The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of
Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of
Gloucestershire, England. A former
Benedictinemonastery, it is now a
parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of
Norman architecture in Britain, it has the largest
Romanesque crossing tower in Europe.
Tewkesbury had been a centre for worship since the 7th century. A priory was established there in the 10th century. The present building was started in the early 12th century. It was unsuccessfully used as a
sanctuary in the
Wars of the Roses. After the
dissolution of the monasteries, Tewkesbury Abbey became the parish church for the town.
George Gilbert Scott led the
restoration of the building in the late 19th century. The church and churchyard within the abbey precincts include tombs and memorials to many of the aristocracy of the area.
Services have been
high church but now include Parish
Eucharist, choral
Mass, and
Evensong. These services are accompanied by one of the church's three organs and choirs. There is a
ring of twelve bells, hung for
change ringing.
History
The Chronicle of Tewkesbury records that the first Christian worship was brought to the area by Theoc, a missionary from
Northumbria, who built his cell in the mid-7th century near a gravel spit where the
Severn and
Avon rivers join. The cell was succeeded by a monastery in 715,[2] but nothing remaining of it has been identified.
Robert Fitzhamon was wounded at
Falaise in
Normandy in 1105 and died two years later, but his son-in-law, Robert FitzRoy, the natural son of
Henry I who was made Earl of Gloucester, continued to fund the building work. The abbey's greatest single later patron was
Lady Eleanor le Despenser, last of the De Clare heirs of FitzRoy.[7] In the High
Middle Ages, Tewkesbury became one of the richest abbeys of England.
After the
Battle of Tewkesbury in the
Wars of the Roses on 4 May 1471, some of the defeated Lancastrians sought
sanctuary in the abbey.[8] The victorious Yorkists, led by King
Edward IV, forced their way into the abbey; the resulting bloodshed caused the building to be closed for a month until it could be purified and re-consecrated.
At the
dissolution of the monasteries, the last
abbot,
John Wakeman, surrendered the abbey to the commissioners of
King Henry VIII on 9 January 1539. As a former monk of an endowed community, he received an annuity. This was the relatively large sum of 400
marks, but would have ceased when he was
ordained as the first
Bishop of Gloucester in September 1541.[9] Meanwhile, the people of Tewkesbury saved the abbey from destruction. Insisting that it was their
parish church which they had the right to keep, they bought it from the Crown for the value of its bells and lead roof which would have been salvaged and melted down, leaving the structure a roofless ruin.[10] The price came to £453.
The bells merited their own free-standing belltower, an unusual feature in English sites. After the dissolution, the bell-tower was used as the gaol for the borough until it was demolished in the late 18th century.[11]
The central stone tower was originally topped with a wooden spire, which collapsed in 1559 and was never rebuilt.
Restoration undertaken in the late 19th century under Sir
George Gilbert Scott was reopened on 23 September 1879.[12] Work continued under the direction of his son
John Oldrid Scott until 1910 and included the
rood screen of 1892.[13]
Flood waters from the nearby River Severn reached inside the abbey during severe floods in 1760, and
again on 23 July 2007.[14]
Construction time-line
23 October 1121 – the choir consecrated
1150 – tower and nave completed
1178 – large fire necessitated some rebuilding
~1235 – Chapel of St Nicholas built
~1300 – Chapel of St. James built
1321–1335 – choir rebuilt with radiating chantry chapels
1349–59 – tower and nave vaults rebuilt; the
lierne vaults of the nave replacing wooden roofing
1107 – when the abbey's founder
Robert Fitzhamon died in 1107, he was buried in the chapter house while his son-in-law
Robert FitzRoy,
Earl of Gloucester (an illegitimate son of King
Henry I), continued building the abbey
1375 –
Edward Despenser,
Lord of the Manor of Tewkesbury, is remembered today chiefly for the effigy on his monument, which shows him in full colour kneeling on top of the canopy of his chantry, facing toward the high altar
1395 – Robert Fitzhamon's remains were moved into a new chapel built as his tomb
The bells at the abbey were overhauled in 1962 and the
ring is now made up of twelve bells, cast by
John Taylor & Co of Loughborough.[30] A semitone bell[30][31] (Flat 6th) and extra treble[32] were also cast by Taylor of Loughborough in 1991 and 2020 respectively, making a total of 14 available for
change ringing.
The Old Clock Bells are the old 6th (Abraham Rudhall II, 1725), the old 7th (Abraham Rudhall I, 1696), the old 8th (Abraham Rudhall I, 1696) and the old 11th (Abraham Rudhall I, 1717).
