History Features

It is situated on a spit of gravel just above flood level at the junction of two great rivers (The Severn and Avon).

Historic architecture in Tewkesbury

The town has always been a favoured resting place for travellers on the highway which winds its way up the Severn valley.

Evidence of Roman and Saxon occupation can be found among artefacts excavated from early settlement sites around the town.

Tewkesbury's glory is its Abbey, founded at the end of the 11th Century as a Benedictine Monastery.

The spectacular central tower, which stands 148 feet high, is the largest surviving Norman central tower in the world.

With the exception of Westminster Abbey, Tewkesbury contains more medieval tombs than any other church in Britain.

For 300 years from the 11th Century the great medieval families of Fitzhamon, de Clare and le Despenser held authority over the town.

It was just south of the town, on May 4 1471, that one of the key battles of the Wars of the Roses was fought.

Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI, was killed in this battle and the Lancastrian cause died with him.

The Battle of Tewkesbury was just one of an episode of a pageant of events affecting the town.

Tewkesbury developed from a feudal Norman settlement into a Free Borough under the charter of the Earls of Gloucester.

Subsequent charters were confirmed by Edward II and Edward III and the town received its first charter of incorporation during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1574), at which time Tewkesbury was described as 'great and populous'.

The Borough of Tewkesbury was confirmed as a Free Borough by this charter, had a Wednesday market day instituted and nominated a Town Clerk.

William III granted a new Charter of Liberties in 1698 after the loss of the first charter during the Civil War.

This charter remains in force and may be viewed at the local museum.

Historic architecture in Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury Architecture

Tewkesbury is remarkable in that its medieval layout and character has survived to this day.

At the beginning of the 19th century it was one of the most important towns in the country but suffered a decline, and from 1850 to 1930 there was virtually new building in the town.

As a result, the development of the town from its earliest days can be seen in its street pattern and buildings. To walk around it is a rewarding experience.

The importance of Tewkesbury in its earliest days was due both to its position at the junction of navigable rivers and to the foundation of the Abbey.

The junction of what is now Church Street, High Street and Barton Street (known as 'The Cross') was likely home to a market and by the time the Abbey was founded Church Street would have extended as far as the Bull Ring (now known as the Crescent).

It is probable that most of High Street, north from the Cross, and Barton Street as far as the present Chance Street had been developed by the end of the 14th century.

The original layout with burgages extending to the rear of houses fronting the streets remains to this day.

A noteworthy feature of Tewkesbury buildings is the wide continuous window at the first floor level on a number of prominent properties, all which were re-fronted in the mid 17th century.

Other characteristic features of Tewkesbury came with an expanding population in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

With building and being constrained by the flood plain, the height of buildings was raised and rows of cottages reached by alleys, which had formerly served barns and workshops, were built behind existing houses fronting the streets.

 Many of the alleys have survived, although the poverty and overcrowding which afflicted them, thankfully, has not.

Tewkesbury was designated as a Conservation Area in 1967 with over 200 listed buildings, and although several new buildings have been erected in the town centre since 1960, local authorities have considerable powers in the area of preservation, hopefully avoiding further loss of valuable old buildings and damage to the town's streetscape.

Tewkesbury Abbey

Tewkesbury Abbey

Tewkesbury's glory is its Abbey, founded by Robert Fitz Hamon at the end of the 11th century as a Benedictine monastery. Stone to build it was brought by sea and river from Normandy in the 12th century.

One of Britain's largest churches, it has some fine Norman work in the nave, 14th Century stained glass above the choir and an organ dating from 1620.

Look out for the tombs of Edward, Baron Le Despenser, who fought at Poitiers in 1356 and of John Wakeman, the last abbot, who is shown as a vermin-ridden skeleton.

Tewkesbury's fortunes depended on the wool industry because the abbey owned land and sheep all over the Cotswolds.

When the abbey was dissolved, the church survived because the townspeople bought it for £453.

The Abbey was consecrated in 1121, but according to "The history of Tewkesbury" by written by James Bennett, local publisher, in 1830, it had to be reconsecrated in 1471 after fighting during the battle of Tewkesbury in that year spilled into the nave, as desperate Lancastrians sought sanctuary "... it having been polluted with blood."

The impressive tower is the largest surviving Norman tower in existence, measuring 46ft (14m) square, and 148ft (45m) from its base to the tips of the pinnacles.

Originally a lantern tower letting light into the church below, stone vaulting was added in the late 14th C.

At one stage the central tower had a wooden spire, rising a further 130ft (39m) towards the sky.

This collapsed in Easter 1559, because of the neglect of the time, and was never replaced.

It is not known what bells were in the tower at this stage.

Records show that in 1390 a detached campanile was built in the churchyard, and a drawing of it is found in James Bennett's book.

This tower contained the curfew bell, and probably gave the adjacent Bell Hotel its name.

The River Severn near Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury's Rivers and Bridges

The meeting of the Severn and Avon determined the site and shape of Tewkesbury.

In earlier years, they brought prosperity as a means of transport and a focus of land routes.

They have threatened the town when they have spilled over into the flood plain.

Their decline in value as a transport corridor with the coming of the railway has preserved the old town we see today.

Until the seventeenth century, trade on the Severn supported Tewkesbury, and large quantities of goods were loaded for ports in the far south west.

In 1636, the Avon was made navigable, and the Midlands were opened up to river trade, with Tewkesbury as the port of trans-shipment.

The River Severn rises in North Wales, and flows to the sea in the Bristol channel. At 354km it is Britain's longest river.

It flows through some of the most important cities of the Middle ages: Gloucester, Worcester and Shrewsbury, and was at the edge of the Welsh Marches.

The River Avon is an altogether more gentle river, flowing through the Midland shires of Warwickshire and Worcestershire before joining the Severn at Tewkesbury. Its chief town is Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare.

There are many minor rivers and streams running through and around Tewkesbury, some of which swell to immense proportions when conditions are right for a flood.

Most notable is the Mill Avon, which forms the Western limit of the town.

Believed to have been dug in Saxon times, probably to power a mill, this branch of the Avon brings pleasure boats to the heart of the town today.

There still are mills, but the days of water power have long departed.

Where there are rivers, there are also bridges and Tewkesbury has many.

There is one of particular note: King John's Bridge, formerly known as the long bridge, carries the main Gloucester to Worcester road over the Mill Avon, and thence by a series of bridges and causeways over the flood plain to the Mythe.

Water power in Tewkesbury

King John caused this bridge to be built at the end of the twelfth century, and made allowance for its upkeep.

It then consisted of a narrow stone bridge and a long wooden causeway, but the demands of traffic have turned the causeway into an earth embankment and caused the bridge to be considerably widened.

Article reproduced courtesy of tewkesbury.net