The founder of the present abbey was Robert FitzHamon, who was related to William the Conqueror, and received the Honour of Gloucester from Rufus. Having decided to rebuild the modest Saxon abbey, FitzHamon soon removed all traces of the early buildings when, in 1102, the work was begun. Five years later the founder died of a wound received during a siege of the impregnable castle of Falaise in Normandy, and was buried in the chapter-house. The consecration took place in 1123, and in 1178 a fire occurred, which was fortunately restricted to the conventual buildings.
Gilbert de Clare, one of the barons who had signed Magna Charta, was buried in the abbey, and after him, for two and a half centuries, every one of his successors was laid to rest in the same building.
When Tewkesbury Abbey was suppressed, the nave, which had always been secular, continued to be a possession of the town, and the other portions of the great fabric were bought from the Crown for the sum of £453.
It is often stated that the great Norman tower is the most perfect in this country, but the people of St. Albans would no doubt question this claim. The tall wooden spire, covered with lead, fell during service on Easter Sunday in 1559, and was never replaced. Inside the church one sees little that is not pure Norman, and for solemnity and vast, imposing dignity it would be difficult to find any building able to overshadow Tewkesbury. It may be compared with Durham, Selby, and Christchurch. The west end has a wonderfully fine recessed window of immense proportions. In 1661 the window was blown in during a gale, and was replaced in 1686. Surely those who were attached to the Commonwealth must have thought there was something significant in this parallel to the rending of the veil of the Temple, for the seventeenth century was a superstitious age.
The Battle of Tewkesbury, one of the decisive encounters of the Wars of the Roses, was fought, in 1471, on the south side of the town (its position is shown in the accompanying plan). Edward IV. crushingly defeated the Lancastrians under Edward, the youthful Prince of Wales, whose army fought with Tewkesbury in their rear. The defeated army took refuge in the town, and the slaughter continued in the abbey church in hideous fashion, until the abbot, bearing in his hands the consecrated elements, brought the fighting to a close. Prince Edward, who had been struck in the mouth by the gauntleted hand of the King, was killed in a house in Church Street.
With the rooks cawing high overhead in the tree-tops, and a sweet solemnity pervading the whole abbey precincts, it is almost impossible to picture the ghastly scene of civil war which, four and a half centuries ago, soaked the meadows in human blood and turned the noble church into a shambles. For a month no services were held in the building while every blood-stain was removed.
On the way back to Gloucester one could make a very profitable detour of a few miles to Deerhurst Priory, a highly interesting pre-Norman building, until recently used as part of a farm, but lately restored in a most efficient manner.
SECTION X
(TRUNK ROUTE)
GLOUCESTER TO OXFORD, 50 MILES
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
| Miles. | ||
| Gloucester to Cheltenham | 8 | ¾ |
| Cheltenham to Andoversford | 6 | |
| Andoversford to Northleach | 7 | |
| Northleach to Burford | 9 | |
| Burford to Witney | 7 | ½ |
| Witney to Eynsham | 5 | ¾ |
| Eynsham to Oxford | 6 | |