The abbey bells are rung from 09:30am to 10:30am every Sunday. They are also rung on certain Sundays before
Evensong. Practice takes place each Thursday from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.[30]
The
market town of
Tewkesbury developed to the north of the abbey precincts, of which vestiges remain in the layout of the streets and a few buildings: the Abbot's gatehouse, the Almonry barn, the Abbey Mill, Abbey House, the present vicarage and some
half-timbered dwellings in Church Street. The abbey now sits partly isolated in lawns, like a cathedral in its cathedral close, for the area surrounding the abbey is protected from development by the Abbey Lawn Trust, a
registered charity[34] originally funded by a United States benefactor in 1962.[35]
The abbey possesses, in effect, two choirs. The Abbey Choir sings at Sunday services, with children (boys and girls) and adults in the morning, and adults in the evening. Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum is a professional choir of men, boys and girls based at Dean Close Preparatory School and sings at weekday Evensongs as well as occasional masses and concerts. The Abbey School Tewkesbury, which educated, trained and provided choristers to sing the service of Evensong from its foundation in 1973 by Miles Amherst, closed in 2006; the choir was then re-housed at Dean Close School, Cheltenham, and renamed the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.
Worship
For the most part,
worship at the abbey has been emphatically
High Anglican. However, in more recent times there has been an acknowledgement of the value of less solemn worship, and this is reflected in the two congregational services offered on Sunday mornings. The first of these (at 9.15am) is a Parish
Eucharist, with modern language and an informal atmosphere; a parish breakfast is typically served after this service. The main Sung Eucharist at 11am is solemn and formal, including a choral
Mass; traditional language is used throughout, and most parts of the service are indeed sung, including the Collect and
Gospel reading. Choral
Evensong is sung on Sunday evenings, and also on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during the week. A said Eucharist also takes place every day of the week, at varying times, and alternating between traditional and modern language. Each summer since 1969 (with the exception of 2007 when the town was hit by floods) the abbey has played host to Musica Deo Sacra, a festival combining music and liturgy. Photography in the abbey is restricted.[45]
^McAleer, J. Philip (1983). "The Romanesque Choir of Tewkesbury Abbey and the Problem of a "Colossal Order"". The Art Bulletin. 65 (4): 535–558.
doi:
10.2307/3050367.
JSTOR3050367.
^David Verey and Alan Brooks. The Buildings of England Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and the Forest of Dean. Yale University Press. p. 713.
^"Row on row". Church Monuments Society. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
^Harper, John (May 1986). "The Organ of Magdalen College, Oxford. 1: The Historical Background of Earlier Organs, 1481–1985". The Musical Times. 127 (1718). Musical Times Publications Ltd.: 293–296.
doi:
10.2307/965479.
JSTOR965479. (accessed via JSTOR, subscription required)
^Shaw, Watkins (1991) The Succession of Organists of the Chapel Royal and the Cathedrals of England and Wales from c. 1538. Oxford: Clarendon Press
ISBN0-19-816175-1
^Who's who in Music. Shaw Publishing Ltd. First Post War Edition. 1949–50
^Laurd, Henry (1869).
""Annales de Theokesberia" in Annales Monastici". London. MCII: Hic primum in novum monasterium ingressi sumus (1102 A.D.: This was the first year we entered the new monastery)
^
abcdefghiDavid Knowles, et al, The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales: Volume 1, 940-1216, revised edition (Cambridge, U.K.: 2001) pp. 73, 255-256.
^
abcdefWilliam Page, Victoria County History of Gloucester, Volume II (London: 1907) pp. 62-65.
^Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online (ODNB), "Robert Fitz Haimon" by Judith A. Green.
^
abcdefghDavid M. Smith, ed. The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales: Volume III, 1377-1540, (Cambridge, U.K.: 2008) pp. 73-74.
^[1]Archived 24 April 2016 at the
Wayback Machine John Le Neve, et al., Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: Volume 8, Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough Dioceses (London: 1996) p. 40.
^Note: Photography is permitted in the Abbey but requires purchase of a day permit. Photography is not permitted, however, during services or within the sanctuary of the altar and is not permitted for publication or commercial gain without written permission of the vicar or churchwardens. See: "Discover Tewkesbury Abbey" pamphlet and Tewkesbury Abbey Camera/Video Permit
Morris, Richard K. & Shoesmith, Ron (editors) (2003) Tewkesbury Abbey: history, art and architecture. Almeley: Logaston Press
ISBN1-904396-03-8