Tewkesbury

“ In those times, when men fought well, they built with equal sturdiness, and the memory of their deeds beside the Avon meadows, in the bloody Battle of Tewkesbury of 1471, survives, side by side with the fine black-and-white timbered houses they designed and framed, and will survive centuries yet. ”

“ At Tewkesbury took place, 4th May 1471, the battle between the Yorkists and Lancastrians which placed the crown on the head of Edward IV. During the Civil War the town was occupied by the Parliamentarians, who were driven out by the Royalists; but it was surprised and captured by the former in 1644, after which it remained in their possession. Tewkesbury was first incorporated by Elizabeth in 1574, and when James I. sold the manor to the corporation in 1609 he granted it a new charter with extended privileges. ”

“ So at Tewkesbury, through that summer night, within a short distance of each other, the armies of York and Lancaster, under the sons of those who, years before, had plucked the roses in the Temple Garden, and encountered with mortal hatred in the streets of St. Albans, animated moreover by such vindictive feelings as the memory of friends and kinsmen slain in the field and executed on the scaffold could not fail to inspire, awaited the light of another day, to fight their twelfth battle for the crown of England. ”

“ Tewkesbury is known to fame by its mustard, its abbey, and its battle. The renown of the Tewkesbury mustard goes back for at least three centuries: as "thick as Tewkesbury mustard" was a proverb of Falstaff's. That old-time historian Fuller says of it, "The best in England (to take no larger compass) is made at Tewkesbury. It is very wholesome for the clearing of the head, [Pg 343] moderately taken." But, unfortunately, the reputation of Tewkesbury for this commodity has declined in modern times. ”

“ The old many-arched bridge over the Avon is extremely picturesque. In a county famed for its rich monasteries, Tewkesbury was among the most important. The name is believed to come from Theoc, a Saxon missionary monk, who founded a hermitage here. The abbey was originally a dependency of Cranbourne Abbey in Dorsetshire, but being richly endowed, Tewkesbury became the leading monastic establishment. Fitz-Hamon, Earl of Gloucester, began the rebuilding of the church. The choir was reconstructed in 1350 in Gothic style, but the nave and massive central tower are Norman. ”

“ Many of the Clares, Despencers, Beauchamps, and other lords of Tewkesbury are buried here, as also the murdered Prince Edward and (possibly) Clarence; and in 1890 a tablet was erected to Mrs. Craik, the scene of whose “John Halifax” is laid in Tewkesbury. The place has also a town hall (1788) , a corn exchange (1856) , Telford's iron bridge over the Severn (1824) with span of 176 feet, a free grammar school, etc. Manufacture of mustard was previously the chief industry. It has now been replaced by the shoe trade. ”

“ Miss Planta and myself, by the queen’s direction, went in a chaise to see Tewkesbury. We were carried to several very beautiful points of view, all terminating with the noble hills of Malvern; and we visited the cathedral.... The pews seem the most unsafe, strange, and irregular that were ever constructed; they are mounted up, story after story, without any order, now large, now small, now projecting out wide, now almost indented in back, nearly to the very roof of the building. They look as if, ready-made, they had been thrown up, and stuck wherever they could, entirely by chance. ”

“ Lady Sarah Tewkesbury had risen betimes, and, in her anxiety to secure a good place, had come out in her last night’s “head,” which somewhat damaged edifice of ginger-coloured ringlets and Roman pearls was now visible above the wooden partition of the King’s Bench to the eyes of the commonalty in the hall below, her ladyship being accommodated with a seat among the lawyers. ”

“ It was the site of a Saxon castle and monastery, and its position near navigable rivers led to the growth of a town, which was a borough with a market in 1087 when it was part of the royal domain. It was subsequently granted to Earl Robert of Gloucester, who granted a charter before 1107, which exempted the borough from certain tolls and from suit at the hundred court. Edward III. confirmed this charter in 1337, and made Tewkesbury free from tolls throughout England. ”

“ Probably the most interesting part of the abbey church to ordinary visitors are the chapels and monuments, which suffered serious injury in the 16th and{132} 17th centuries, but were repaired in the later centuries. Many lords of Tewkesbury, including members of the family of Clare, Despenser, and Beauchamp, are interred in the church, while on the south side of the choir are the remains of what were at one time probably the memorials of every abbot of Tewkesbury from Giraldus to John Wakeman. ”

“ That they do hold their course toward Tewkesbury.
We, having now the best at Barnet field,⁠20
Will thither straight, for willingness rids way;
And, as we march, our strength will be augmented
In every county as we go along.
Strike up the drum! cry 'Courage!' and away.⁠24
Exeunt.
Scene Four
[Plains near Tewkesbury]
Flourish. March. Enter the Queen, young Edward, Somerset, Oxford, and Soldiers.
Queen. Great lords, wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss,
But cheerly seek how to redress their harms. ”

“ Of the two organs, one, dating from the early 17th century, is of singularly beautiful tone. In the High Street there are several ancient. timbered and gabled houses. Remains of an ancient wall have been discovered adjoining the town. There are a free grammar school (1625) and a number of charities and almshouses. Tewkesbury is chiefly dependent on its agricultural trade. Below the junction of the rivers there is a great lock and weir on the Severn, up to which the stream is sometimes reversed by the tidal bore. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. ”

