Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury / with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire

by H. J. L. J. Massé

H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A.

Author of "Gloucester Cathedral"
"Mont S. Michel," "Chartres," etc.

WITH XLIV

ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1906

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First published, April, 1900.
Reprinted with corrections, 1901, 1906.

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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 Theokusburiæ 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 Archæological 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.

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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

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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 Theokusburiæ"	[5]
Richard Beauchamp, first husband of Isabelle Despenser, and his Armorial Connexions, from the "Registrum Theokusburiæ"	[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 Archæological Journal"	[118]
The Tower, from "The Archæological 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]

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Photo. Dr. Oscar Clark.

THE ABBEY—FROM THE NORTH-WEST.[ToList]

TEWKESBURY ABBEY IN 1840.
By Rev. J.L. Petit.[ToList]