the donor, Rev. W.R.F. Hepworth. Intricate in their
+design, and cleverly wrought as they are, they seem slightly
+incongruous in this wooden screen. The shields bear the correct arms
+of the Abbey, and round the shields are intertwining iron rods.
+Scrolls with leaves and other devices are also introduced. Across the
+top of the gates is a band of square panels with varied design in
+pierced work, and on the top is an elaborate cresting.
+
+On the inside of the gates, on the shields are the texts, "_Serve the
+Lord with fear._"; and "_Rejoice unto Him with reverence._"
+
+The whole screen looks too low for its position, whether it be viewed
+from the west end or from the triforium of the choir at the east end.
+The workmanship will not bear any minute comparison with the loving
+hand-craftsmanship of mediaeval times; much of it is more skilful as
+church furniture of a very mechanical kind than beautiful as real
+carver's work.
+
+The =Great West Window= dates back, as far as the masonry is
+concerned, to 1686, and was erected then to replace the window blown
+in by the wind in 1661. The glass was inserted in 1886 by Rev. C.W.
+Grove in memory of his wife, and represents various scenes in the life
+of Christ. In the lowest tier is the Annunciation, with the Nativity
+in the centre, and the Presentation in the Temple on the right. Above
+is the Baptism by St. John in the Jordan, the Last Supper in the
+centre, the Agony in the Garden on the right. In the topmost tier is
+the Bearing of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the appearance of our
+Lord to Mary after the Resurrection. In the head of the window are
+angels, those in the two side lights on either side being engaged in
+censing. In the central top light is Christ in Majesty, with angels.
+The glass is by Hardman.
+
+=The Aisles.=--The aisles of the nave are very much lower in height
+than the nave, and the vaulting is simpler in character. There are,
+however, many fine bosses, and, like those in the nave, they have been
+treated in a tentative way with colour and gold. As a whole, the
+effect of decorated bosses standing out in such strong relief from the
+simple, unadorned stonework is rather spotty and distracting. The arms
+of the Despenser family are to be found on some of the bosses in the
+south aisle, and it is to the munificence of that powerful family that
+the execution of the work is due. The Norman roof of the aisles was a
+lean-to roof of wood, as is indicated by the half-arch between either
+aisle and the transept.
+
+The fourteenth century windows in the =North Aisle= were partially
+blocked up with stonework up to 1825, when they were restored and
+reglazed. Most of the stained glass was inserted in 1892. The window
+at the west end is a memorial, inserted in 1869, to Mr. John Terrett
+and his sister. The subject is the "Adoration by the Magi"; the glass
+is by Heaton Butler and Bayne. The _first_ window east of the porch
+represents the "Angel appearing to the Shepherds" and "The Star of
+Bethlehem," and "The Wise Men before Herod," in the lower part. The
+_second_ shows "Christ Disputing with the Doctors," and below are "Eli
+and Samuel," "David and Samuel," and "Saul at the feet of Gamaliel."
+The _third_ represents the Sermon on the Mount, and below, Christ
+talking to the Woman at Samaria, Christ with Mary and Martha, and
+Christ with Nicodemus. The _fourth_ represents the Transfiguration;
+the _fifth_ gives the triumphal entry into Jerusalem; beneath, Christ
+is driving out the money-changers from the Temple and weeping over the
+city; the _sixth_ depicts the removal of Christ from the Cross, and
+the Entombment.
+
+These windows are more or less attempts to reproduce the style of the
+old glass in the choir. Four of them contain groups under canopies,
+with a background of grisaille and a wide border. Owing to the lights
+being narrower in the fifth the border is omitted, and in the sixth
+the grisaille work is also omitted. All the windows in the north
+aisle, with the exception of that in the west wall and that next to
+it, were presented to the Abbey by Rev. C.W. Grove.
+
+It will be noticed that the windows in the north aisle are slightly
+longer than those in the south aisle. The curtailment in the latter
+was due to the fact that the cloisters were built against the outside
+of the south wall. There is more variety in the tracery of the windows
+in this north aisle than in those of the south aisle.
+
+In the north aisle near the transept [P][11] is a recessed tomb, much
+mutilated, with a very graceful arch. On the tomb lies a knight in
+armour, with his hands clasped and his feet resting upon a lion. The
+armour is worth noticing, as it is curious. The gorget is of
+edge-ringed mail, the surcoat is blazoned with a chevron between three
+leopard's faces. Banded mail, with which the knight is dressed, is
+rarely met with in monuments, only three other instances being known,
+viz., Newton Solney, Tolland Royal, and Dodford.
+
+This tomb has usually hitherto been assigned to Lord Wenlock, who was
+killed by the Duke of Somerset at the fatal battle of Tewkesbury.
+Against this theory is the fact that the tomb is of much earlier date
+than that of Lord Wenlock's death, and the fact that Lord Wenlock
+built a chantry chapel in Luton Church for his wife Elizabeth and
+himself, to which, according to Leland, he is said to have been
+removed. The figure is supposed, with considerable probability, to
+represent Sir John de Burley.
+
+In the north aisle, on a brass plate inserted in a flat stone is a
+Latin inscription to Amie Wiatt, of Tewkesbury, who died on August
+25th, ... Following the inscription is a set of elegiac verses, the
+initial letters of which form the lady's name.
+
+ "A me disce mori, mors est sors omnibus una
+ Mortis ut esca fui mortis ut esca fores.
+ In terram ex terra terrestris massa meabis
+ Et capiet cineres urna parata cinis.
+ Vivere vis coelo, terrenam temnito vitam:
+ Vita piis mors est mors mihi vita piae.
+ Iejunes, vigiles, ores, credasque potenti.
+ Ardua fac: non est mollis ad astra via.
+ Te scriptura vocat, te sermo, ecclesia, mater;
+ Te que vocat Sponsus, Spiritus atque Pater."
+
+A punning epitaph, also acrostic in form, but in English, is to be
+found in the nave, to one Merrett, a barber chirurgeon, who died in
+1669.
+
+ "T hough only stone salutes the readers eye,
+ H ere in deep silence precious dust doth lye,
+ O bscurely sleeping in Death's mighty store,
+ M ingled with common earth till time's no more;
+ A gainst Death's stubborn laws who dares repine,
+ S ince so much _Merrit_ did his life resigne.
+
+ M urmurs and tears are useless in the grave,
+ E lse he, whole vollies at his tomb might have;
+ R est here in peace, who like a faithful steward
+ R epaired the church, the poor and needy cured.
+ E ternall mansions do attend the just,
+ T o clothe with immortality their dust,
+ T ainted (whilst under ground) with worms and rust."
+
+In the pillar nearest to the north door in the nave is all that
+remains of the stoup or benitier for the holy water. We may probably
+attribute the wanton damage it has sustained to one of the zealots who
+ministered here after the Reformation.
+
+=South Aisle.=--This aisle has five Early Decorated windows. The
+western four have three lights each; the other, near to the south
+transept, has four lights, and the tracery in it is slightly more
+elaborate.
+
+All the stained-glass windows in this aisle were presented to the
+church by the Rev. C.W. Grove, in 1888, as a memorial to his wife. The
+windows are by Hardman.
+
+The _first_ window, _i.e._, the westernmost, represents Christ walking
+on the sea; the _second_ represents the cripple at the pool of
+Bethesda; the _third_, the raising of the widow's son at Nain; the
+_fourth_, the feeding of the five thousand; the _fifth_, the changing
+of the water into wine at Cana.
+
+At the west end of the south aisle is a memorial window to Mr. H.P.
+Moore. This is also by Hardman, and represents the home at Nazareth.
+
+At the easternmost end of this aisle is the door by which access was
+given the church from the cloisters. The entrance to this door
+consists of a depressed arch, with a square head over it; the
+spandrils are pierced with an open quatrefoil. This door stands within
+the original Norman doorway, which was filled in, and traces of the
+supporting shaft with its capital may be seen. Above are seven niches,
+with brackets and canopies of good carved work. Over the canopy on
+either side is an angel with a plain shield.
+
+At the restoration of the church this doorway was very carefully dealt
+with at the cost of the then Mayor, Mr. Thomas Collins. Up to the time
+of the restoration of the church, 1891-92, this doorway had been
+walled up with many pieces of broken carved work from other parts of
+the church. The doors were designed by Mr. J. Oldrid Scott, executed
+locally, and given by the late Mr. Thomas Collins.
+
+To the east of the cloister door [O] is a tomb with a fine crocketed
+ogee arch, and with an angel bearing a plain shield in place of a
+finial. On one of the cusps are to be traced the chevrons of the De
+Clares, and another bears a lion rampant. Beyond the fact that it was
+the tomb of a relation of the De Clares nothing definite can be said.
+Some have thought it to be the tomb of Sir Thomas Morley, the husband
+of Anne, daughter of Edward, Lord Despenser, and widow of Hugh, Lord
+Hastings, who died in 1417. It may here be noted that a lion rampant,
+sable, crowned or, are to be found on one of the shields at Lord
+Despenser's feet in the Isham register. This tomb is generally known
+as the Duke of Somerset's tomb, but the arms as they exist show no
+resemblance to the arms he would be entitled to bear, viz., those of
+the Beauforts.
+
+In the floor of the south aisle is an interesting stone with an
+inscription in Norman French, in bold Lombardic capitals running round
+the border:
+
+ [Illustration: (in Norman: Leger de Parr lies here. May God have
+ mercy on his soul.)]
+
+_i.e._, "Leger de Parr lies here. May God have mercy on his soul."
+According to Bennett, this stone had been moved from some other place
+in the church.
+
+Up to the time of the restoration the extreme western portion of the
+south aisle was part and parcel of the Abbey House Estate. In 1883,
+when the estate was put up for sale, the room thus formed in the
+church was withdrawn from the auction, and soon afterwards was
+presented by the then owner to the Abbey, to be in future an absolute
+part of the building. In the south wall near this Abbey chamber is a
+blocked-up doorway which gave access to the Outer Parlour of the
+monks.
+
+
+TRANSEPTS AND AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR.
+
+The whole of the nave, as in most cathedrals, is open to the
+inspection of the visitor free of any charge; but the choir, the
+tombs, the chapels and transepts, are reserved, and shown to visitors
+on payment of a small fee. This fee is payable at the verger's desk at
+the entrance to the north transept. A further fee is payable by those
+who wish to photograph in this or in any other part of the building.
+
+=North Transept.=[12]--The whole of this north transept is taken up
+with the Grove organ, of which an account is given on p. 98. The
+dimensions of the transept are 40 feet by 34 feet, and 58 feet in
+height. For the most part this transept consists of original Norman
+work, very little altered with the exception of the fourteenth century
+stone vaulting and the insertion of windows of the same period.
+
+On the north wall of the transept is a tablet, in painted alabaster,
+to John Roberts. It has been neglected, but it is worth deciphering.
+It runs: "Here resteth what was mortal of John Roberts of Fiddington,
+gent. Careful he was to maintain tillage, the maintenance of mankind.
+He feared God, was faithful to his country, friends, good to the poore
+and common wealth, just to all men. Who left us Jan. 1631, aged 77."
+The text is, "For Christ is to mee both in life and in death
+advantage."
+
+The north side has two small pointed windows with geometrical tracery.
+Below these are recessed Norman arches. On the floor level the masonry
+is new, having been built up inside the Early English arch.
+
+On the south side are the backs of the choir stalls. On the west side,
+in the wall is a large Decorated window containing five lights with
+flowing tracery. This window was blown into the church in 1819, and
+then rebuilt.
+
+The eastern wall contains two Norman arches, one of which is merely
+the continuation of the north aisle, through the transept to the north
+ambulatory. The other is in the north wall of the transept, and opens
+into the choir vestry. Over these two arches were formerly two other
+open arches. One of these, viz., that over the choir vestry, has been
+walled up, and the other has a circular or rose window. After
+undergoing repairs the window was glazed by Hardman, in 1892, as a
+memorial to Mary Anne Moore. The subject is "The adoration of the
+Lamb." In the central light is the Agnus Dei; while in the other six
+encircling quatrefoils are angels censing, and representing Blessing,
+Glory, Honour, Power, Wisdom and Strength. The glass has been designed
+to give the effect of older glass, and, so far as that is possible, it
+may claim to be a success.
+
+ [Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
+ THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE, LOOKING WEST, SHOWING THE BACK OF THE
+ DESPENSER MONUMENT.]
+
+This rose window occupies the space which originally was the west end
+of the original Norman triforium of the choir, to which access was
+given by the staircase in the north-east corner of the transept.
+
+The =interior of the tower= for more than three centuries was
+accessible only from the outside of the church, but is now approached
+by a staircase in the north-east angle of the north transept. After
+mounting the first flight, which is somewhat worn, the transept
+vaulting is crossed by a species of bridge, and at the end of this
+access is given by a narrow doorway to the first floor of the tower,
+which contains a large room 33 feet square, with a curiously formed
+floor. This room has some good Norman work on the walls, and when open
+to the church, as it was originally, it must have been one of the
+striking features of the interior from below. That it was open
+originally may be inferred from the plain treatment of the western
+side, _i.e._, the side that would not catch the eye of those using the
+nave and looking eastwards.
+
+On the floor-level the arcading is practically uniform, with the
+exception of one column.[13] Above, on the north, south, and east
+sides is arcading, and still higher in each side are two round-headed
+window openings.
+
+This spacious apartment owes the form of its curious floor to the
+vaulting of the lantern-space in the time of Sir Guy de Brien, whose
+arms are found in the lierne-vaulting which supports the floor. The
+room was cleared and improved in 1887, when the hanging
+ringing-chamber was removed, and the floor and ceiling put in good
+order. The ringing-floor is on the next stage, and the belfry is the
+floor above.
+
+The clock was erected as a Jubilee memorial in 1887, at a cost of over
+L200. It is built on the lines of the clocks at Westminster and
+Worcester Cathedral, and chimes the so-called "Cambridge quarters" as
+arranged by Dr. Crotch. Small though the clock looks from the level of
+the churchyard, it must be remembered that it is the massive tower
+that dwarfs it--the diameter of the face is in reality 8 feet.
+
+ [Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
+ INTERIOR OF THE TOWER ABOVE THE VAULTING.]
+
+Nothing is known of the place of origin of the pre-Reformation bells,
+but, arguing from the proximity of Gloucester, it may be assumed that
+out of the eight bells weighing 14,200 lb. or more, some may have been
+cast by John Sandre, of Gloucester.
+
+The eight bells were bought from the King's Commissioners for L142,
+_i.e._, at the rate of 5 lb. for a shilling. They may have been
+bought to sell again, as the number was soon reduced to _four_. In
+1612 a fifth bell was added, as a rhyme on the cover of the baptismal
+register (1607-1629) tells us:
+
+ "William Dixon and Thomas Hoare
+ Made us that bell which wee ring before,
+ Which men for that good deede praie we they maie thrive,
+ For we having but four bells, they made them five;
+ And out of the grownde this bell they did delve
+ The 24th of Julie, Anno Dom. 1612."
+
+Near the arcaded passage in the room in the tower are some memoranda
+of the changes possible with five bells, rudely engraved in the
+stonework.
+
+In 1632 the peal was recast and a sixth bell was added, and in 1679
+the two newest bells were recast. Two new bells were added in 1696. In
+1797 the great or tenor bell was recast. From the time when the bells
+were overhauled and tuned at Gloucester, in 1837, no further
+alteration has been made. The present peal is about 500 lb. less in
+weight than the peal in use at the time of the Dissolution.
+
+From the top of the tower a fine view is to be obtained--Cheltenham,
+and Gloucester, with its beautiful Cathedral tower, on the south, the
+Malvern Hills on the west, the Cotswolds on the east and north-east.
+The Severn and the Avon wind through the landscape, and on the far
+horizon may be seen the distant hills of Wales.
+
+The old shafting has been chipped away on the west face of the
+stonework opposite to the north-east tower pier. As one turns round
+the corner into the north ambulatory or choir aisle, it will be
+noticed that on the wall is a monument by Flaxman to Lady Clarke; it
+is small and unobtrusive, but the sculpture is thoroughly good and
+worthy of a great artist.
+
+On the right hand opposite is the Warwick Chapel (p. 83), of which the
+glory in part has departed, viz., the decoration in colour and in
+gold, and much of the architectural detail.
+
+=St. James' Chapel.=[14]--This chapel (dimensions 28 feet by 24 feet),
+which opens on to the north transept of the north ambulatory, was from
+1576 up to 1875 walled off from the rest of the church and used as
+premises for the "Free Grammar School of William Ferrers, citizen and
+mercer of London." The school ceased to be held here about forty years
+ago, but the inserted masonry and brickwork was not removed till the
+restoration of 1875 and following years, when the chapel was restored
+by the Freemasons of the county. From the time that the chapel ceased
+to be a school it fell into a bad state of repair, and was open to the
+sky before the recent restoration, when the present roof of timber,
+covered with lead--the only wooden roof in the church--was erected and
+the stonework repaired.
