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

by H. J. L. J. Massé

On the brass are engraved two suns in splendour, the badge of the House of York.

The fourteenth century stone screen-work round the choir side of the ambulatory, particularly at the back of the reredos and the north-east portion adjacent to it, is very interesting work. The lower part is panelled with tracery in low relief, with the arches springing from diminutive heads. All the shafting is ornamented with a small ball-like enrichment. Above the panelling is some open tracery of beautiful design. By reference to the plan it will be seen that much of this original screen-work has been set back several feet, possibly to make room for the Clarence vault.

At the east end of the ambulatory is the arch by which entrance was formerly given to the destroyed Lady Chapel. It is now walled up, and in such a way that it is difficult to picture the appearance of the original work. However, from the battlements of the adjoining south-east chapel it is possible to see the remnants of the vaulting of the entrance to the Lady Chapel.

In the modern cast wall is a window of three lights (by Hardman) in memory of Rev. C.W. Grove, who presented most of the modern glass in the church. The subject is the Pharisee and the Publican. It is not known whether the Pharisee is intended to be a portrait of any one, but the Publican's face is said to be an excellent portrait of Mr. Grove, and the portrait of the lady in the top light (she lacks a halo) is deemed to be an equally good picture of Mrs. Grove.

St. Faith's Chapel.—The site of this chapel is not known for certain, though it is supposed to have been one of the two south-east chapels.

The first and easternmost chapel is the largest of the series of chapels built round the ambulatory. It is pentagonal in form and is 28 feet by 24 feet, opening to the aisle with a richly moulded arch. The vaulting, as in all these chapels, is excellent work, but the student of such things will notice that the masons' work on the chapels on the south side is in even courses, and that the stones are better dressed than in the chapels on the north side of the choir. At the intersections of the vaulting there are some good bosses, chiefly foliage with some heads. In this chapel there are three stone coffins.

The central window (by Kempe) is to the memory of Benjamin Thomas Moore, for thirty-eight years churchwarden, who died in 1896. Though detail of a most elaborate kind fills the window, yet in appearance it is rather thin, a quality which the clear, strong light that shines upon it as a rule somewhat accentuates. In the central light is St. Faith, to whom this chapel is often ascribed, with St. Agnes on the left and St. Cecilia on the right. There are two other windows, one of four lights and the other of three.

By standing at the entrance to this chapel the visitor will obtain a very fine and interesting set of coups d'œil of the different parts of the building. Towards the north there is the view of the work at the back of the altar, and St. Edmund's and St. Margaret's chapels in the background. To the north-west are the tombs at the back of the altar and sedilia; to the west is a good view of the south ambulatory and the south aisle of the nave.

The next chapel, i.e., the middle one of the three on this side, has no known dedication.[18] It is also pentagonal—somewhat irregular, it is true, but its length and breadth are the same—20 feet. There are two windows of three lights.

This chapel has become the museum for the storage of many interesting fragments of destroyed portions of the fabric. Some of the coloured fragments are under glass, others are grouped against the eastern wall. It is to be regretted that no list is hung up in the cases. The larger of the two cases contains in one division pieces of the broken upper part of the sedilia, all finely coloured. In the other division are fragments from the Warwick Chapel and other mutilated tombs in the choir. Most of these were found buried in the choir at the restoration in 1875. There are some iron rings which belonged to the coffin of Sir Hugh le Despenser. They were removed when the tomb was inspected in 1875.