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

by H. J. L. J. Massé

THE SEDILIA.[ToList]

Sedilia.—These are on the south side in the canted bay of the apse. These sadly mutilated remains of a once glorious work are especially interesting. Originally they were decorated with rich colour and gold, much of which still in parts remains. The canopy of tabernacle work has been ruthlessly destroyed, together with the major part of the easternmost section. All the shafting is very richly moulded with a great number of diminutive mouldings, principally ogee and hollow. Foliage work of rare beauty and representations of grotesque animals form the greater part of the ornament. There are interesting remains of diaper work in the wall which forms the back. The plinth and seats are probably modern work. At the top are placed some pieces of battlement work, of which there is a great amount in different parts of the building. It seems a pity that the remains of the sedilia which lie elsewhere in the church cannot be placed together in position here—not "restored," but honestly pieced as well as may be done with care and patience.

The north-east pier that supports the tower bears a plain corbel, supporting what is supposed to be the remains of an oak case for the Saunce-bell or Sanctus-bell.

Tiles.—During the wholesale restoration of 1875 and following years some old tiles were found, after the pattern of which the present tiles were made. The fashion of paving buildings of the age of Tewkesbury Abbey with glazed and glossy machine-made tiles, all cut mathematically true, is much to be deprecated. 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.

Windows of the Choir.—These fourteenth century windows are the chief glory of the choir. There are seven in all, and though they have suffered much from wilful damage and neglect, there are perhaps no others in England containing quite so much glass of the same date, and in such good condition as a whole.[23] Every one must rejoice that in 1828 lack of funds prevented these windows from being thoroughly restored.

The windows nearest to the tower have four lights each, and the tracery is comparatively simple though flowing and free. The next two on either side of the choir are slightly more elaborate and contain five lights each, while the east window is quite different from the rest. It has five lights, and the head of the window contains a fine Catharine-wheel.

In the north-west window (i.e., immediately over the Warwick Chapel) are—1. Fitz-Hamon; 2. Robert Fitzroy; 3. Hugh le Despenser; 4. Gilbert de Clare (third), the tenth Earl of Gloucester. In the south-west window, i.e., the one exactly opposite to the last mentioned, are—1. Gilbert de Clare (the first of the name); 2. Lord de la Zouch; 3. Richard de Clare; 4. Gilbert de Clare (the second). These knights are all in armour, and are valuable as giving accurate representation of the armour and knightly gear of their time. Above the knights are represented canopies, and in the heads of the windows are scrolls of vine-leaves.

The bodies of the De Clares lie below the choir pavement, almost in a line with these two windows.

The other windows on either side contain Scripture subjects, many of them very fragmentary: Daniel, David, Abraham, Jeremiah, Solomon, and Joel are, however, easily to be found.

The east window represents the Last Judgment. In the centre Christ is depicted with uplifted hands, on which are the stigmata of the Passion. The side lights, from their unsymmetrical arrangement, would seem to have been rearranged, or rather disarranged, at some time. The Apostles would naturally be grouped on either side, in the outer lights. The other two lights represent St. John and the Blessed Virgin. Of these figures the heads, which are modern, were put in (free of charge) in 1828 by a London glass-painter named Collins. In the five panels below the figures are groups of persons arising from their graves; one group represents an angel disputing with the evil one for the possession of three persons bound with a chain. At the bottom are armorial bearings.