+
+There seems no doubt that this chapel was originally a Norman apse
+with a vaulted chamber[15] above, like that in the sister transept,
+and that it was enlarged in the thirteenth century by Prior Henry
+Sipton. This is distinctly stated in Annals to have been done in the
+case of the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas in 1237. No trace remains
+of any of the work of Prior Sipton owing to the later works carried
+out in this chapel. The nave of a Lady Chapel was built on the north
+side of the north transept, and its chancel (the existing northern
+part of the choir vestry) was carried out to the east, this portion of
+the chapel being quite detached, as the windows (now blocked up) in
+the upper part of the south wall plainly show. Access for the laity
+was given by a door in the nave portion, while the monks had an
+entrance through the adjoining chapel, which may, after its rebuilding
+in 1237, have contained two altars, one to St. James and another to
+St. Nicholas. This theory of the two altars in this chapel would
+account for much of the confusion in the naming of the chapel by
+subsequent writers. The vaulting of this chapel is at first sight a
+difficult problem to solve, as the eastern side is divided into two
+equal parts, while the western side is divided into two unequal parts.
+A pillar seems to have stood in the centre, if the lists of noblemen
+buried (after the battle in 1471) in the two chapels are trustworthy.
+When the fourteenth century Lady Chapel at the east end of the church
+was built, the _raison d'etre_ of the Early English Lady Chapel
+ceased, and the chapel entrances were enlarged to their present form.
+Any distinctive features that they had in the way of wall decoration
+were lost either at the Dissolution, when part was pulled down, or
+during the subsequent use of the eastern chapels as a schoolroom.
+
+Passing through into the adjoining chapel on the north, which was
+probably the chancel of an =Early English Lady Chapel=, the visitor
+will note the great contrast between this and the adjacent chapel. It
+is very much richer in its ornament, and though it has been terribly
+mutilated, much work of surpassing interest is still left to us. The
+north wall contains the remains of a trefoil-headed arcade of great
+beauty, the spandrils of which show richly carved foliage, the effect
+of which was further heightened by the application of colour. Of the
+arcading eleven capitals remain, but only three pillars and bases, the
+rest having been cleared away.
+
+ [Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
+ WALL ARCADE IN EARLY ENGLISH CHAPEL.]
+
+In the wall of the present west end is a window decorated with a
+moulding consisting of two series of chevrons, completely undercut,
+pointing laterally in contrary directions.[16] Numerous interesting
+remains of Early English mason's work are in the chapel, and many
+have been built into the wall on the east side, the most important
+being remains of a fine altar-piece in Purbeck marble.
+
+There is a window on the east side containing four lights, the
+subjects, beginning from the north side, being as follows:--(1) The
+mythical Saxon founders, Oddo and Doddo, A.D. 715. (2) The Norman
+founders, _i.e._, Fitz-Hamon and Sibylla. (3) Earl Robert, 1089-1123.
+(4) The Countess of Warwick, 1439. The figures are based on the MS.
+Chronicle of the Abbey, belonging to Sir Charles Isham of Lamport.
+This window, the tracery of which is new, is by Bourne of Birmingham,
+and forms a memorial to a former churchwarden, John Garrison, who died
+in 1876. The tracery contains the red and white roses of the rival
+houses of Lancaster and York, appropriately enough, seeing that under
+the floor, in front of the altar to St. James, are interred the
+remains of Lord Edmund, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Thomas Courtenay,
+the Earl of Devon, Sir Richard Courtenay, Lord John Somerset, and Sir
+Humphrey Hadley, who were beheaded after the battle of Tewkesbury. Sir
+Thomas Tresham, who also was beheaded at the same time, was buried
+before a pillar between the altars of St. James and St. Nicholas.
+
+The whole of this part of the chapel was once the choir or chancel of
+the detached Early English Lady Chapel which was erected early in the
+thirteenth century. The Annals of Tewkesbury record that in 1239 the
+_Church_ of Tewkesbury with a greater altar was dedicated in honour of
+the glorious Virgin Mary. The word Church might mean this Early
+English Lady Chapel, which with its nave and chancel would be a model
+church, although somewhat small in size; but the words _majore altari_
+are generally taken to mean the large slab of Purbeck marble now in
+its place in the choir as an altar slab.
+
+Lady Chapels were not invariably at the east end of the main building.
+At Bristol there was and is still an elder Lady Chapel which at one
+time was detached from the main building.
+
+The floor in these chapels is that which was formerly in the choir up
+to the time of the restoration of the church.
+
+=St. Margaret's Chapel.=--This is one of the series of the fourteenth
+century chapels which surrounds the ambulatory of the choir.
+
+An old altar-cloth which was given by Anne, Countess of Coventry, in
+1731 to the church was removed to this chapel after the restoration of
+the building.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE AMBULATORY, LOOKING TOWARDS ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL.]
+
+A very fine screen of stonework separates this chapel from the
+ambulatory, the tomb of Sir Guy de Brien (late Decorated--erected in
+1390) forming part of the screen.[17] Sir Guy was the third husband of
+the Lady Elizabeth Despenser who is buried in the tomb on the other
+side of the ambulatory. In the panelling are the arms of Sir Guy, who
+was also Lord Welwyn, and those of his wife, who was by birth a
+Montacute. This knight served Edward III. as standard-bearer at Crecy
+in 1346, and was a great benefactor to the Abbey. He is credited with
+the vaulting of the tower, as his arms occur in the bosses there.
+
+The vaulting, which springs from engaged shafts, is excellent work,
+like that in the other chapels, and the bosses are worth notice. In
+the central boss in the ceiling the Coronation of the Virgin is
+represented, and surrounding it are heads of lions and of men.
+
+An aumbry, lavabo, and piscina are all worthy of study.
+
+=St. Edmund's Chapel.=--The ground-plan of this chapel is curious, as
+it is apparently divided into two by a kind of re-entrant pier of
+masonry, and the easternmost part is screened off from the ambulatory
+by the curious tomb known by the name of the Wakeman Cenotaph, or the
+tomb of the starved monk (_vide_ p. 94).
+
+In this chapel is a large aumbry, and a very perfect stone coffin
+which was dug up in the south ambulatory near the Trinity Chapel. The
+metallic sound given forth by the coffin when tapped seems to be of
+more interest than anything else to the ordinary visitor. Various
+interesting fragments of stonework are in the chapel, one being a
+portion of a tomb. Portions of the font formerly in the Norman chapel
+in the south transept are also here. Under the painted window is a
+piscina, more than half of which is modern work. There were, no doubt,
+two altars, _i.e._, one in each part of the chapel, but the dedication
+of the other part is not known.
+
+At the intersections of the vaulting are some unusually interesting
+carved bosses. For the most part they have reference to the legend of
+St. Edmund, King and Martyr, viz:--
+
+The head of the king bearing a crown. The king, bound to a tree, being
+shot at by Danes. A greyhound watching by the body of Lodbrog in the
+wood, murdered by the king's huntsman. Christ with a halo of glory,
+triumphing over Sin personified as a monster. St. Michael destroying
+the dragon. Other bosses are either floral or heraldic, the latter
+containing the arms of the Despensers. The boss in the centre of the
+roof is unique, containing a lion being attacked by various other
+animals, _e.g._, a horse, a ram, a monkey, wolves, etc.
+
+There is one painted window in this chapel, which was erected in 1877
+to the memory of Rev. C.G. Davies, for thirty-one years Vicar of
+Tewkesbury. The window is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. In effect it is
+too kaleidoscopic.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE AND ST. EDMUND'S CHAPEL.]
+
+Opposite to the Wakeman Cenotaph (_vide_ p. 95) is the iron grating
+which is the entrance to--
+
+=The Clarence Vault.=--This vault [F] contains the remains of George,
+Duke of Clarence, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, and his wife
+Isabelle, who was the eldest daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of
+Warwick, commonly known as the "King-maker." The Duchess died at
+Warwick in December, 1476, from the effects, it is said, of poison.
+She was buried in the vault which, as the chronicle says, was made
+_artificialiter_ behind the great altar, in front of the door of the
+chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the opening of the tomb was
+made opposite the entrance of the chapel of Saint Edmund the Martyr.
+The young Countess, after lying in the choir in state for thirty-five
+days, was laid in the vault on February 8th. Ten days later her
+husband, who had been put to death in the Tower--it matters little
+whether in the butt of Malmsey wine or not--was buried beside her.
+
+Assuming that the tomb was desecrated and pillaged soon after the
+Dissolution, and again later on in Commonwealth times, we find that in
+1709 the royal remains were displaced to make room for the body of a
+"periwig-pated alderman" by name Samuel Hawling; and later on, in 1729
+and 1753, his wife and son were interred there. The site then was lost
+till it was identified in 1826. In 1829 the Hawling remains were
+removed, and since then it has remained the Clarence Vault. In 1876 it
+was fitted with iron gates, and in the pavement over the vault a brass
+has been inserted with the inscription, composed by Mr. J.T.D.
+Niblett:--
+
+"Dominus Georgius Plantagenet dux Clarencius et Domina Isabelle
+Neville, uxor ejus qui obierunt haec 12 Decembris, A.D. 1476, ille 18
+Feb., 1477.
+
+ "Macte veni sicut sol in splendore,
+ Mox subito mersus in cruore."
+
+Or in English--
+
+"Lord George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Lady Isabelle Neville,
+his wife, who died, she on Dec. 12, 1476, he on Feb. 18, 1477.
+
+ "I came in my might like a sun in splendour,
+ Soon suddenly bathed in my own blood."
+
+On the brass are engraved two suns in splendour, the badge of the
+House of York.
+
+The fourteenth century stone screen-work round the choir side of the
+ambulatory, particularly at the back of the reredos and the north-east
+portion adjacent to it, is very interesting work. The lower part is
+panelled with tracery in low relief, with the arches springing from
+diminutive heads. All the shafting is ornamented with a small
+ball-like enrichment. Above the panelling is some open tracery of
+beautiful design. By reference to the plan it will be seen that much
+of this original screen-work has been set back several feet, possibly
+to make room for the Clarence vault.
+
+At the east end of the ambulatory is the arch by which entrance was
+formerly given to the destroyed Lady Chapel. It is now walled up, and
+in such a way that it is difficult to picture the appearance of the
+original work. However, from the battlements of the adjoining
+south-east chapel it is possible to see the remnants of the vaulting
+of the entrance to the Lady Chapel.
+
+In the modern cast wall is a window of three lights (by Hardman) in
+memory of Rev. C.W. Grove, who presented most of the modern glass in
+the church. The subject is the Pharisee and the Publican. It is not
+known whether the Pharisee is intended to be a portrait of any one,
+but the Publican's face is said to be an excellent portrait of Mr.
+Grove, and the portrait of the lady in the top light (she lacks a
+halo) is deemed to be an equally good picture of Mrs. Grove.
+
+=St. Faith's Chapel.=--The site of this chapel is not known for
+certain, though it is supposed to have been one of the two south-east
+chapels.
+
+The first and easternmost chapel is the largest of the series of
+chapels built round the ambulatory. It is pentagonal in form and is 28
+feet by 24 feet, opening to the aisle with a richly moulded arch. The
+vaulting, as in all these chapels, is excellent work, but the student
+of such things will notice that the masons' work on the chapels on the
+south side is in even courses, and that the stones are better dressed
+than in the chapels on the north side of the choir. At the
+intersections of the vaulting there are some good bosses, chiefly
+foliage with some heads. In this chapel there are three stone coffins.
+
+The central window (by Kempe) is to the memory of Benjamin Thomas
+Moore, for thirty-eight years churchwarden, who died in 1896. Though
+detail of a most elaborate kind fills the window, yet in appearance it
+is rather thin, a quality which the clear, strong light that shines
+upon it as a rule somewhat accentuates. In the central light is St.
+Faith, to whom this chapel is often ascribed, with St. Agnes on the
+left and St. Cecilia on the right. There are two other windows, one of
+four lights and the other of three.
+
+By standing at the entrance to this chapel the visitor will obtain a
+very fine and interesting set of _coups d'oeil_ of the different parts
+of the building. Towards the north there is the view of the work at
+the back of the altar, and St. Edmund's and St. Margaret's chapels in
+the background. To the north-west are the tombs at the back of the
+altar and sedilia; to the west is a good view of the south ambulatory
+and the south aisle of the nave.
+
+The next chapel, _i.e._, the middle one of the three on this side, has
+no known dedication.[18] It is also pentagonal--somewhat irregular, it
+is true, but its length and breadth are the same--20 feet. There are
+two windows of three lights.
+
+This chapel has become the museum for the storage of many interesting
+fragments of destroyed portions of the fabric. Some of the coloured
+fragments are under glass, others are grouped against the eastern
+wall. It is to be regretted that no list is hung up in the cases. The
+larger of the two cases contains in one division pieces of the broken
+upper part of the sedilia, all finely coloured. In the other division
+are fragments from the Warwick Chapel and other mutilated tombs in the
+choir. Most of these were found buried in the choir at the restoration
+in 1875. There are some iron rings which belonged to the coffin of Sir
+Hugh le Despenser. They were removed when the tomb was inspected in
+1875.
+
+Portions of figures of the De Clares are also in the case--one with an
+inverted torch, representing Gilbert de Clare, who died, the last male
+of his line, at the battle of Bannockburn, 1314. Three bases of
+figures contain inscriptions as follows:
+
+ 1. Rob^s. Consull Filius Regis
+ 2. Willelm^s. Comes Gloces^r.
+ 3. . . . . . e Regis.
+
+Another portion of a figure, in a blue mantle, is said to be Thomas
+Lord Despenser, the last Earl of Gloucester. It has upon it the arms
+of Despenser and Clare.
+
+On the wall are some swords which recall the panic caused in 1803 by
+Napoleon's projected invasion and humiliation of England. It is
+difficult to see why they or the colours of the Volunteers were
+removed to this position from the Town Hall.
+
+Against the eastern wall are portions of a beautiful frieze, with
+ball-flower ornament, and many shields bearing traces of rich colour.
+There is a fine head, and a curiosity in the form of a coffin of an
+infant, a portion of a cluster of marble columns, and a figure in
+camelskin and leather girdle representing St. John the Baptist.
+
+Across this chapel is the tomb of Abbot Cheltenham, who died in 1509
+(_vide_ p. 95).
+
+=The Vestry.=--The third of the chapels is the most regular in shape,
+and is used, as it was in monastic times, as a Vestiarium or vestry.
+The arch is closed entirely by masonry, built upon the original wall
+which formed the outer wall of the Norman church. In the walled-up
+space that corresponds to what is the entrance in the case of the
+other chapels are a fine tomb and the doorway into the vestry. A
+description of the tomb will be found on p. 97. The tomb of the Abbot
+may have been removed from a grave outside the building, but it is not
+known who was buried in it. Willis ascribed it to Robert Fortington,
+who died in 1253. A fine doorway, richly decorated, with three
+elaborately wrought brackets for images over it, gives access to the
+Clergy Vestry. The door is of oak, plated with roughly wrought metal
+plates, of which tradition has it that they were made by the monks out
+of swords and armour found in and around the precincts after the
+battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.
+
+This chapel is profusely enriched with ball-flower moulding, both
+inside and on the side next the ambulatory. It will be noticed that
+the windows are small and placed, for the sake of the security of the
+sacristy, high up in the south wall. In the south wall is a piscina,
+and close by on the south-east wall must have stood an altar. The
+window nearer to this has richer detail than the other two. In the
+south-west wall a small recess is formed inside a buttress. This may
+have been used as a safe for plate and other valuables in the charge
+of the sacristan.
+
+ [Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
+ THE VESTRY DOOR, SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
+
+A special staircase in the north-west corner, entered from the
+ambulatory, gives access to the room over the vestry. In this room,
+which has a fireplace, the sacristan probably slept. He was able from
+the windows on the stairs to see into the Vestiarium or Diaconum
+Magnum, and also into the choir. In fact, this view is one of the most
+interesting in the church. Two large square modern windows give light
+to this room, and a doorway in the east wall communicates with the
+space over the vaulting of the ambulatory and chapels. The room had
+originally a low timbered roof, as will be seen by the holes once
+occupied by the beams.
+
+There are two tombs of interest built into the wall between the vestry
+door and the south transept, and space for them has been cut out of
+the original Norman solid wall. One is quite plain and simple Early
+English work [M], and contains the remains of Abbot Alan, a man of
+learning and of considerable note, as he was a friend of Thomas a
+Becket, the great Archbishop of Canterbury. This is the only tomb of
+that period now surviving in the church, and it has been thought that
+he was the first of the abbots who was honoured with an intramural
+tomb.