“ At Great Malvern we were deliciously idle. We walked about the place, rested quietly, drove into the neighboring country, and made a single excursion,--to Tewkesbury. There are few places better worth seeing than this fine old town, full of historical associations and monumental relics. The magnificent old abbey church is the central object of interest. The noble Norman tower, one hundred and thirty-two feet in height, was once surmounted by a spire, which fell during divine service on Easter Day of the year 1559. ”

“ Tewkesbury has an abbey church, not so magnificent, but hardly less interesting than that of Worcester, while it is not less rich than Shrewsbury in black-timbered houses. Here the course of the Severn is interrupted by a weir and a lock, constructed in order to make the river navigable to Worcester for vessels of larger tonnage, and is crossed by a fine bridge of iron. It receives the Avon, by the side of which the town is built, and this stream is spanned by another and ancient bridge of stone. ”

“ They have well earned the gratitude of posterity. The monastic buildings, however, to a great extent have disappeared. The cloisters, which seem to have resembled those at Gloucester, are unfortunately gone, but the monks’ infirmary, with some adjacent buildings, has been incorporated into a mansion called Abbey House, and the principal gateway still remains. Tewkesbury, in short, is to the lover of architecture far the most interesting town of its size in the valley of the Severn. ”

“ BEFORE TEWKESBURY.
It was Easter Sunday, in the year 1471, and the battle of Barnet had been fought. Exeter lay stretched among the dead and the dying on the blood-stained heath of Gladsmuir; Oxford was spurring toward the north; Somerset was escaping toward the west; Henry of Windsor had been led back to his prison in the Tower; the bodies of Warwick and Montagu were being conveyed in one coffin to St. Paul's ”

“ William Wilson, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, by his will, dated 15th of April, 1726, gave the sum of £100 South Sea Stock to the Chamber of the Corporation of Tewkesbury, upon trust, to permit the high bailiff for the time being to receive the dividends thereon, and dispose of the same, at his discretion, to poor persons of Tewkesbury, especially to such as should be visited with sickness or other calamitous accidents, without any regard to differences of political and religious opinions, the bailiff to account to the chamber for the disposal of the same, and to retain 10s. ”

“ The “Bell” inn is a beautiful old building, of strongly contrasted very white plaster and very black timbers. A blue and gold bell hangs out as a sign in front. At the left-hand side an [Pg 287] addition has quite recently been made (not included in the illustration) to provide a billiard-room and additional bedrooms.
THE “WHEATSHEAF,” TEWKESBURY.
For the rest, Tewkesbury is a town full of ancient buildings, built in those dark times of the warring Roses, when men were foolish enough to fight—and to die and to lose all—for their principles. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The really important fact is this: that we have a continuous chain of evidence, proving that "Robert, the king's son," was not yet Earl of Gloucester, at least as late as April-May, 1121.
Against this weight of accumulated evidence what is there? Absolutely nothing but that Tewkesbury charter, which is quoted from Dugdale's Monasticon, where it is quoted from a mere Inspeximus of the 10th Henry IV. (1408-9) , some three centuries after its alleged date! ”

“ Gloucester—not of course Humphrey, but Richard—is said to have killed him; but then Gloucester is said to have killed everybody; tradition makes him a universal murderer. At the same time, as everybody else belonging to the Lancastrian party was killed, there seems a sort of rounding off and completion of the work by the murder of Henry. The fight happening so soon after Tewkesbury as to appear uninfluenced by that event, was a splendid example of the City loyalty. What the Mayor would have done had Tewkesbury gone the other way, it is impossible to say. ”

“ Nevertheless, encouraged by the support of the Duke of Somerset, she went on into the West country, summoning the people to join her in defence of her husband's rights. She was joined by a large company out of Cornwall and Devonshire, but was met at Tewkesbury by Edward at the head of a superior force, and utterly defeated. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The ruins of this abbey church of a former Benedictine monastery stand overshadowed by the glorious Malvern hills in a beautiful valley in Gloucestershire, through which flow the Avon and Severn with two tributaries. The rich colouring of the country side and the ever varying tints of the surrounding hills make the environment of Tewkesbury{131} one of singular beauty—a perfect setting for the abbey with its imposing Norman tower, one of the most perfect of the kind in England. ”

“ For the king munificently repaired the damage of that church: and it is not easy to relate, how much Robert ennobled, by his favour, the monastery of Tewkesbury; where the splendour of the edifice, and the kindness of the monks, attract the eyes, and captivate the minds of the visitors. Fortune, however, to make up for the loss of these persons, put a finishing hand to the war, when at its height, and with little labour, gave his brother, when opposing him with no despicable force, together with William earl of Moreton, and Robert de Belesme, into his power. ”

“ It is not possible for any p. 152intelligent person to mistake the spot, if he is desirous to find it, when he has walked a mile from Tewkesbury on the turnpike road. The place is called “Gupshill,” and is in the parish of Tewkesbury. [152]
The old annalists and chronicles have left us much in the dark, as to the exact place near the camp of the Lancastrians, where Edward’s forces passed the night prior to the battle ”

“ 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." ”

“ Not remarkable in the scenic way, for a more nearly level stretch of very often flooded meadow lands you will not see for miles. The site of Tewkesbury is close upon, but not actually on, the confluence of England’s greatest river, the broad and turbid and rather grim Severn, with the Avon. All around, but in grey and blue distances, are hills: the Cotswolds, the Bredon Hills, the greater Malverns, and the yet greater, but more distant Welsh mountains; but the Severn and the Avon flow through levels that extend considerable distances. ”