+
+Close to Abbot Alan's tomb is another recess which now is without its
+coffin. The arch is pointed and crocketed with pinnacles at the sides.
+In the absence of a tomb the chief interest consists in the old
+encaustic tiles which have been transferred here from other parts of
+the building, a few of them having been found in 1875 under the then
+stone pavement of the choir. They are now safe here from the
+destroying power of the ubiquitous tourist's foot.
+
+On the south-east tower pier is a marble tablet in Renaissance style,
+erected in 1890 to the memory of Mrs. Craik, the author of "John
+Halifax, Gentleman," who is said to have written her story whilst
+staying at the ancient "Bell Inn" near the Abbey gate. The memorial
+was designed by Mr. H.H. Armstead, R.A., and is gracefully carried out
+entirely in white marble. The only fault in the memorial is that there
+is too much work in proportion to the size of the tablet. The topmost
+portion above the projecting cornice is a charming piece of work,
+illustrating Charity, but too high above the ordinary visitor's head
+to be seen or appreciated as it should, and the group rather
+overweights the memorial.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by A.H. Hughes_
+ THE APSIDAL CHAPEL, SOUTH TRANSEPT.]
+
+=South Transept.=--(Dimensions 40 feet 8 inches by 32 feet 10 inches.)
+This transept has vaulting of the same character as the other, and a
+large west window, rebuilt in 1820, filled with glass in memory of
+Thomas Collins, of Tewkesbury. Beneath this window is a deeply
+recessed doorway (now blocked up) which once gave access to the
+cloisters. In this recess are to be found some of the old tiles which
+formerly were in the choir. In the south wall too, like the north wall
+of the other transept, there are recessed Norman arches with two
+windows--enlarged later--under the roof. The doorway in this wall
+formerly communicated with the Chapter House. One of Tewkesbury's
+glories, the old organ, forms the north boundary of the transept. On
+the east side there are four large Norman arches. Of these the first
+is the archway which gives access to the south ambulatory, with a
+triangular window (of fourteenth century work) over it, occupying the
+position once taken by the arch of the triforium of the Norman choir.
+In 1893 this window was glazed with stained glass by Rev. W.H.F.
+Hepworth in memory of his mother, the subject of the window being
+Faith, Hope, and Charity.
+
+To the south of this is the large arch which gives access to the
+Norman chapel with its early Norman groined roof. This chapel will
+give the student an idea of the original plan of the north transept
+before the alterations in 1237 and in 1246.
+
+The east window was perforce blocked up when the ambulatory chapels
+were built, and to give light to the chapel the south-east window was
+inserted in the apse, no other position for a window being possible,
+as will easily be seen by reference to the plan.
+
+An anonymous donor presented the Salviati mosaic now in the filling of
+the east window, but the effect is not good, as too strong a light
+falls upon the gold background. Probably the work will look better
+when the south transept is entirely glazed with coloured glass. The
+subject is our Lord enthroned, bearing a book in one hand, and having
+the other raised as in blessing. The glass in this window was formerly
+in the east window of the ambulatory of the choir, and was removed to
+its present position in 1887. It is a memorial to Mr. A. Sprowle, a
+former resident of Tewkesbury. The glass is by Clayton and Bell, but
+the window is very poor and uninteresting.
+
+This Norman chapel[19] was at one time used as the Baptistery, and the
+font, now in one of the two north-east chapels, was in use here up to
+the time of the restoration in 1875. After this restoration the altar
+from the choir was transferred to this chapel, and the various guilds
+connected with the church subscribed towards the cost of fitting the
+chapel for special devotional use. It is used for the daily morning
+services in the week.
+
+There are remains of a piscina in this chapel, but very much battered.
+It is to be hoped that money will not be frittered away on any attempt
+at polychrome decoration of the ordinary kind in the chapel as has
+been done at Gloucester in the chapel of St. Andrew. Mr. Blunt has
+thrown out the suggestion as a possible ideal, but the simplicity of
+the present chapel is far preferable.
+
+Immediately above it is a large vaulted room, similar in shape, but
+less lofty, open to the transept. Its roof shows traces of having been
+at one time elaborately painted with frescoes, and the room formerly
+communicated with the original Norman triforium of the choir. This
+room has at various times had absurd names given to it, perhaps the
+most absurd being that of the Nun's Prison. As Mr. Blunt in
+"Tewkesbury and its Associations" says, there are many people who
+cannot hear about monks without immediately thinking of nuns. It would
+seem that the room communicated with the dorter or dormitory, and was
+designed for invalid monks, who from it might hear mass sung in the
+church without going downstairs. In the south-east corner of the
+transept a staircase gives access to this chamber, and communicates
+with the triforium of the transept, the clerestory of the choir, the
+vaulting of the ambulatory as well as that of the tower.
+
+Before 1875 a gallery filled up the south transept and two bays of the
+south aisle, and communicated by means of the organ screen with the
+similar gallery in the north transept.
+
+In the west wall is a recess, formerly a doorway of Early English
+work. On the south wall is a brass tablet from the choir pavement, to
+the memory of Prince Edward.
+
+At the corner of the south transept and the south aisle is a curious
+recess in the masonry hidden by a curtain.
+
+At the extreme east end of the south aisle, near the niche or recess
+just mentioned, is a rudely carved head which no doubt served as a
+cresset.
+
+
+THE CHOIR.
+
+This part of the building is usually entered from the south ambulatory
+by the entrance opposite to the door of the clergy vestry. The
+screen-work at this entrance to the choir was in a ruinous state in
+the early part of this century, and has been most carefully repaired,
+and in part renewed.
+
+It is a choir of great beauty, and though at first sight small and
+low, its proportions are admirable in every way, the length being
+almost exactly twice the breadth.
+
+From the centre of the eastern tower-piers to the back of the altar
+the choir measures 63 feet, but the total length from the present
+oak-screen to the altar is 103 feet. The breadth in its widest part is
+33 feet.[20]
+
+The upper part of the choir was reconstructed in the early part of the
+fourteenth century in its present polygonal form, the Norman pillars
+being carried up three feet, and fitted on the choir side with
+Decorated capitals.
+
+The curious effect of the carrying up of the columns will be seen from
+the fact that the arches which spring from the Decorated capitals do
+not correspond in pitch with the vaulting in the ambulatory. The
+latter springs from the original Norman capitals on the columns in the
+choir (_see_ illustration, p. 52).
+
+The moulding of these arches of the choir is exceedingly rich, and the
+outer ones on the north side contain a double moulding of quatrefoil
+flower ornament.
+
+The easternmost arch is somewhat stilted; the bare wall thus left
+exposed having originally been concealed by the reredos, or at any
+rate decorated in some way.
+
+In these alterations to the choir here the Norman triforium had to be
+sacrificed; and those who wish to see on a larger scale what the
+original triforium was like must study that at Gloucester. In fact the
+two choirs alone will form the basis of much interesting study, the
+Gloucester choir having been left comparatively intact below the
+clerestory, and veiled over with richly wrought Perpendicular
+stonework.
+
+The windows and the roof are of about the same date, _i.e._, early
+fourteenth century; the roof is anticipatively Perpendicular. A great
+feature of the choir is the skilful way in which the work of different
+times has been so effectively combined, and brought into a harmonious
+whole.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo A.H. Hughes._
+ THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.]
+
+It is interesting to compare the ground-plans of Gloucester and
+Tewkesbury, and to see how the two originally Norman choirs have been
+treated. At Gloucester the apsidal formation has been destroyed,
+traces only of it being left under the present reredos, but there the
+actual removal of Norman work stopped. The Norman piers of the choir
+and presbytery and the Norman triforium of the choir are all there,
+though they are partly concealed by the later Perpendicular casing.
+The choir at Tewkesbury has lost its distinctively Norman character,
+as nearly all the original outside wall of the church to the east of
+the tower was removed, but it has retained its apsidal formation.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. W.G. Bannister._
+ THE CHOIR VAULT.]
+
+Beautiful as the choir is, it owes much of its effect to its vaulted
+roof, which is a fine specimen of early Decorated work. The vaulting
+ribs spring from small engaged shafts, which are carried up the face
+of the wall from the main piers, and then radiate from very ornate
+capitals over the vault. A fine colour effect must have been presented
+by the original ceiling painted and frescoed.
+
+The bosses are less elaborate and less varied than those in the choir
+at Gloucester, but are well carved, consisting for the most part of
+vine-leaves delicately treated. All this roof was colour-washed in
+1828, when so much restoration was done in the church.
+
+The suns[21] in the centre are supposed to have been put up by command
+of Edward IV. after the battle of Tewkesbury. The suns were a device
+which was appropriated by the Yorkists after the downfall of the
+Lancastrian party. Those in the tower vaulting are modern copies of
+these original suns. The modern painting of the vaulting is subdued in
+tone.
+
+The vault of the tower is a lierne vault, and from the occurrence of
+the arms of Sir Guy de Brien, once quartered with those of Montacute
+(_i.e._, of his wife), the vaulting has been credited to his
+exertions. The Despenser fret is to be found twice.
+
+In front of the altar-rails is the large boss from which used to hang
+the sanctuary lamp, the sacred flame of which was kept ever trimmed
+and bright, as a sign that "the house was evermore watching to God."
+
+=Altar.=--The Purbeck marble altar is supposed by some to have been
+the altar mentioned in the Abbey Chronicles of 1239, but any Early
+English features have been destroyed beyond recognition. It is reputed
+to be the largest altar in England, but, at any rate, it may be said
+to be the longest. Originally set up in its present situation, it
+seems to have been buried in the choir by the monks, perhaps by some
+who were not so mercenary as the rest. Sixty-eight years afterwards it
+was found, and its purpose being recognised, it was set up in the
+middle of the choir as a Communion table. In 1730 it was transferred
+to the aisle, the churchwardens' accounts stating that 12_s._ was paid
+for so doing, and that 2_s._ 6_d._ was given "to the men that did it
+for working all night." The "large entire blue stone" was then cut
+into two lengthwise, and was further desecrated by being converted
+into seats for the north porch.[22] Earl Beauchamp, at his own
+expense, had the two slabs restored to their original use. Considering
+what the marble has gone through, its size has been well maintained.
+In 1607 it was 13 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 6 inches by 7 inches; and
+now it is 13 feet 6 inches by 3 feet 5 inches by 5 inches. It is
+supported by a massive framing of oak.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo D. Gwynne._
+ THE SEDILIA.]
+
+=Sedilia.=--These are on the south side in the canted bay of the apse.
+These sadly mutilated remains of a once glorious work are especially
+interesting. Originally they were decorated with rich colour and gold,
+much of which still in parts remains. The canopy of tabernacle work
+has been ruthlessly destroyed, together with the major part of the
+easternmost section. All the shafting is very richly moulded with a
+great number of diminutive mouldings, principally ogee and hollow.
+Foliage work of rare beauty and representations of grotesque animals
+form the greater part of the ornament. There are interesting remains
+of diaper work in the wall which forms the back. The plinth and seats
+are probably modern work. At the top are placed some pieces of
+battlement work, of which there is a great amount in different parts
+of the building. It seems a pity that the remains of the sedilia which
+lie elsewhere in the church cannot be placed together in position
+here--not "restored," but honestly pieced as well as may be done with
+care and patience.
+
+The north-east pier that supports the tower bears a plain corbel,
+supporting what is supposed to be the remains of an oak case for the
+Saunce-bell or Sanctus-bell.
+
+=Tiles.=--During the wholesale restoration of 1875 and following years
+some old tiles were found, after the pattern of which the present
+tiles were made. The fashion of paving buildings of the age of
+Tewkesbury Abbey with glazed and glossy machine-made tiles, all cut
+mathematically true, is much to be deprecated. Time has done much, and
+will do more, to remove the glaze, but nothing will ever remove the
+stiff printed look of the pattern. The black patches of tiles are
+rather heavy in appearance, but the pavement looks better so than it
+would if broken up with streaky slabs and squares of glaring white
+marble incised with more or less pictorial designs relieved with a
+background of black cement. The choir of Tewkesbury in this respect
+has fared better than that of Gloucester, though a little more might
+have been made of the graves of the illustrious dead who are known to
+have been buried underneath.
+
+=Windows of the Choir.=--These fourteenth century windows are the
+chief glory of the choir. There are seven in all, and though they have
+suffered much from wilful damage and neglect, there are perhaps no
+others in England containing quite so much glass of the same date, and
+in such good condition as a whole.[23] Every one must rejoice that in
+1828 lack of funds prevented these windows from being thoroughly
+restored.
+
+The windows nearest to the tower have four lights each, and the
+tracery is comparatively simple though flowing and free. The next two
+on either side of the choir are slightly more elaborate and contain
+five lights each, while the east window is quite different from the
+rest. It has five lights, and the head of the window contains a fine
+Catharine-wheel.
+
+In the north-west window (_i.e._, immediately over the Warwick Chapel)
+are--1. Fitz-Hamon; 2. Robert Fitzroy; 3. Hugh le Despenser; 4.
+Gilbert de Clare (third), the tenth Earl of Gloucester. In the
+south-west window, _i.e._, the one exactly opposite to the last
+mentioned, are--1. Gilbert de Clare (the first of the name); 2. Lord
+de la Zouch; 3. Richard de Clare; 4. Gilbert de Clare (the second).
+These knights are all in armour, and are valuable as giving accurate
+representation of the armour and knightly gear of their time. Above
+the knights are represented canopies, and in the heads of the windows
+are scrolls of vine-leaves.
+
+The bodies of the De Clares lie below the choir pavement, almost in a
+line with these two windows.
+
+The other windows on either side contain Scripture subjects, many of
+them very fragmentary: Daniel, David, Abraham, Jeremiah, Solomon, and
+Joel are, however, easily to be found.
+
+The east window represents the Last Judgment. In the centre Christ is
+depicted with uplifted hands, on which are the stigmata of the
+Passion. The side lights, from their unsymmetrical arrangement, would
+seem to have been rearranged, or rather disarranged, at some time. The
+Apostles would naturally be grouped on either side, in the outer
+lights. The other two lights represent St. John and the Blessed
+Virgin. Of these figures the heads, which are modern, were put in
+(free of charge) in 1828 by a London glass-painter named Collins. In
+the five panels below the figures are groups of persons arising from
+their graves; one group represents an angel disputing with the evil
+one for the possession of three persons bound with a chain. At the
+bottom are armorial bearings.
+
+In the floor of the choir there are graves in which many notable
+persons, who made their mark in history, were buried.
+
+Exactly under the central point of the vaulting of the tower is the
+site of the grave of Prince Edward, son of Henry VI. and Margaret
+Anjou. He died on the 4th of May, 1471, and with him the last hope of
+the Red Rose party was finally crushed.
+
+A modern brass, with a Latin inscription which was composed by Mr.
+J.D.T. Niblett, records that "Hic jacet Edwardus princeps Walliae,
+crudeliter interfectus dum adhuc juvenis Anno Domini 1471, mensis Maii
+die quarto. Eheu, hominum furor: matris tu sola lux es, et gregis
+ultima spes,"--or in English, that "Here lies Edward, Prince of Wales,
+brutally murdered while but a youth, in the year of our Lord 1471, on
+the 4th of May. Alas! the madness of men. Thou art the only light of
+thy mother, and the last hope of the flock." Holinshed writes that the
+body of the Prince "was homelie interred with the other simple corpses
+in the church of the monasterie of the blacke monks in Teukesburie."
+Another MS., which gives a list of noblemen slain in the battle of
+Tewkesbury, states more definitely that he was "buried in the midst of
+the convent choir in the monastery there." Traces of a coffin-lid were
+found near the north-west pier of the tower, and from other evidence
+it was taken to be the tomb of the young prince, and this would give
+more colour to Hall's statement that he "was buried without any
+solemnity among some mean persons in the church of the black friars in
+Tewkesbury."
+
+In 1796, when several alterations were made in the church, a brass
+plate was inserted in a stone over a tomb in the choir supposed to be
+that of the Prince. This tablet is now on the wall of the south
+transept. It runs:
+
+ "NE TOTA PEREAT MEMORIA
+ EDWARDI PRINCIPIS WALLIAE
+ POST PROELIUM MEMORABILE
+ IN VICINIS ARVIS DEPUGNATUM
+ CRUDELITER OCCISI HANC TABULAM
+ HONORARIAM DEPONI CURABAT
+ PIETAS TEWKESBURIENSIS
+ ANNO DOMINI MDCCXCVI."
+
+Or in English: "That the memory of Edward, Prince of Wales (brutally
+murdered after the famous battle fought in the fields close by),
+perish not utterly, the piety of the people of Tewkesbury had this
+memorial tablet laid down, A.D. 1796." This tablet is mentioned in the
+accounts for that year, and the cost is put down at L10; but perhaps
+this included the composition of the Latin inscription, and the stone
+in which the plate was inserted. This _pietas Tewkesburiensis_ still
+survives, as flowers are annually laid upon the site of the grave.
+Before this there was, according to Dingley, who wrote in 1680, a
+"fair tombstone of grey marble, the brass whereof has bin pickt out by
+sacrilegious hands, directly underneath the Tower of this Church, at
+the entrance into the Quire, and sayed to be layd over Prince Edward,
+who lost his life in cool blood in the dispute between York and
+Lancaster, at which time the Lancastrians had the overthrow."
+
+Another grave under the tower was that of the Duke of Warwick, who is
+sometimes said to have been created and crowned King of the Isle of
+Wight by Henry VI. He died at the age of twenty-one, and was buried,
+at his own request, between the stalls in the choir. At the time the
+choir was repaved in 1875 a grave of stone filled with rubble was
+found, together with some bones of a man of herculean size. These, no
+doubt, were those of the Duke who was buried here in 1446. The large
+marble slab that formerly covered the grave disappeared early in this
+century, but the brasses that were originally in it had been taken
+away long before. Cecily the Duchess of Warwick, a daughter of the
+Earl of Salisbury, was buried in the same place in 1450.
+
+Further eastward, in a line with the Warwick Chapel, are the graves
+known as those of the =De Clares=.
+
+The first is a stone with an inscription running round the edge, in
+old French, as follows: "Ci git Maud de Burgh la veuve comitisse de
+Gloucestre et Hertford, que mourust le 2 juillet l'ann grace 1315.
+Nous cherchons celle que est a venir." This slab, which is of large
+size, covers a well-wrought stone grave, and must have contained a
+very handsome brass, judging by the matrix. The next grave contains
+the remains of the Lady Maud's husband, Gilbert de Clare, the third of
+that name, the tenth Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford. Though
+young in years he had a wise head, for Edward II. made him his regent
+when he himself was fighting in Scotland, and later again in 1313 when
+fighting in France. Gilbert de Clare the third was killed at
+Bannockburn in 1314, and was laid to rest next to his father. The
+tablet gives his arms, and the inscription runs: "Gilbertus tertius
+nomine Glocestrie et Hertfordie comes decimus ultimus, obiit 23 Junii,
+1314, proelio occisus, Scotus gavisus." Which being freely translated
+is: "Gilbert, the third of the name, tenth and last Earl of
+Gloucester and Hertford, died on June 23, 1314. He was slain in
+battle, to the joy of the Scots."
+
+The tomb next to this is that of his father, Gilbert the second,
+usually known as the _Red Earl_. He married the Princess Joan of Acre,
+a daughter of Edward I. This Earl was at first an important figure in
+the revolt of the Righteous Earl, Sir Simon de Montfort; but later,
+having changed his views and his side, was an important factor in his
+former leader's final overthrow at Evesham in 1265. Fragmentary
+remains only of a coffin assumed to be his were found in 1875. His
+tablet says: "Gilbertus secundus, cognomine Rufus, comes Glocestrie
+octavus, et Hertfordie septimus, obiit septimo Decembris, anno domini
+1295. Vir strenuus et fortis cui deerat timor mortis. Ora et pugna."
+Or in English: "Gilbert the second, surnamed the Red, eighth Earl of
+Gloucester and seventh of Hertford, died the 7th of December, A.D.
+1295. A stout and brave man, who had no fear of death. Pray and
+fight."
+
+In the next grave lies Gilbert de Clare, the first who bore the double
+title. His interest to us consists in the fact that his seal is one of
+those attached to Magna Charta, and he took a considerable part in the
+Barons' struggles against King John. He died in Brittany, but was
+buried here by his own wish. Very little of his coffin remains.
+
+The tablet to him says: "Gilbertus de Clare, nomine primus, comes
+Glocestrie sextus et Hertfordie quintus, obiit 25^o Octobris, anno
+domini 1230. Magna Carta est lex, caveat deinde rex"; _i.e._, "Gilbert
+de Clare, the first of that name, sixth Earl of Gloucester and fifth
+of Hertford, died October 25th, A.D. 1230. Magna Charta is law, let
+the King henceforth beware."[24]
+
+The next grave is that of Richard, the second of that name, the son of
+Earl Gilbert. He is usually believed to have been poisoned at the
+table of Peter de Savoy at Emersfield in Kent. To his memory a most
+gorgeous tomb was set up in the Choir, composed of marbles, precious
+stones, mosaic, gold and silver, and bearing a large image of the Earl
+in silver on the top. Weever, in "Funeral Monuments," gives the
+epitaph:
+
+ "Hic pudor Hippoliti, Paridis gena, sensus Ulyssis,
+ AEneae pietas, Hectoris ira jacet."
+
+And he translates it:
+
+ "Chaste Hippolite, and Paris fair, Ulysses wise and sly,
+ AEneas kind, fierce Hector, here jointly entombed lye."
+
+The brass tablet says: "Ricardus de Clare, comes Glocestrie septimus
+and Hertfordie sextus, obiit 15^o Julii, anno que domini 1262. Dum
+petit crucem sic denique petit lucem"; _i.e._, "Richard de Clare,
+seventh Earl of Gloucester and sixth Earl of Hertford, died July 15th,
+A.D. 1262. While he seeks the cross, he seeks thereafter light." This
+alludes to his having been a Crusader. Richard de Clare's entrails
+were buried at Canterbury, and his heart at Tonbridge, at which place
+he had founded a monastery of Austin Friars.
+
+=Despenser Graves.=--Between the graves of the De Clares and the steps
+of the altar are the Despenser graves. The grave on the north side
+nearest to the Fitz-Hamon or Founder's Chapel is that of Richard
+Despenser. His brass runs: "Ricardus le Despenser baro octavus, et
+Burghersh baro quintus, obiit anno domini 1414, dum adhuc adolescens.
+Flos crescit et mox evanescit"; or in English: "Richard, eighth Baron
+Despenser and fifth Baron Burghersh, died A.D. 1414, whilst still a
+youth. A flower grows and soon passes away."
+
+He was married to Elizabeth Nevill, daughter of the Earl of
+Westmorland, but, dying at Merton at the age of 19, left no family. He
+was the last of the male line of the Despensers, and is buried next to
+his father, Thomas le Despenser, who was laid to rest in the central
+grave of the three. His record on the brass is: "Thomas le Despenser,
+baro septimus, et Gloucestriae comes tertius decimus et ultimus
+crudeliter interfectus 15^o Januarii, anno domini 1400. Cibell angau
+na cywillydd." This being translated means: "Thomas, seventh Baron
+Despenser, and thirteenth and last Earl of Gloucester, was brutally
+killed on the 15th of January, A.D. 1400. Rather death than
+dishonour."
+
+He had married Constance, daughter of the Earl of Cornwall and niece
+of the Black Prince. Being attainted in 1399 after the deposition of
+Richard II., whom he had faithfully served, he was deprived of both
+his titles and executed at Bristol in 1400. His grave was under the
+lamp which burned before the altar. In 1875 no trace of his grave was
+found, but there is a fragment of a statue in the "museum" in which he
+is clad in a blue mantle, wearing the badge of the Garter.
+
+The third and southernmost of the Despenser graves is that of
+Isabelle, Countess of Warwick, Abergavenny, Worcester, and Albemarle.
+The inscription on her brass is: "Mementote dominae, Isabelle le
+Despenser, Comitissae de Warwick, quae obiit, anno domini 1439, die
+Sancti Johannis Evangelistae. Mercy, Lord Jesu"; _i.e._, "Remember the
+lady Isabelle le Despenser, Countess of Warwick, who died A.D. 1439,
+on St. John the Evangelist's Day. Mercy, Lord Jesu." This lady was the
+daughter of Thomas le Despenser, next to whom she lies here, and
+though she was given in marriage to Richard Beauchamp when she was
+only eleven years old, she is chiefly known from the title of her
+second husband, who was her first husband's cousin. Her grave was
+identified in 1875, and her remains were found enclosed in a shroud
+and in a tomb of solid masonry, 7 feet by 2 feet 5 inches, by 2 feet 5
+inches. The covering slab had a cross incised with the words "Mercy,
+Lord Jhu" (Jesu). The top of the slab had traces of mortar upon it,
+pointing to the fact that her tomb was built immediately over it. We
+know from the chronicle that it was a "very handsome marble tomb,
+exquisitely carved." It was a table tomb bearing an effigy of the Lady
+Isabelle upon it, clad in a plain linen garment. At the head stood St.
+Mary Magdalen, at the right stood St. John the Evangelist, and at the
+left stood St. Anthony. At the foot of the tomb was an escutcheon with
+her arms and the arms of the Earl of Warwick, impaling the arms of
+Clare and Despenser.
+
+In each of the two easternmost piers that support the tower (on the
+north and south sides) will be seen a round-headed doorway, which gave
+access to the choir from the aisles. They were walled up at an early
+date, as they were probably too narrow for processional use.
+
+Since the restoration of the choir the old stalls of the monks have
+been collected from the various places in the church to which they had
+been removed, and placed in their present position across the arches
+of the tower, eleven on the north side and twelve on the south. Those
+on the north have lost most of their misericordes, and all the canopy
+work. Those on the south side are more perfect, and the backs are in
+better preservation, though the plain panels have been removed.
+
+In the majority of the misericordes the carving, originally fanciful,
+has suffered at the hands of bigots. It is only possible to conjecture
+what the stalls were like in monastic times, but they were probably,
+though less elaborate, similar to those at Gloucester. As carvings
+they cannot be compared with those at the Priory Church of Great
+Malvern.
+
+
+THE TOMBS AND CHANTRIES.
+
+One of the chief glories of Tewkesbury consists in the series of
+historic tombs and chantries which encircle the choir and presbytery
+and the surrounding ambulatory. It may safely be asserted that in no
+church, with the single exception of Westminster Abbey, can such a
+noble collection of sepulchral monuments be found. They are well
+worthy of detailed study, and for that reason have been grouped
+together in one section. It is not possible to examine or describe
+them adequately from the ambulatory only, and the most important are
+best viewed from the choir or presbytery, whence access to the
+chantries is obtained.
+
+All these tombs have suffered terrible mutilation at the hands of
+fanatics and bigots, but it is surprising to find how much of what was
+really fine pierced work, almost as delicate as lace, has survived the
+zeal of the destroyers. Close inspection will show that a considerable
+amount of repair and refitting has been done in places. It must have
+been a task of great difficulty, and involved that "infinite capacity
+for taking pains" of which we hear so much but find so seldom; and
+considering the date (1825) at which this piece of genuine restoration
+was done, more praise must be given to the restorer. Had it not been
+undertaken then it might have been done later, and certainly not so
+lovingly, and possibly not so well.
+
+=Warwick Chapel.=--This beautiful piece of work [A in the plan] is a
+chantry chapel, erected in 1422 by Isabelle le Despenser, to the
+memory of her first husband, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Abergavenny
+and Worcester, or, as the chronicle calls him, Ricardus de Bello
+Campo. It is situate, as will be seen from the plan, under the
+westernmost arch of the north side of the choir. An inscription, which
+is only legible here and there, runs round the moulding: "Mementote
+dne Isabelle le Despenser, Cometisse de Warrewyk, quae hanc capellam
+fundavit in honor[~e] bte Marie Magdalene, et obiit Londiniis apud
+Mn[~e]s a[~o] dni MCCCCXXXIX. die Scti Jhis Evngste. Et sepulta est
+[~i] choro [~i] dextra patris sui: cuj. a[~m]e ppitietur Deus. Amen"
+(_i.e._, "Be mindful of the Lady Isabelle Despenser, Countess of
+Warwick, who founded this chapel to the honour of St. Mary Magdalen,
+and died in London in the Minories, A.D. 1439, on St. John the
+Evangelist's Day. And was buried in the choir on the right hand of her
+father. On whose soul may God have pity. Amen").
+
+The chapel was dedicated in the names of St. Mary Magdalen, St.
+Barbara, and St. Leonard just two years after Richard Beauchamp had
+died.
+
+This Richard Beauchamp, after whom in truth the chapel should be
+called, had shown his bravery at Agincourt in 1415, and in 1420 been
+made Earl of Worcester. He was slain at the siege of Meaux, in France,
+in 1421. In Dyde's "History of Tewkesbury" it is spoken of as "Mary
+Magdalen's Chapel, now commonly called 'Spenser's Chapel." It may have
+been designed to surpass in glory the chantries previously existing in
+the building, and if so, the Countess, who was only twenty-one years
+of age, spared no expense in causing this beautiful work to be made.
+
+The chapel consists of two parts or stories, the lower of which has a
+door into the north aisle as well as into the choir. The lowest
+portion or base on either side consists of figures of angels, much
+mutilated, bearing shields.
+
+The chantry has two roofs, both with fine vaulting, formerly richly
+painted, but the lower roof only covers the western half of the
+chapel. The pendent bosses have been destroyed. At the top the canopy
+work is so delicately sculptured that it resembles lace.
+
+The lower ceiling, extending over half the chapel, consists of large
+and small circles. Of these, the larger ones are ribbed with sixteen
+ribs, while the smaller ones are quatrefoils, each member being
+composed of a trefoil with an elegantly carved cusp. Between these
+smaller circles are still smaller ones composed of quatrefoils. This
+ceiling is supported by two slender shafts. Along the exposed front of
+the ceiling are four double cinquefoil arches, between which were
+three busts. Of these, one only, viz., an angel with a scroll,
+remains.
+
+In the upper storey of the chapel the ceiling is made up of hexagons
+and octagons, the intervening space being filled up with circles,
+trefoils of irregular shapes, though symmetrically disposed, and
+quatrefoils. The points of the pendant have been ruthlessly destroyed.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE WARWICK CHAPEL.]
+
+Of this chantry Mr. Knight wrote: "There can be but one opinion on the
+praise which belongs to the exquisiteness of finishing by which the
+several parts of it are distinguished; the entablature, wedged between
+two of the old pillars of the choir, and appearing to rest upon light
+columnar buttresses of singular beauty, give us an assemblage of
+filigree and fretwork, which may vie with the finest specimens of
+similar workmanship in the kingdom: the elegant palm-leaved parapet,
+which occurs in the division between the storeys,--the numerous
+escutcheons blazoned in their proper colours,--the niches, and
+pedestals, under their respective canopies, once ornamented with
+figures which fanaticism has dislodged,--the slender shafts supporting
+a higher apartment, probably the rood-loft, in the inside of the
+fabric, from whence half-figures of angels are seen to issue,--the
+pendants dropping, like congelations in a grotto, from a roof adorned
+with the most delicate tracery spread over it like a web,--these and a
+countless multitude of minuter beauties, almost distract attention,
+and overwhelm the judgment with their different claims to notice."
+
+Some have thought the upper portion was intended to serve as a private
+pew for the Lady Isabelle. To this the difficulty of access may well
+be urged as a valid objection. Others have thought that the upper part
+was a rood-loft. Others again have thought that the half-roof was a
+platform upon which a kneeling figure (in imitation of that in the
+Trinity Chapel) was placed.[25] By her will the Lady Isabelle gave
+instructions that her statue was to be placed on the right hand of her
+father in the choir, and that it was to represent her entirely naked
+(_i.e._ without any state robes), with her hair cast backwards; with
+St. Mary Magdalen (one of the saints to whom the chapel was dedicated)
+laying her hands across: with St. John the Evangelist on her right
+side and St. Anthony on her left. At her feet there was to be an
+escutcheon, bearing her arms impaled with those of her late
+husband--who had died just three months before her--supported by two
+griffins; and at the side there were to be statues of poor men and
+women in humble apparel with their beads in their hands. From the
+Abbey Register this part of the lady's last will and testament seems
+to have been carried out; but nothing remains of these added figures
+or of the tomb. The chapel is less perfect on the south, or choir
+side, than on that which faces the north aisle.
+
+The appearance of the chantry when first finished, with all its rich
+colour and profuse gilding, must have been very rich. Some have
+thought it too elaborate and overweighted with ornament, but we may
+well call it one of the most glorious specimens of its time.
+
+Among the heraldic decorations are to be found the chevrons of the
+Clares, and the arms of the deceased Earl. On the outside are to be
+traced the arms of the royal ancestors of Isabelle, of the Clares, and
+of the Despensers.
+
+The arms upon the chapel are given in "Neale's Views of Tewkesbury" as
+follows:
+
+On the side of the chapel next the choir, over the door--
+
+ 1. France and England, quarterly, King Edward III.
+
+ 2. Castile and Leon, quarterly, and Peter, King of Castile and
+ Leon.
+
+ 3. France and England, quarterly, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York.
+
+ 4. France and England impaling Castile and Leon--for Isabelle of
+ Castile, Duchess of York.
+
+ 5. Clare quartering Despenser (Thomas Despenser, Earl of
+ Gloucester).
+
+ 6. Clare quartering Despenser and impaling France and England
+ (Constance, the mother of the foundress of the chapel).
+
+On the side next to the aisle--in the basement or lowest portion and
+in the first division, three angels bearing shields--(1) as 1 above;
+(2) destroyed but presumably as 2 above; (3) as 3 above.
+
+In the second division, two angels bearing shields--(1) as 4 above;
+(2) as 5 above.
+
+In the third division, two angels bearing shields--(1) France and
+England quarterly in chief.
+
+The arms on the fascia and over the door are, in each compartment,
+three:
+
+ 1. The royal arms of England.
+
+ 2. The arms of the Clares, Earls of Gloucester.
+
+ 3. Clare impaling England (Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, and
+ John, afterwards King of England).
+
+ 4. Despenser (Hugh, Lord Despenser).
+
+ 5. Despenser impaling Clare (Eleanor, Countess of Gloucester, wife
+ of Hugh, Lord Despenser).
+
+ 6. Clare and Despenser, quarterly, impaling Burghersh (Sir Edward
+ Despenser, K.G.).
+
+The iron railings were probably removed as being an inconvenience when
+the ugly rows of pews, which took up the whole of the choir and
+presbytery, were placed in the chancel in 1796.
+
+The Lady Isabelle, after completing this tomb, married the cousin of
+her first husband, who was also a Richard Beauchamp. He died in Rouen
+in 1439, but his body being brought home by his countess, was buried
+in the noble Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick, which is a further
+development of that at Tewkesbury. She died in London in the same year
+on St. John the Evangelist's Day, as the inscription on the Warwick
+Chapel sets forth, and at her own request was buried at Tewkesbury, in
+the following January. All traces of her handsome marble tomb have
+disappeared, but the site of her grave was identified at the
+restoration of the choir in 1875. The site is marked (8) in the plan.
+
+To the east of the Warwick Chantry is the chapel [B] known as the
+=Founder's Chapel=. Fitz-Hamon, as already stated on p. 13, was buried
+in the Chapter House, but Abbot Forthington removed his body to this
+site in 1241.
+
+The open screen-work, which was erected in 1397 by Abbot Parker, is an
+excellent specimen of early Perpendicular work. It is extremely light
+and graceful. The cresting of oak-leaves is finely wrought; below it
+is a frieze ornamented with roses.
+
+It is unfortunate that the brass has disappeared from the marble top
+of the tomb.
+
+On the cornice there used to be the following inscription:
+
+ "In ista capella jacet Dnus Robertus,
+ Filius Hamonis hujus loci Fundator."
+
+The fan-tracery of the ceiling is a beautiful piece of work, and
+shows traces of its former decoration with colour and gold. There is
+fan-tracery at Gloucester, where it is thought to have originated,
+which is essentially the same as this. This specimen is one of the
+most beautiful in every way.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. D. Gwynne._
+ CHANTRY OF THE FOUNDER, FITZ-HAMON.]
+
+Brackets to support an altar remain in part, and there are faint
+traces of a fresco painting on the east wall, which is said to have
+represented scenes in the life of St. Thomas a Becket.
+
+The easternmost panel of the chapel on the south side has been
+restored; the rest has been very little touched. Restoration was
+necessary because no access to the chapel could be obtained when the
+choir was all pewed, and the eastern end was ruthlessly cut away. Some
+of the cresting on the north side is also new.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE DESPENSER MONUMENT.]
+
+=The Despenser Monument.=--Still further to the east is the tomb [C]
+of Sir Hugh Despenser, who died in 1349, and his widow, who died ten
+years later, having in the interval married Sir Guy de Brien, the tomb
+to whose memory is close at hand. This tomb is full of interest, and
+consists of a richly panelled base with trefoil arches (each of which
+must once have contained a statuette), in three sets of two each to
+correspond with the open tracery in the tier above.
+
+On the tomb is a slab on which are two recumbent figures, carved in
+white alabaster. The knight is clad in armour, viz., a spherical
+bascinet, with a camail of chain-mail. His jupon is charged with his
+arms. The shirt is also of chain-mail, while the arms and legs are
+protected by plate armour. His head is resting upon a tilting helmet,
+his feet upon a lion. The Lady Elizabeth, who was a daughter of
+William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, has a dog at her feet, and is
+robed in a long flowing dress, which, with the square head-dress, is
+characteristic of the time of Edward III.
+
+The Decorated canopy is in two parts, viz., the arched portion which
+covers the two figures, and the tabernacle work in four tiers above.
+Three arches of marvellously delicate work support the arched roof,
+which is like fan-vaulting on a diminutive scale; the ribs have been
+indicated by colour.
+
+The tabernacle work tapers very gradually, and forms a charming finish
+to one of the finest tombs to be seen anywhere. Trefoil-headed arches
+are used throughout the design, but with such consummate skill that no
+feeling of sameness is aroused. Of straight lines there are many, but
+of stiffness there is none. Formerly the whole work was painted with
+red, green, and gold, traces of which are to be seen on the side next
+to the choir and underneath the canopy.
+
+The tomb is more perfect on the choir side than on the other.
+
+Of the statues that formerly formed part of the canopy or canopies, no
+traces are left, but it is evident that they were removed with unusual
+care.
+
+This tomb was formerly ascribed to George, Duke of Clarence, and also
+to Thomas Despenser. The arms on the tabard, however, settle the
+question definitely. If further confirmation be required apart from
+the style of the architecture and the arms, Leland writes: "Hugo le
+Despenser tertius ... sepultus est apud Theokesbury juxta summum
+altare in _dextera_[26] parte." Of the Lady Elizabeth he says:
+"Sepulta est juxta Hugonem maritum apud Theokesbury."
+
+=Trinity Chapel.=--On the south side of the choir in the bay opposite
+to the Founder's Chapel is the Trinity Chapel [K], the building of
+which is ascribed to Elizabeth, Lady de Burghersh, the widow of
+Edward, Lord Despenser. Lord Despenser died at Cardiff in 1375, and
+was buried before the door of the vestry, near the presbytery. His
+widow, who died many years later (1409), was buried beside her chapel
+in the choir.
+
+ [Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
+ THE TRINITY CHAPEL.]
+
+The tomb has many beauties, of which the chief is the fan-tracery.
+Much damage has ruthlessly been done to the niches and canopies at the
+side.
+
+A curious feature in the chapel is the figure of Lord Despenser under
+a canopy on the top of the chapel, kneeling in prayer, with his face
+turned towards the high altar. The canopy is very rich, supported by
+four slender shafts, and further enriched with carved pinnacles. The
+figure is probably unique, in such a position.[27] It is represented
+as wearing the martial equipment that was usual towards the end of the
+fourteenth century.
+
+This chapel may have been built by the same builders as the Founder's
+Chapel on the opposite side of the choir, but some variety of
+treatment is very noticeable. The cresting is different in scale on
+the two sides (portions of it are modern insertions). Owing to the
+non-correspondence of the panelling in the lowest portion with the
+open work in the next tier, it has been thought that the upper portion
+is slightly later in point of date than that upon which it is built.
+
+The chapel derives its name from its dedication to the Trinity as well
+as to St. Mary. At the east end of the chapel are traces of mural
+painting. Some of these represent the symbols of the Trinity, others
+the coronation of the Virgin Mary.
+
+Other tombs of interest in the church will be found in making the
+circuit of the ambulatory. The first of these is the tomb of _Sir Guy
+de Brien_ [D]. It has a central position in the stone screen-work
+which separates the chapel of St. Margaret from the north ambulatory.
+Sir Guy married Elizabeth, the widow of Hugh, Lord Despenser. The tomb
+is very similar in design to the Despenser tomb over against which it
+is placed. The knight is represented at full length, clad in his
+armour, with a lion at his feet. A vault-like canopy, still showing
+traces of the blue paint with which it was decorated, rises over the
+effigy. The monument is very lofty in proportion to its width, is full
+of rather heavy detail, and, though worthy of careful inspection, will
+not bear comparison with the Despenser tomb opposite.
+
+The knight's lady elected to be buried in the tomb of her second
+husband, Lord Hugh Despenser, who, like Sir Guy, was a liberal
+benefactor to the Abbey.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE "WAKEMAN CENOTAPH."]
+
+Three panels facing the aisle have shields with arms upon them. The
+central shield bears the arms of Sir Guy de Brien, and the other two
+bear his arms and those of the Montacutes, his wife having been
+Elizabeth Montacute.
+
+The next chapel, that of St. Edmund, contains, lying across the
+eastern half of the entrance, a magnificent tomb which goes by the
+name of the _Cenotaph of Abbot Wakeman_ [E]. It is not known when the
+tomb was built, but it is apparently earlier than Wakeman's time, who
+was abbot from 1531 to the dissolution of the monastery in 1539.
+Certainly Wakeman is not buried here, for he became the first bishop
+of Gloucester, and was buried at Forthampton.
+
+The tomb is peculiarly beautiful, and consists of a slab supported by
+a rich piece of open or pierced work, in the pattern of which may be
+seen three crosses. Upon the slab rests a representation of the corpse
+of a monk undergoing the process of decay, and being devoured by
+various lizards, snails, &c. It is rather a gruesome subject for
+contemplation, reminding one of some of the drawings in the Dance of
+Death at Basle. Immediately over the body, in the centre of the tomb,
+is a massive ogee arch, richly foliated, from which descends a rather
+cumbrous pendant--itself ogee in form--which divides the main arch
+into equal parts, or arches, with rounded heads. These arches are
+again subdivided into two smaller round-headed arches, full of very
+fine carved work.
+
+The front of the tomb, as seen from the ambulatory, is composed of a
+very fine arch which springs from the piers at the side. Its lower
+edge is foliated, and the spandrils are enriched with quatrefoils.
+
+At the top of all is a projecting canopy in three main sections--a
+portion of the rest is gone--all of very delicate and intricate carved
+work.
+
+In the south ambulatory in the middle one of the three chapels there
+is a tomb to _Richard Cheltenham_ [I], who was abbot from 1481-1509.
+It is a table tomb in the Perpendicular style, with very rich tracery
+enriched with quatrefoils and shields. A depressed arch forms a
+canopy, in the spandrils of which are the abbot's initials R.C. and
+his pastoral staff.
+
+Almost opposite to this is a depressed arch which supports a mass of
+delicate work decorated with vine-leaves and grapes. Over this are
+many canopied niches (much mutilated). The images they once contained
+have been destroyed. Under the arch is now a coffin of Purbeck
+marble, with a cross on the lid, and the inscription "_Johannes Abbas
+hujus loci_."
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
+ THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE, LOOKING WEST.]
+
+It is generally assumed that this is the coffin of John Cotes, who
+died in 1347. The tomb [H] is supposed to be that referred to by
+Leland as that in which some of the remains of Hugh Despenser the
+younger, the Earl of Gloucester who was hanged and quartered in
+Hereford in 1326--just three months before the murder of Edward II. in
+Berkeley Castle--were interred. Close to this tomb, but more to the
+east, is a fifteenth century tomb, presumably that of an abbot, but
+his name is unknown.
+
+To the east of the door of the chapel which is now used as a vestry,
+is another tomb of an unknown abbot. The coffin lid bears a rich
+floriated cross, with a representation of an abbot at the one end, and
+that of a lamb at the other. The arch over the tomb is crocketed, and
+is enriched with a profusion of ball-flower ornament in the moulding.
+The finial is very heavy, though beautifully wrought to represent
+birds and foliage. At the spring of the arch is the very curious
+figure of a devil. Two pinnacles[28] at the sides have most grotesque
+faces at the corners instead of the conventional foliage. This idea
+has been adopted in the decoration of the tomb-recesses in the nave in
+Bristol Cathedral.
+
+On the western side of the vestry door is a beautiful Early English
+tomb. The lid of the Purbeck marble coffin is inscribed "Alanus,
+Dominus Abbas" along the moulded edge, and a similar inscription is to
+be read at the right-hand end, "HIC IACET DOMINUS ALANUS ABBAS." This
+is the tomb of Alan, who was made Abbot here in 1187, after having
+previously been Prior at Canterbury. He was one of the most
+distinguished of the Abbots of Tewkesbury: he had known Thomas a
+Becket, and indeed wrote his biography. This tomb is no doubt the
+oldest monument in the church. The arch over it is a moulded trefoil
+arch, surmounted by a plain canopy of very simple and formal design.
+The top of the coffin bears a very beautiful cross.
+
+Further westward, near to the south transept is a thirteenth century
+recessed arch, with pinnacles at either side and a decorated arch. The
+tomb has been removed. The floor has been laid with fragments of old
+encaustic tiles removed from other parts of the building.
+
+=Organs.=--The church has two organs, both of which are noteworthy,
+viz., the old organ in the choir, of which the interest is
+historical, and the Grove organ in the north transept, the chief
+interest in which, apart from its tone, is the perfection of its many
+modern mechanical contrivances.
+
+The organ in the choir was brought to Tewkesbury in 1737 from Magdalen
+College, Oxford, and was placed on the then existing screen, where it
+remained till 1875. It was built by John Harris, the grandfather of
+Rene or Renatus Harris, for Magdalen College, Oxford. By Cromwell's
+orders it was removed to Hampton Court, and is said to have been
+played upon there by Milton, who was Cromwell's Secretary. In 1660 the
+organ went back to Oxford, and was repaired in 1672. In 1690 Renatus
+Harris contracted, for L150, to put it into thorough repair, and make
+it "an extraordinary instrument and the best old organ in England." In
+1736-37 the Magdalen College organ was sold to the then organ
+committee of Tewkesbury.
+
+Sixty years later (1796) a sum of L186 18_s._ 2_d._ was spent in
+painting the case, in repairs, and in the addition of a swell organ;
+and in 1848 it was enlarged by Willis at a cost of L322 15_s._ 8_d._
+Little of the original work remains, with the exception of some of the
+diapasons, the principal, and the tin pipes in the choir front. The
+old organ is in constant use for ordinary evening services, and for
+the services on Sunday mornings and afternoons. For the Sunday evening
+services the Grove organ is generally used. Sometimes the two organs
+are used together.
+
+The Grove organ is a very fine instrument, but it is more fitted for a
+concert-room than for the accompaniment of ordinary church music. It
+was given, as the brass tablet sets forth, "_To the greater glory of
+God, and to commemorate the Jubilee of the Queen in 1887._" The
+specification is as follows:
+
+ CHOIR ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
+
+ 1. Spitzfloete 8 ft.
+ 2. [*]Viole Sourdine 8 ft.
+ 3. [*]Lieblich Gedacht (_w_) 8 ft.
+ 4. Gemshorn 4 ft.
+ 5. [*]Zauber Floete 4 ft.
+ 6. Flautina 2 ft.
+ 7. Clarionet 8 ft.
+
+
+ _Accessory Stops._
+
+ 1. Ventil.
+ 2. Octave Coupler.
+ 3. Pneumatic Piston, acting on No. 1 off and on.
+ 4. Swell to Choir.
+ 5. Tremulant.
+
+ GREAT ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
+
+ 1. Violone 16 ft.
+ 2. Great Open Diapason 8 ft.
+ 3. Small Open Diapason 8 ft.
+ 4. Claribel (_w_) 8 ft.
+ 5. Octave 4 ft.
+ 6. Flute Octaviante 4 ft.
+ 7. Quint Mixture, 12, 15.
+ 8. [+]Great Mixture (4 ranks), 19, 22, 26, 29.
+ 9. [+]Tromba 16 ft.
+ 10. [+]Trumpet 8 ft.
+
+ _Accessory Stops._
+
+ 1. Sub-Octave Choir to Great. 2. Swell to Great. 3. Solo to Great.
+ 1. Ventil Flue to Quint Mixture.
+ 2. Ventil Flue Great Mixture and Reed.
+ Two Pneumatic Pistons acting on Ventil placed beneath the keys as in
+ the Choir.
+ Three Composition Pedals.
+
+ SWELL ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
+
+ The swell-box is made in three thicknesses, each of one inch.
+ Between each thickness is a layer of felt.
+
+ 1. Flauto Traverso 8 ft.
+ 2. Open Diapason 8 ft.
+ 3. [*]Viole d'Orchestre 8 ft.
+ 4. [*]Voix Celeste 8 ft.
+ 5. Geigen 4 ft.
+ 6. [+]Mixture--3 ranks, 15, 19, 22.
+ 7. [+]Contra Posaune 16 ft.
+ 8. [+]Horn 8 ft.
+ 9. Oboe 8 ft.
+
+ _Accessory Stops._
+
+ Octave Coupler. Ventil Flues to Geigen, Mixture, and Reeds.
+ Two Pneumatic Pistons acting on Ventils, as in the Great Organ.
+ Tremulant. Three Composition Pedals.
+
+ SOLO ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
+
+ 1. Harmonic Flute 8 ft.
+ 2. [*]Violoncello 8 ft.
+ 3. [+]Tuba 8 ft.
+ 4. Voix Humaine (metal, enclosed in a Swell-box) 8 ft.
+
+ _Accessory Stops._
+
+ Octave Coupler. Tremulant.
+ Two Ventils, two Pneumatic Pistons, as in the other manuals.
+
+ PEDAL ORGAN (CCC to F, 30 notes).
+
+ 1. [*]Harmonic Bass (_w_) 32 ft.
+ 2. Great Bass (_w_) 16 ft.
+ 3. [*]Dolce Bass (_w_) 16 ft.
+ 4. Great Flute (_w_) 8 ft.
+ 5. [+]Bombarde 16 ft.
+
+ [*] Stops thus marked are of novel construction, being fitted with
+ prolongement harmonique.
+ [+] Stops marked thus are on heavy wind.
+ _w_ Stops marked thus are of wood.
+
+
+Pedal Couplers:
+ 1. Choir to Pedals.
+ 2. Great to Pedals.
+ 3. Swell to Pedals.
+ 4. Solo to Pedals.
+
+Manual Couplers:
+ 1. Choir Octave.
+ 2. Swell Octave.
+ 3. Solo Octave.
+ 4. Choir Sub-Octave to Great.
+ 5. Swell to Great.
+ 6. Solo to Great.
+ 7. Swell to Choir.
+
+ The Tremulants are set in action by one pedal, or by the use of
+ the draw-stops, separately or collectively.
+
+ Pneumatic action is applied to the Organ throughout, except to
+ the Choir Organ, which is direct action.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+=Church Plate.=--The oldest pieces of plate are two silver chalices,
+one dated 1576, the other 1618. There is also a paten of the latter
+date. A flagon weighing 54 ounces was given to the church by the
+bachelors and maidens of the borough in 1688, and another was given in
+1724. Curiously they are both fitted with whistle-handles. There are
+also two cut-glass cruets, said to be of the fifteenth century.
+
+=The Church Registers.=--These date from 1559, containing baptisms to
+1598 and marriages to 1574, but are copies on parchment of an older
+register (on paper) now lost. Another register, on paper, dates from
+1595, and contains baptisms down to 1610, marriages to 1629, and
+burials to 1608. Thenceforward, with few exceptions, the registers are
+complete. The register of baptisms, 1607-1629, contains a quaint
+composition:
+
+ "Lo, heare thou maiest with mortall eie beholde
+ Thy name recorded by a mortall wighte;
+ But if thou canst looke but spiritualie
+ Unto that God which gives such heavenly sighte
+ Thou maiest behold with comfort to thy soule
+ Thy name recorded in the heavenly roule.
+ And therefore praie the Register of heaven
+ To write thy name within the booke of life;
+ And also praie thy sinns maie be forgeven,
+ And that thou maiest flee all ceare and strife:
+ That when thy mortall bodies shall have end,
+ Thy soule maie to the immortal bliss ascende.
+ "_Per me_, GUILIELMUS PARKE, 1609."
+
+=Arms of the Abbey.=--The arms are gules, within a border argent, a
+cross engrailed or, and are so given by Willis in his _Seals of
+Parliamentary Abbeys_, and by Tanner in _Notitia Monastica_. In Sir
+Charles Isham's copy of the _Registrum Theokusburiae_, in a window in
+the choir, and also on the old organ the border is omitted. It is also
+a disputed point whether the Abbot was a mitred prelate or not.
+Fuller, in his _Church History_, is in doubt about it, while Bishop
+Godwin admits that some of the Abbots sat in Parliament. The Abbots,
+without enjoying any prescriptive right, were summoned to Parliament
+in the reigns of Henry III., Edward I., and Edward II., and the last
+Abbot (Wakeman) was certainly summoned as a mitred Abbot. It may be
+that the Abbot received the dignity in the time of Abbot Strensham,
+who died in 1481.
+
+=Old Tiles.=--In the Founder's Chapel (1397) are some tiles containing
+the arms of Fitz-Hamon (a lion rampant), impaled with the arms of the
+Abbey, a cross engrailed, and showing the head of a crosier above the
+shield in the centre. In the Warwick chantry there is to be seen a set
+of tiles with the arms of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, in
+whose honour the chapel was built. The arms are a fess between four
+crosslets with a crescent for difference. There are also some in the
+Trinity Chapel, showing the arms of the Despensers, impaled with those
+of Burghersh. Other tiles found in the church at different times give
+the arms of De Clare, Despenser, Berkeley, De Warrenne, De Bohun,
+Corbet, and De la Zouch.
+
+
+ABBOTS OF TEWKESBURY.
+
+=Giraldus= (1102-1109), previously Abbot of Cranbourn, was the first
+Abbot of the Benedictine foundation. Deprived by Henry I. in 1109.
+
+=Robert I.= (1110-1124). In his time the greater part of the Abbey as
+it stands was finished, and dedicated in 1123.
+
+=Benedict= (1124-1137).
+
+=Roger= (1137-1161).
+
+=Fromundus= (1162-1178). No new Abbot was instituted till--
+
+=Robert II.= (1182-1183).
+
+=Alan= (1187-1202). His tomb is in the south ambulatory of the choir.
+He was a friend of Thomas a Becket, having previously been Prior of
+St. Saviour's, Canterbury.
+
+=Walter= (1202-1213), previously Sacrist of the monastery. He was
+succeeded by--
+
+=Hugh= (1214), who had been the Prior. Dying in a year, his successor
+was Bernard, but the latter was never instituted.
+
+=Peter= (1216-1231) was a monk from Worcester.
+
+=Robert Forthington= (1232-1254), or =Robert III.= had previously been
+Prior. A tomb ascribed to him is in the south ambulatory.
+
+=Thomas de Stokes= (1254-1275) had been Prior of St. James, Bristol.
+
+=Richard de Norton= (1276-1282).
+
+=Thomas Kempsey= (1282-1328).
+
+=John Cotes= ( -1347).
+
+=Thomas de Legh= (1347-1361).
+
+=Thomas Chesterton= (1361-1389).
+
+=Thomas Parker, or Pakare= (1389-1421).
+
+=William Bristow, or de Bristol= (1421-1442).
+
+=John de Abingdon= (1442- ), who was probably identical with
+
+=John de Salis, or Galys=.
+
+=John Strensham, or Streynsham= ( -1481). He was Abbot at the time of
+the Battle of Tewkesbury.
+
+=Richard Cheltenham= (1481-1509).
+
+=Henry Beoly, or Bealy= (1509- ), was Abbot in 1526.
+
+=John Walker= (d. 1531).
+
+=John Wich, Wyche, or Wakeman= (1531-1539). This ecclesiastic was the
+last Abbot of Tewkesbury. He, unlike the Abbot of Gloucester, seems to
+have been in no wise unwilling to surrender his Abbey. In return he
+obtained a pension of L266 13_s._ 4_d._, and also the house and park
+at Forthampton. When, later, Gloucester was made a bishopric, he was
+the first bishop. He was buried at Forthampton.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] In point of actual size the Tewkesbury piers are 30 feet 8 inches
+high, and 6 feet 3 inches in diameter; while the piers at Gloucester
+are 30 feet by 6 feet. Those at Malvern are considerably less in
+height.
+
+[8] This boss represents the Virgin as being present at the Table.
+
+[9] The ball-flower here as well as that in the vestry differs from
+that in the neighbourhood, as there is a curious little side-twist or
+kink in it.
+
+[10] Mr. W.H. St. John Hope's description of this quoted _in extenso_
+in "Gloucester" (Cathedral Series) is most interesting, and should be
+carefully studied.
+
+[11] Letters in brackets refer to the plan at the end.
+
+[12] This Transept was used from 1813-17 as a temporary National
+School.
+
+[13] The columns are, with the exception of one which is round,
+roughly hexagonal.
+
+[14] In some plans this chapel is ascribed to St. Nicholas.
+
+[15] The arch of this chamber shows distinct traces of fire, not
+mentioned in any records, and the staircase to the tower, which then
+communicated with this chamber, shows traces for a short distance on
+the stonework.
+
+[16] The same moulding is found at Durham in the doorway from the nave
+into the cloisters, but there it is much mutilated; it is also found
+at St. Joseph's Chapel, Glastonbury, and in various forms in the West
+of England.
+
+[17] It is not quite certain whether Sir Guy is actually buried here.
+
+[18] It is generally considered to be that dedicated to St. John the
+Baptist. The other altar in this chapel may have been dedicated to St.
+George, though the chapel of the latter was probably one of those in
+the nave.
+
+[19] The dedication of this Norman chapel, like that of several others
+here, is not known.
+
+[20] The choir at Gloucester is 140 feet long and 33 feet wide.
+
+[21] The sun was a favourite badge of Edward IV., and is said to have
+been adopted in consequence of the appearance of three suns before the
+battle of Mortimer's Cross. It appears upon some of his coins.
+
+[22] The altar-stone at Gloucester was at one time used to pave the
+south porch, and is now in the crypt.
+
+[23] The safety of the old glass has been ensured by a protective
+external window of rolled glass let in the mullions from the outside.
+This was done in 1889.
+
+[24] This Gilbert de Clare is said to have had a copy of Magna Charta
+and the Charta de Foresta made and deposited in the Abbey.
+
+[25] The floor of the upper part was never flat, and was in all
+probability never intended for use.
+
+[26] Heraldically speaking.
+
+[27] Henry VII. left instructions in his will that a kneeling effigy
+of himself should be placed on the top of the Confessor's shrine at
+Westminster.
+
+[28] The western pinnacle was carved locally in 1825-8, and is a very
+careful piece of work.
+
+
+
+
+DEERHURST.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH, FROM THE SOUTH.]
+
+
+
+
+DEERHURST.
+
+
+Deerhurst, or Deorhurst--the wood or grove of wild beasts, as its
+etymology implies--lies close to Tewkesbury, and the visitor to the
+latter must on no account omit to pay a visit to the older building.
+It may be reached by a pleasant walk through meadows on the left bank
+of the Severn, by the road or by a path across the fields.
+
+The Priory church of Deerhurst is one of the oldest buildings of any
+importance that yet remain in use in England. Its exact date is more
+or less a matter of conjecture, but it seems certain from documentary
+evidence, which is still accessible, that in the ninth century the
+Abbey or Priory was in a prosperous condition--the document referred
+to above being a grant of lands in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire
+to the Abbey in 804. No earlier authentic evidence than this exists,
+though a _lapsus calami_ of Leland (who credits the Venerable Bede
+with an acquaintance with Deerhurst about the year 700) would seem to
+give it an earlier date. From the earliest time Deerhurst--situated
+where it is, so near that great highway the Severn, and occupying a
+position on the direct line of traffic by road between Worcester and
+Gloucester, must have had an important part to play. Legend has it
+that Edmund Ironside and Canute, intent on fighting a duel after
+Essendune, met at Olney in 1016, but settled matters without coming to
+blows, and later tradition affirms that this meeting took place in the
+meadow--once an island or eyot, hence its present name--called the
+Naight.
+
+Tradition, again, has it that the Abbey suffered from the Danes, and
+this seems likely enough, seeing that they were encamped at
+Cirencester for fully a year. Werstan, one of the monks who escaped
+from the Danes, is said by Leland to have founded a cell at Malvern,
+and was later murdered by the Danes in his own chapel there. In the
+windows of Malvern Priory he is described as "Sanctus Werstanus
+Martir," but little else is known about him.
+
+The Abbey, though small, was richly endowed with land, and is said to
+have been possessed of nearly forty thousand acres. Its wealth in
+landed property was the cause of its being transferred by Edward the
+Confessor in 1054-56 to the great French Abbey of St. Denis; and what
+was not so transferred was mostly given by the King, together with the
+Manor of Pershore and other possessions, to his Abbey of St. Peter at
+Westminster, which was then building.
+
+The Abbey lost its importance when it became an alien priory, and its
+landed possessions, which had once surpassed those of the abbeys at
+Gloucester and at Winchcombe, were dwarfed to very scanty dimensions.
+It suffered, too, in prestige, having become a priory, and was
+constantly being harried by successive monarchs.
+
+We find that the Conqueror confirmed the grant of the Abbey of
+Deerhurst to St. Denis, but that King John confiscated its revenues.
+In 1225 Pope Honorius III. by a Bull approved that the Priory should
+be perpetual and conventual. In virtue of this the Prior could claim
+not to come into the King's hands, but it was many years before this
+claim was barely recognised. In this same year the Prior was again in
+possession of the Priory and its lands; but in 1250 (_temp._ Henry
+II.), the Priory was sold to Richard, Duke of Cornwall, who seems to
+have driven out the monks and destroyed the greater part of their
+buildings. Later in the same reign, 1260, the Abbot of St. Denis again
+got possession of the Priory.
+
+In 1295 Edward I. took possession of all the existing alien priories
+for the sake of the revenue they would bring into his exchequer.
+Edward III.[29] again despoiled the monks of what was theirs, and his
+grandson, Richard II., followed in his steps.
+
+The Priory had a respite from such continued harryings with the
+accession of Henry IV. (1399). This king took possession of it as an
+alien Priory, but immediately handed it over to William Forester, the
+then Prior, with the stipulation that in the event of a war with
+France the King should receive a sum of money equal to that which in
+time of peace would be paid to the Abbey of St. Denis. With halcyon
+days like these the Priory set about rebuilding what had been
+destroyed, and works were undertaken--much of which is standing at the
+present time.
+
+Henry V. by charter in 1419 confirmed the policy of Henry IV. in
+giving the Prior all the rights and privileges enjoyed by William
+Forester, and Henry V. acknowledged the claim of the Priory to be
+conventual and perpetual, and as such, not to come into the King's
+hands. However, one king proposes, another disposes. Henry VI. in
+1463, while confirming all existing rights, made the Priory a denizen
+priory with the same status as all other similar English foundations.
+But this change was followed by yet another in four years' time. Henry
+VI. being the founder of Eton College, and King's College, Cambridge,
+was in want of funds, and he relieved the pressure on his exchequer by
+appropriating the possessions of the Priory, and handing part of them
+to his royal College at Eton, and part (in 1422) to the already rich
+Abbey at Tewkesbury. Much litigation followed with Eton, and in 1469
+the Priory was united and annexed by Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester,
+to the monastery at Tewkesbury, with the stipulation that the "Abbot
+of Tewkesbury was to find and maintain there one monk in priest's
+orders, to be called Prior or Warden, four other monks, and one
+secular priest daily to perform divine service in that priory."
+
+The independence of Deerhurst was now at an end, and little is heard
+of it again. At the Dissolution, like many of the Tewkesbury
+possessions, it became private property, the site, the buildings and
+the tithes being conveyed to George Throgmorton, a local personage,
+who became the lay impropriator. The tithes passed later into the
+hands of the family of Cassey, of Wightfield Court; but the lands
+became the property of the Coventry family, and at the end of the
+seventeenth century gave the title to Viscount Deerhurst, the fifth
+Baron. At the Dissolution Deerhurst became a curacy, and remained so
+till 1682, the advowson then being transferred from lay hands to those
+of the Bishop of Worcester.
+
+
+EXTERIOR.
+
+Of the exterior of the church there is not much to be said. The chief
+feature is the =Tower=. It has been reduced in height, probably at the
+time that the steeple was blown down in 1666, but no churchwardens'
+accounts of that date remain. It is 70 feet high, 21 feet 8 inches
+from east to west, and 14 feet 4 inches from north to south, with a
+slight batter to the walls, which at the base are 32 inches in
+thickness. For about 35 feet or so the masonry is Saxon work, but has
+been subsequently severely handled, especially on the west side. The
+east side contains a wall-plate of early date, and more of the
+interesting early work. The upper part is later work, having ashlar
+quoins at the four angles.
+
+The entrance door is a Pointed arch of the fourteenth century date
+inserted within the earlier round-headed arch, of which the outer
+edges have considerably crumbled away. Above the arch is a piece of
+stonework, similar to one above the long, narrow window, considered by
+some to be a mutilated carved head, but with more real likeness to a
+broken mechanical contrivance for hoisting up weighty goods into the
+upper part of the tower. On the right of the entrance door is the door
+which now gives entrance to the belfry. In many parts of the exterior
+there are traces of the coarse herring-bone work so prevalent in Saxon
+masonry. At the north-west and south-west angles of the aisles are
+gargoyles, that at the north-west corner being the better preserved.
+
+The church was rough-cast all over in the early part of this century,
+but was restored in 1861-62 to practically its present appearance.
+Part of the tower, that to the west, has a battlement, while the rest
+has a low gabled roof. The windows in the belfry are decorated in
+character, but much of the masonry near them seems to be re-used stone
+from other parts.
+
+By obtaining entrance to the farmyard upon which the east end abuts,
+traces of the original apsidal termination may be seen. It is much to
+be regretted that the church precincts are so built upon that
+examination is difficult.
+
+
+INTERIOR.
+
+The western entrance is situate in the tower front, and by three
+doorways gives access to the nave.
+
+=The Nave.=--The nave of the present church measures 60 feet by 21
+feet, including what was the original choir, which was under the
+central tower, and which, from the plan, must have been 20 feet in
+length. The nave proper would be 38 feet by 21 feet, making allowance
+for the thickness of the choir arch wall. It is more than probable
+that the wall which separated the choir from the nave was in character
+like the present eastern wall, with a spacious and lofty arch spanning
+the opening, which gave access to the apsidal eastern end. Traces of
+such an arch were found at the restoration of the church in 1861-62.
+As was the case at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and elsewhere, the nave was
+the parish church, and the choir and the rest of the building
+eastwards the private chapel of the Priory. Small though the original
+nave was--for the present aisles are later additions--it was, if the
+walls are of the original height, unusually lofty for a church of its
+date. The original nave had transepts, as shown in plan on page 118,
+with a room, probably a sacristy, to the east of the north transept
+and a similar room or a chapel at the east of the south transept.
+
+On either side of the nave the original walls have been pierced, and
+an arcade of three good Early English arches was inserted in the
+thirteenth century. It will be noted that the easternmost of the three
+arches on each side is slightly wider in span than the other two. All
+the capitals differ in their details. Over these arches on either side
+is a triangular opening about 18 feet from the floor level, similar to
+the opening in the west end of the nave. The edges of these openings
+are left quite square, _i.e._, there is no splaying.
+
+The clerestory windows are, for the most part, early fifteenth
+century, and replaced the early windows, which may have been of
+circular form.
+
+At the west end of the nave there are several very curious features.
+The arch of the doorway is a plain, round-headed arch with its edges
+left quite square, and the impost is plain with the exception of a
+hollow immediately below the abacus. In height the doorway is 10 feet,
+and in width 5-1/2 feet, and it leans slightly to the north. Above this
+doorway, in the corners of the west wall, are two impost members or
+brackets, similar to those in the chancel, which may have been
+intended to support the floor joists of a chamber or gallery at this
+end of the nave. Not far above these brackets is a triangular opening
+similar to those in the north and south walls of the nave, and
+through which, from the room in the tower, a view is obtained of the
+nave generally. It is on the same level as those in the nave. To the
+right of this is a blocked-up round-headed doorway, which once gave
+access from the room in the tower on this level to a gallery at the
+east end of the nave. The jambs are each of two similar blocks of
+stone.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ INTERIOR, LOOKING WEST.]
+
+Above this, in the centre of the upper part of the west wall of the
+nave, is perhaps the most curious architectural feature of the church.
+It is a two-light window, each light having a head formed of an
+isosceles triangle. The outer jambs, as also the broad central massive
+pier, are slightly fluted, and in some of these flutings is a bar in
+relief. On the church side the bars are inserted in the upper part of
+the hollow; on the tower side they are in some cases at the top, in
+others in the lower half.
+
+The following dimensions show how massive is this piece of primitive
+work. The sill on which the window is built is of stone concealed by
+plaster. Each light in its widest part is 18 inches, 13 inches between
+the plinths on the sill. The plinths are 14 inches in thickness, and
+that of the central pier is 21 inches. The central pier itself is a
+trifle shorter than the jambs, 1 foot 8 inches, but this difference is
+made up by a much more massive impost, the central impost being 9
+inches thick as compared with 8 inches in the case of the others. Each
+impost is, as it were, in square-edged layers, each layer overhanging
+the one below it. The head of each opening is formed of two single
+stones so cut that they meet at an angle of about 30 degrees. These
+stones are 11-1/4 inches in thickness, and 3 feet 6 inches long on the
+outside edges. In the angle between the two portions of the window
+they measure 3 feet 1-1/2 inches. They are carried right through the
+wall, with a plain label almost square in section.
+
+Above the window, resting on the label points is an oblong block of
+stone which is thought at one time to have been painted, as no
+inscription can be traced.
+
+Near the tower end is a portion of the Perpendicular timbered roof,
+and the rest of the roofing of the nave and chancel is modern work
+designed upon the basis of the older example.
+
+The =South Aisle= was added in the twelfth century. The south wall of
+the south transept was continued to the west, the greater part of the
+west wall of this transept being removed, a segmental arch being
+inserted exactly where the oak-screen is now. The wall from the
+original south-east corner of the tower was carried southwards to meet
+the new wall mentioned above. Next, the solid walls of the nave were
+pierced with three unequal openings, and, from the piers thus left,
+arches were carried across the new south aisle to the new south wall
+of the church, and the walls of the inner porch seem to have been
+pierced with arches about the same time, one being also made to span
+the space from the extreme end of the original wall of the nave to the
+new south-east corner of the tower. A turret and staircase seem next
+to have been made outside the church in the angle thus made by the new
+works, but the plan seems to have been soon altered by the carrying
+out of the west wall of the aisle till it was flush with the west
+front. The then external doorway into the turret became an internal
+one, but has been blocked up, access to the tower staircase being
+obtained by the narrow door in the west front. The remains of
+Transitional Norman work in the south aisle are scanty, but of extreme
+interest.
+
+In the thirteenth century the =North Aisle= was constructed, and made
+to correspond with the south aisle, though it is slightly narrower.
+Its beautiful capitals inspired the workers to do their best and
+harmonise those in the south aisle arcade with those in the other
+aisle.
+
+The walls of the nave were carried up to receive the clerestory
+windows about the year 1400, but as to their original height it is
+only possible to conjecture.
+
+The Decorated windows of the north aisle all differ in style and date,
+that in the north transept being the earliest. The westernmost window
+in the south aisle is approximately of the same date, and contains the
+only glass in the church that is of any interest. The other windows in
+this south aisle are Perpendicular, and are high in the wall owing to
+the existence of the cloister, a blocked-up door into which can be
+seen under the westernmost window. Some fifteenth century oak seats in
+this aisle are worth notice.
+
+In the north aisle the north-west window of four lights (by Wailes) is
+a memorial to Hugh Edwin Strickland (1853). The head of the window
+contains the fanciful device relating to the Persons of the Trinity,
+and below are Noah, Aaron, David, and St. John the Baptist.
+
+In the lowest tier are Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, the
+Annunciation, the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan.
+
+The next window (by Clayton and Bell) is a memorial window erected by
+the Rev. G. Butterworth, till lately Vicar of Deerhurst.
+
+In the north wall near the font is a blocked-up doorway, containing
+another memorial to a member of the Strickland family.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+ Pater -- non est -- Filius
+ | |
+ est est
+ | |
+ | |
+ | Deus |
+ non | non
+ est | est
+ | est |
+ | | |
+ Spiritus
+ Sanctus
+
+Both the aisles of the nave had undoubtedly at one time altars at
+their eastern ends. The north aisle contains three aumbries and the
+south aisle has one, probably removed from elsewhere in the church. It
+contains a piscina and a small circular recess or reliquary in its
+eastern side.
+
+The north aisle contains a very fine specimen of a brass dated 1400,
+which records the death of Sir John Cassy, Chief Baron of the
+Exchequer in the reign of Edward III., and his wife Alicia. The
+inscription runs (in finely cut black letters, with beautiful
+ornaments between each word), "Hic jacet Joh[~e]s Cassy miles quondam
+Capitalis Baro Sccii (_i.e._ Scaccarii) Regis qui obiit xxiii^o die
+Maii Anno Dn[~i] MCCCC, et Alicia uxor ejus. qu[~o]r a[~i]abus pp[~e]r
+deus." The Chief Baron is represented in his robes, with a lion at his
+feet; his wife in a long loose flowing dress, fastened at the wrists
+and round the neck. She has her dog at her feet, with his name "Tirri"
+engraved upon his side. Only one other instance exists of a pet's name
+being thus handed down.[30] Above the figures is a rich canopy, and a
+figure of the Virgin and St. Anne, a figure of St. John the Baptist
+being unfortunately missing.
+
+Close to this are one or two other brasses. One of Elizabeth, daughter
+of Thomas Bruges, Esq., of Coverle, and wife of William Cassey, Esq.,
+of Whyghtfylde, and then of Walter Nowden, Esq., 1525. Another small
+brass in the floor of the doorway to the choir records that "Here
+lyeth the body of Edward Guy, gent., who married Francis the eldest
+daughter of John Gotheridge, Esq., and had by her six sonnes and one
+daughter, and was here buried the sixt day of Dec. A^o. 1612."
+
+Near to the Cassy brass is an old chest, and a stone coffin with a
+foliated cross upon its lid. This had been under the pavement till the
+1861-62 restoration--hence its excellent state of preservation.
+
+The blocked door in the east wall of this north transept once gave
+access to the sacristy.
+
+=The Font.=--The font, one of the most interesting points in this
+interesting church, has had a curious history. A lady in the
+neighbourhood (Miss Strickland, of Apperley Court) found in a garden
+close to the river, in 1870, an upright carved stone. It occurred to
+this lady that the stone was in reality the stem or lower part of the
+font then in Longdon church, in Worcestershire, as the ornament seemed
+to be similar. The Vicar of Longdon was then asked to give up the bowl
+portion which had been conveyed in 1845 from a Deerhurst farmyard to
+Longdon church. The request was graciously entertained, and Longdon
+church received in exchange a new font. The two portions--probably
+long separated--were then replaced as they are now to be seen in
+Deerhurst, and the font previously in use there was given to Castle
+Morton church.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ FONT.]
+
+The bowl is, like other early fonts, rather tub-shaped, made of
+coarse-grained oolite, a Cotswold district stone, covered with
+uncommon ornamentation. It measures externally 28-1/2 inches in
+diameter, internally 24 inches, and 21 inches in height. The
+ornamentation consists of eight panels, each containing spirals which
+form an endless pattern, as they conjoin with other similar lines. Mr.
+Westwood in the _Arch. Soc. Journal_ said of the ornament that it is
+"especially Irish, and is found in the finest of the most ancient
+illuminated Irish copies of the Gospels, and in those which were
+executed in England under the influence of the Irish missionaries.
+Thus it is found in all the illuminated Gospels of St. Chad and Mac
+Regol (which is in the Bodleian Library and ascribed to 820 A.D.), and
+in the Gospels of Lindisfarne or Durham Book, but I do not recollect
+having seen it in manuscripts known to be more recent than the ninth
+century." The ornament of the running border was thought by the same
+writer to be a later addition; others deem it contemporary with the
+scroll work, and think the design may have been obtained from some
+Saxon goldsmith's work.
+
+Whether the stem belongs to the bowl, or whether the stem ought not to
+be inverted, are perhaps questions of minor importance. The spiral
+ornament in both parts is exactly the same, an interlaced strap
+ornament occupying three out of the seven panels in the stem. The
+effect of a heptagonal stem on an octagonal base or plinth is
+certainly odd. The _base_, or step, is probably of the late
+fourteenth, or of the fifteenth century. Originally there was not a
+hole in the bottom to let the water drain away, but one in the side.
+There is no trace of any leaden lining to the font-bowl.
+
+=The Choir=, with the destroyed sanctuary, had a total length of 38
+feet, a breadth of 20 feet. The actual height of the choir cannot now
+be accurately estimated, though it seems to have been higher than that
+of the nave. The interior at present is all of the same height. The
+walls were apparently quite plain, and not pierced for any windows.
+
+There were in the actual choir space four doorways, _i.e._, a pair on
+the north and another pair on the south side. Of each pair one doorway
+gave access to the transept, and the other, in the earliest history of
+the church, to the open air. These doorways are quite plain, and are
+cut straight through the wall. Those on the south side and one on the
+north have lintels or level tops; the other has a straight lined arch
+composed of two long pieces of stone.
+
+In each side wall of the choir, above these doorways, is an open arch,
+cut through the wall with a slightly projecting border at the sill,
+which is 10 feet or so above the level of the present pavement. The
+jambs are quite plain, with heavy impost members, slightly hollowed,
+and a square label, much damaged and defaced. These two archways were
+no doubt made to admit a modicum of light to what must always have
+been a dimly lighted choir.
+
+The eastern wall of the present chancel contains the arch (now blocked
+up) which formed the entrance to the apsidal sanctuary. This arch is
+very spacious, being 12 feet 3 inches wide between the capitals, and
+20 feet high. It is composed of a single broad, flat-faced member,
+with well carved but primitive caps, supported by a semi-cylindrical
+shaft on either side. The plinth, or base, is but slightly moulded,
+and is 23 inches in height. The label is square and exceptionally
+prominent, springing from carved heads representing tusked animals
+(probably boars) of considerable size.
+
+Above the arch is a Perpendicular window, which was probably inserted
+after the sanctuary had been removed, though it may have replaced an
+earlier opening. Between the sill of the window and the blocked-up
+arch there are impost members or brackets fixed in the wall, and
+abutting against the side walls, the mouldings which return being
+different in each. There were probably similar brackets in the western
+wall of the choir which has been removed, and they may have been
+supports for the floor of the central tower. On this same wall are two
+stone slabs about 4 feet by 3 feet, with pointed tops flanking the
+window, which look as if they were intended to block up the splayed
+openings of former and possibly still existing window openings, though
+they have been internally and externally blocked.
+
+There is no trace in any account of the church as to how or when the
+eastern tower was removed or destroyed. Lyson's two drawings of the
+church show the choir portion considerably higher than the rest of the
+building, with a roof quite different in pitch. This might be due to
+the fact that the choir had been loftier than the nave, or to the
+partial removal of the masonry of this tower. It seems just a probable
+explanation that this tower fell towards the end of the fifteenth
+century--perhaps after a fire of which there are traces in the south
+east corner of the building--and in its fall did such damage to the
+sacristy, the apsidal sanctuary, and the chapel at the east of the
+south transept, that the brethren of Tewkesbury, of which abbey
+Deerhurst had become a cell in 1469, felt it to be beyond their means
+to restore the fabric. This, of course, is merely a theory, but it
+would account satisfactorily for the structural alterations carried
+out about that time. The forced disuse of the old sanctuary would
+involve the blocking up of the choir arch which gave access to it, and
+also the making of an additional window in the then east wall of the
+chancel. As there was no tower to support, the west wall of the choir
+may have been removed and the rood-screen erected, the door of
+entrance to which still exists in the south aisle, unblocked. It is an
+open question when this west wall of the choir was removed. If it were
+done, as some have thought, in the twelfth or the thirteenth century,
+the removal may have been a predisposing cause of the fall of the
+tower.
+
+The chancel contains some good oak seats and panelling which run all
+round the three available sides of the square. These were the seats
+for communicants, and the communion table until about sixteen years
+ago stood in the middle of the chancel. This Puritan arrangement was
+formerly not uncommon, but is now probably unique, seeing that
+Winchcombe church, where it once existed, has lately been "restored."
+Some of the panelling was part of a Jacobean pulpit, one panel of
+which, with the date 1604, is to be seen. The chancel rail is of
+carved wood, in keeping with the rest of the chancel furniture.
+
+Mr. Micklethwaite in his Paper on Saxon Churches (_Arch. Journ._ vol.
+lxiii.) refers to Deerhurst specially, and his remarks are, by his
+permission, here quoted, with one or two slight verbal alterations:
+
+"The Plan shows that in its last Saxon form it was a two-towered
+church of like plan to the church at Dover, on the Castle Hill. The
+central tower has gone, but the western one remains, and is a very
+remarkable building. The plan of the church shows the side walls of
+the nave black as still existing, which in fact they do, but only the
+upper parts of them. They are carried by arcades of thirteenth century
+work. These may take the place of earlier ones, and the church may
+have had aisles at its first building. If it had, I suspect that it
+lost them as Brixworth did, and was without when the east part of the
+church was put into the form shown on the plan. That seems to have
+been about the beginning of the eleventh century, but it is certain
+that there is earlier work in the west end and in the tower, and
+probable that there also is in the side walls of the nave. The
+presbytery was round-ended and wide-arched, as at Worth, and there is
+an arch in the east wall of the south transept leading to an altar
+place beyond. In the corresponding position on the other side (_i.e._,
+in the north transept) is a doorway which has led to some chamber
+outside.
+
+"The openings from the tower to the transepts on the floor lines are
+very small doorways, but there is an arch higher up on each side which
+looks as if it might have opened from an upper floor or gallery.[31]
+
+ [Illustration: PLAN OF DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH BEFORE THE
+ CONQUEST.
+ _By J.T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., from "The Archaeological
+ Journal."_]
+
+"To the end of the Saxon time it was usual to make living-rooms in the
+towers and roofs of the churches, but the evidence of it is clearest
+in the fore-buildings of the early monastic churches. That at
+Deerhurst gives more points than are found together in any other
+single monument, but the parallels of all, except the division of the
+two lower stories of the tower, may be found elsewhere, and nearly all
+at Wearmouth and Brixworth.
+
+"Here is a section of the tower of Deerhurst looking north, with later
+mediaeval work left out, and indications given of missing parts, of
+which those that remain supply the evidence.
+
+ [Illustration: THE TOWER.
+ _From "The Archaeological Journal."_]
+
+"The tower is considerably larger from east to west than from north to
+south, and on the ground and second stories is divided into two
+unequal parts, the eastern being the larger. The eastern division has
+formed the usual porch of entrance from the fore-court, with an arch
+eastwards towards the church, and two small doorways north and south
+from the covered walks of the fore-court. These doorways were
+destroyed in the thirteenth century, or later, when the walls were cut
+away and pointed arches as wide as the chamber itself inserted. On the
+west, an arch rather lower than that towards the church leads to the
+western division, which was not the baptistery, but a sort of
+vestibule to it. The baptistery itself stood, in the usual way, west
+of the tower and in the midst of the fore-court. A doorway of the
+thirteenth century now fills up the arch between it and the tower,
+which gives us the latest date up to which it can have stood.
+
+"Ascent to the upper part of the tower must have been by wooden stairs
+or ladders in the western division. The western room on the second
+story probably had no use except as a landing. It received only a
+borrowed light from the baptistery, which equalled in height two
+stories of the tower. The eastern room was entered by a door from the
+other. It has windows on the north and south sides, and a triangular
+opening towards the church on the east. In the same wall, towards the
+north side, is the doorway which led to the gallery in the church, and
+which, I think, is an insertion of the tenth century or later.
+
+"The third stage is now divided, but was originally one room, and
+that, as appears by the treatment of its details, an important one. I
+have suggested that it may have been used as a night quire. On the
+east is the very remarkable two-light window towards the church. There
+are windows in the middle of the north and south walls, and close by
+each is a round-headed recess very like those on the walls of the
+crypt at Ripon, and, I believe, like them, intended to hold lights.
+
+"In the west wall is a doorway now towards space, but originally
+leading to an attic in the gable above the baptistery. This room
+cannot have been very convenient, but the treatment of its door-case
+marks it as one of some importance. Perhaps it was the abbot's room.
+
+"Only part of the fourth stage remains, but enough to show that it was
+a single room like the one below; and on the east side, where the wall
+remains higher than elsewhere, is a doorway which led up one or two
+steps into the space between the ceiling and the roof of the nave.
+This seems to point to that loft having been used as the general
+dormitory.
+
+"The tower must have gone up at least one more story, where the bells
+would hang, but that has all been replaced by later work.
+
+"One reason for believing that the church at Deerhurst had aisles and
+lost them is that on each side of the nave in the Saxon wall, above
+the thirteenth century arches, is a three-cornered window like that
+from the second stage of the tower to the church, and looking as if it
+had served as a sort of squint from some chamber outside, which
+chamber is more likely to have been an attic in the roof of an aisle
+than anything else. If any such others existed at Deerhurst, there
+must have been separate access to them from the church or from
+outside, as they could not be reached from the tower."
+
+
+THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS.
+
+The chief remaining portion of the domestic buildings runs parallel
+with the wall on the right hand of the path leading from the gate in
+the churchyard to the west entrance of the church, and must have
+formed the east side of the larger cloister, as the corbels for the
+penthouse roof still exist in the walls, as they also do on the south
+wall of the church. Two doors into the cloister from the church, one
+at either end of the south aisle, have been blocked up.
+
+The other sides of the cloister, which have entirely disappeared,
+probably comprised on the south side a refectory, and on the west side
+perhaps the Prior's apartments and a dormitory or infirmary. The
+humbler domestic buildings were probably to the east of the block
+composed of the church; and a smaller cloister, or at any rate a
+smaller quadrangle of buildings may have existed to the east of the
+present block now inhabited as a farm.
+
+These farm buildings, which measure 68 feet 9 inches by 26 feet, with
+walls 30 inches in thickness, are probably late fourteenth or early
+fifteenth century, but contain many later modifications. There is a
+large upper room near the church with certainly a fifteenth century
+panelled ceiling, added to the existing open roof. This roof has a
+quatrefoil opening, through which it was possible to see what was
+taking place in the hall below.
+
+Below this room (used as a granary) is a cellar three steps below the
+ground-floor level, with a Norman shaft, introduced from some other
+part of the buildings, to strengthen the floor above.
+
+The present parlour, when in use as a hall, seems to have had two
+entrances on the south side, one of which, now blocked, serves as a
+small pantry.
+
+The north wall of these buildings contains an early fifteenth century
+two-light window, upon which the other windows seem to have been
+modelled. The south wall contains two windows, one of two lights, the
+lower one four. The east side is the most interesting from the
+presence of a reticulated window, similar to one at Clevedon Court,
+Somerset. This one originally measured 7 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 9
+inches, but has been carried up 3 feet higher.
+
+Near to this window, on the east, a wing has been rebuilt on the site
+of older buildings, with old materials re-used.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. Dr. Oscar Clark._
+ FOURTEENTH CENTURY WINDOW.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[29] In 1339 the Priory had license given to it to hold two fairs
+annually, each to last three days, outside the precincts. They were to
+be held "_in inventione et in exaltatione Crucis_."
+
+[30] The tomb of Sir Bryan de Stapleton and Cecilia Bardolph at Ingham
+(1438) has a dog upon it. His name is "_Jakke_."
+
+[31] The plan shows parts which now exist only in the form of
+foundations below ground. They are taken from a plan made in 1860
+under the direction of Mr. Slater the architect, who was then carrying
+out considerable alterations in the church. It is now in the
+collection of the Society of Antiquaries. The southern apse was not
+found by Mr. Slater, but is put in on the authority of Dr. J.H.
+Middleton, who found evidence of it.--J.T.M.
+
+
+
+
+THE SAXON CHAPEL.
+
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ THE SAXON CHAPEL.]
+
+About eighty yards or so from the Church of St. Mary at Deerhurst was
+discovered in 1885 in property known as _Abbot's Court_, a second
+Saxon building. It was proved, after careful examination, that this
+was a chapel, and the discovery of this fact threw considerable light
+upon the inscribed stone in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, which had
+been removed thither in 1675, bearing the inscription--
+
+ +-----------------------------------------+
+ | [cross] ODDA DVX IVSSIT HANC |
+ | REGIAM AVLAM CONSTRVI |
+ | ATQVE DEDICARI IN HONO- |
+ | R[=E] [=S] TRINITATIS PRO ANIMA GER |
+ | MANI SVI AELFRICI QVE DE HOC |
+ | LOCO ASS[=V]PTA. EALDREDVS VERO |
+ | E[=P][=S] QVI EAND[=E] DEDICAVIT II IDI |
+ | BVS A[=P][=L], XIIII AVT[=E] ANNOS REG |
+ | NI EADWARDI REGIS ANGLOR[=V]. |
+ +-----------------------------------------+
+
+_I.e._ to say in English: "[Symbol: cross] Duke Odda ordered this
+Royal Hall to be built and dedicated to the honour of the Holy Trinity
+for the soul of his brother AElfric which was taken up from this place.
+Bishop Ealdred it was who dedicated the same on the 12th April in the
+14th year of the reign of Edward, King of the English."
+
+ [Illustration: _From "The Archaeological Journal."_]
+
+This stone, of which a facsimile has been erected in this Saxon
+chapel, was for many years assumed to refer to the larger church at
+Deerhurst, but as soon as the smaller chapel was discovered, it was
+seen that the inscription could only refer to that building. The
+finding of a second stone, the dedication slab of an altar, in a
+chimney-stack, also seemed to confirm the idea that the building, with
+its nave, its chancel arch, and its chancel, was the chapel dedicated
+in 1056 by Earl Odda.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+The dedication stone has been mutilated by being converted into the
+topmost portion of a window, and the inscription admits of two
+interpretations. What remains is here shown. This may mean "_In
+honorem sanctae Trinitatis hoc altare dedicatum est_," or, as Mr.
+Micklethwaite suggests, "_In honorem Sancti Petri[32] apli (apostoli)
+hoc altare dedicatum est._"
+
+The chapel consists of a nave 25 feet 6 inches in length by 15 feet 10
+inches in breadth, and a chancel 14 feet by 11 feet 3 inches, entered
+by a round-headed arch 6 feet 6 inches in width and 10 feet in
+height.[33]
+
+The jambs of this curious arch are nearly 28 inches and the imposts
+nearly 10 inches in thickness. The latter are chamfered and moulded
+rudely with two hollows. The arch is distinctly horse-shoe-shaped, and
+on the nave side has a square label merging into the abacus, while the
+chancel side has none. The doorways were two in number, opposite to
+each other, in the north and south walls. Of the latter only traces
+remain. The north door was blocked when the chapel was discovered, but
+is now opened to give means of access to the building. Only half the
+doorway is original.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
+ CHANCEL ARCH IN THE SAXON CHAPEL.]
+
+It is a doubtful point how the chancel was lighted, as there is no
+trace of a window in the old portion of the east wall, while the rest
+of this wall and the south wall were Tudor alterations. The north wall
+contains a sixteenth century window.
+
+In the north-east corner of the chancel is an Early English bracket of
+beautiful work, for the presence of which it is difficult to account,
+unless the chapel were in use in the thirteenth century.
+
+The walls of the nave were originally 17 feet high, as compared with
+15 feet for the chancel portion. There were also two windows in the
+nave opposite to each other. That in the north wall has been altered;
+that in the south wall is very curious and interesting. It is splayed
+both inside and out, from an opening 3-1/2 x 2-1/2 feet, with a sill 10
+feet 6 inches above the level of the ground. The arch is of long, thin
+slabs of stone, inserted in mortar with wide joints, in some cases two
+inches in thickness.
+
+A ladder gives access to what was the floor above, when the chapel was
+divided into two floors for domestic occupation.
+
+Externally the chapel measures 46 feet by 21 feet, the walls being on
+an average 30 inches thick.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[32] The property even then belonged to the Abbey of St. Peter at
+Westminster.
+
+[33] "Most small English churches were built on a plan which is purely
+'_Scottish_,' all through the Saxon time and beyond it. There are
+scores of them all over the country. The smaller church at Deerhurst,
+built in the middle of the eleventh century, will serve for an
+example. Note its small square presbytery and narrow arch. The church
+at Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, is a contemporary dated building of
+like form, but rather larger size" (J.T. Micklethwaite in _Arch.
+Journal_, vol. liii.).
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO TEWKESBURY ABBEY
+
+
+Abbey church purchased by the town, 15.
+
+Abbots, list of, 101.
+
+Aisles of Nave, 47-51.
+
+Altar, 74.
+
+Ambulatory, 51.
+
+Arcading, Early English, 57.
+
+Arms of the Abbey, 101.
+
+Aula regia, Deerhurst, 4.
+
+
+Battle of Tewkesbury, 14.
+
+Bell-tower, detached, 16, 33.
+
+Bosses of vault of nave, 42, 43.
+ of St. Edmund's Chapel, 60.
+
+
+Chantries, 83.
+
+Chapels and Chantries:
+ Fitz-Hamon, 88.
+ Lady (Early English), 30, 57, 58.
+ Norman, 69.
+ St. Edmund, 60, 95.
+ St. Eustatius, 13, 29, 30.
+ St. Faith, 63.
+ St. James, 55.
+ St. John Baptist (?), 64.
+ St. Margaret, 58.
+ Trinity, 91.
+ Warwick, 83.
+
+Chapter House, 34.
+
+Choir, interior, 71.
+
+Clare, Gilbert de (I), 9, 80.
+ Gilbert de (II and III), 10, 79, 80.
+
+Clarence vault, 62.
+
+Cloister, 34.
+
+Consecration of the Abbey, 7.
+
+Cotes, Abbot, 96, 102.
+
+Craik (Mrs.), monument of, 67.
+
+Cranbourn and Tewkesbury, 5, 6.
+
+
+Despenser monument, 90.
+
+Despensers, The, 10.
+ their graves, 81.
+
+Dimensions, 129.
+
+Dissolution, the, 14.
+
+Doorway from cloister, 49.
+
+
+Edward, Prince of Wales, grave of, 78.
+
+Eustatius, St., chapel of, 13, 29, 30.
+
+
+Fitz-Hamon, Robert, 6, 7.
+
+
+Font, 20, 43.
+
+Foundation of the Abbey, 4, 6.
+
+
+Gateway, Abbey, 24.
+
+Giraldus, Abbot, 6, 7, 101.
+
+
+Hugh, Earl (of Mercia), 5.
+
+
+Lady Chapel, supposed, 30, 57.
+ Eastern, 37, 63.
+
+Lectern, 44.
+
+
+Masons' marks, 41.
+
+Monastic buildings, 24.
+
+Morris, William, 21.
+
+
+Nave, interior, 39.
+
+
+Odda, 4.
+
+Organs, 97-100.
+
+
+Parapet of apse, 36.
+
+Plate, silver, 100.
+
+Porch, north, 30.
+
+Pulpit, 44.
+
+
+Registers, 100.
+
+Restoration, 20-22.
+
+Robert I, Abbot, 7.
+
+Robert, first Earl of Gloucester, 8.
+
+Roof of nave, 42.
+
+
+Screen, choir, 45.
+
+Sedilia, 75.
+
+
+Tiles, encaustic, 76, 101.
+
+Tomb in north aisle of nave, 48.
+ of Sir Guy de Brien, 59, 93.
+ Duke of Clarence, 62.
+ Abbot Cheltenham, 65, 95.
+ Abbot Alan, 67, 97.
+
+Tower, 18, 30.
+ Interior, 53.
+
+Transept, north, 51.
+
+Transept, south, 68.
+
+Triforium, 41.
+
+
+Vault of Nave, 42.
+ of Choir, 73.
+
+Vestry, 36, 65.
+
+
+Wakeman, Abbot, 95, 102.
+ Cenotaph, so called, 95.
+
+Warwick, Duke of, his grave, 79.
+ Countess of, 11.
+
+West front, 32.
+ window, 17, 33, 46.
+
+Windows, north aisle, 47.
+ south aisle, 49.
+ Choir, 76.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO DEERHURST PRIORY
+
+
+Aisle, north, 112.
+ south, 111.
+
+
+Brasses, 113.
+
+
+Choir, 115.
+
+Denis, St., Abbey granted to, 106.
+
+Dissolution, 107.
+
+
+Eton, Priory granted to, 107.
+
+Exterior, 108.
+
+
+Font, 114.
+
+
+Interior, 108.
+
+
+Monastic buildings, 121.
+
+
+Nave, 108.
+
+
+Plan, original, 117.
+
+
+Saxon chapel, 123-126.
+
+
+Tower, central, 116.
+ western, 108, 119.
+
+ [Illustration: THE PRIORY CHURCH AND ITS DOMESTIC BUILDINGS AS
+ NOW EXISTING.]
+
+ [Illustration: PLAN OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. MARY,
+ TEWKESBURY.]
+
+
+DIMENSIONS OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY.
+
+ Ft. In.
+
+Total Length (exterior) 331 0
+Total Length (interior) 311 1
+Breadth of West End (exterior) 80 0
+
+NAVE:
+ Length 170 0
+ Breadth 71 0
+ Height of Vaulting 58 6
+ Height of Piers 30 8
+ Diameter of Piers 6 3
+
+Total Length of Transepts North to South 122 4
+
+CHOIR AND PRESBYTERY:
+ Total Length 103 2
+ Breadth 33 0
+
+TOWER:
+ Height to top of Pinnacles 148 3
+
+WEST WINDOW:
+ Extreme Height 65 0
+ Breadth 34 0
+
+Area 25,110 square feet
+
+ * * * * *
+
+CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
+TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Typographical errors corrected in text: |
+ | |
+ | Page xi: FitzHamon replaced with Fitz-Hamon |
+ | |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of
+Tewkesbury, by H. J. L. J. Masse
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