the ugly rows of pews, which took up the whole of the choir and
presbytery, were placed in the chancel in 1796.
The Lady Isabelle, after completing this tomb, married the cousin of
her first husband, who was also a Richard Beauchamp. He died in Rouen
in 1439, but his body being brought home by his countess, was buried
in the noble Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick, which is a further
development of that at Tewkesbury. She died in London in the same year
on St. John the Evangelist's Day, as the inscription on the Warwick
Chapel sets forth, and at her own request was buried at Tewkesbury, in
the following January. All traces of her handsome marble tomb have
disappeared, but the site of her grave was identified at the
restoration of the choir in 1875. The site is marked (8) in the plan.
To the east of the Warwick Chantry is the chapel [B] known as the
=Founder's Chapel=. Fitz-Hamon, as already stated on p. 13, was buried
in the Chapter House, but Abbot Forthington removed his body to this
site in 1241.
The open screen-work, which was erected in 1397 by Abbot Parker, is an
excellent specimen of early Perpendicular work. It is extremely light
and graceful. The cresting of oak-leaves is finely wrought; below it
is a frieze ornamented with roses.
It is unfortunate that the brass has disappeared from the marble top
of the tomb.
On the cornice there used to be the following inscription:
"In ista capella jacet Dnus Robertus,
Filius Hamonis hujus loci Fundator."
The fan-tracery of the ceiling is a beautiful piece of work, and
shows traces of its former decoration with colour and gold. There is
fan-tracery at Gloucester, where it is thought to have originated,
which is essentially the same as this. This specimen is one of the
most beautiful in every way.
[Illustration: _Photo. D. Gwynne._
CHANTRY OF THE FOUNDER, FITZ-HAMON.]
Brackets to support an altar remain in part, and there are faint
traces of a fresco painting on the east wall, which is said to have
represented scenes in the life of St. Thomas a Becket.
The easternmost panel of the chapel on the south side has been
restored; the rest has been very little touched. Restoration was
necessary because no access to the chapel could be obtained when the
choir was all pewed, and the eastern end was ruthlessly cut away. Some
of the cresting on the north side is also new.
[Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
THE DESPENSER MONUMENT.]
=The Despenser Monument.=--Still further to the east is the tomb [C]
of Sir Hugh Despenser, who died in 1349, and his widow, who died ten
years later, having in the interval married Sir Guy de Brien, the tomb
to whose memory is close at hand. This tomb is full of interest, and
consists of a richly panelled base with trefoil arches (each of which
must once have contained a statuette), in three sets of two each to
correspond with the open tracery in the tier above.
On the tomb is a slab on which are two recumbent figures, carved in
white alabaster. The knight is clad in armour, viz., a spherical
bascinet, with a camail of chain-mail. His jupon is charged with his
arms. The shirt is also of chain-mail, while the arms and legs are
protected by plate armour. His head is resting upon a tilting helmet,
his feet upon a lion. The Lady Elizabeth, who was a daughter of
William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, has a dog at her feet, and is
robed in a long flowing dress, which, with the square head-dress, is
characteristic of the time of Edward III.
The Decorated canopy is in two parts, viz., the arched portion which
covers the two figures, and the tabernacle work in four tiers above.
Three arches of marvellously delicate work support the arched roof,
which is like fan-vaulting on a diminutive scale; the ribs have been
indicated by colour.
The tabernacle work tapers very gradually, and forms a charming finish
to one of the finest tombs to be seen anywhere. Trefoil-headed arches
are used throughout the design, but with such consummate skill that no
feeling of sameness is aroused. Of straight lines there are many, but
of stiffness there is none. Formerly the whole work was painted with
red, green, and gold, traces of which are to be seen on the side next
to the choir and underneath the canopy.
The tomb is more perfect on the choir side than on the other.
Of the statues that formerly formed part of the canopy or canopies, no
traces are left, but it is evident that they were removed with unusual
care.
This tomb was formerly ascribed to George, Duke of Clarence, and also
to Thomas Despenser. The arms on the tabard, however, settle the
question definitely. If further confirmation be required apart from
the style of the architecture and the arms, Leland writes: "Hugo le
Despenser tertius ... sepultus est apud Theokesbury juxta summum
altare in _dextera_[26] parte." Of the Lady Elizabeth he says:
"Sepulta est juxta Hugonem maritum apud Theokesbury."
=Trinity Chapel.=--On the south side of the choir in the bay opposite
to the Founder's Chapel is the Trinity Chapel [K], the building of
which is ascribed to Elizabeth, Lady de Burghersh, the widow of
Edward, Lord Despenser. Lord Despenser died at Cardiff in 1375, and
was buried before the door of the vestry, near the presbytery. His
widow, who died many years later (1409), was buried beside her chapel
in the choir.
[Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
THE TRINITY CHAPEL.]
The tomb has many beauties, of which the chief is the fan-tracery.
Much damage has ruthlessly been done to the niches and canopies at the
side.
A curious feature in the chapel is the figure of Lord Despenser under
a canopy on the top of the chapel, kneeling in prayer, with his face
turned towards the high altar. The canopy is very rich, supported by
four slender shafts, and further enriched with carved pinnacles. The
figure is probably unique, in such a position.[27] It is represented
as wearing the martial equipment that was usual towards the end of the
fourteenth century.
This chapel may have been built by the same builders as the Founder's
Chapel on the opposite side of the choir, but some variety of
treatment is very noticeable. The cresting is different in scale on
the two sides (portions of it are modern insertions). Owing to the
non-correspondence of the panelling in the lowest portion with the
open work in the next tier, it has been thought that the upper portion
is slightly later in point of date than that upon which it is built.
The chapel derives its name from its dedication to the Trinity as well
as to St. Mary. At the east end of the chapel are traces of mural
painting. Some of these represent the symbols of the Trinity, others
the coronation of the Virgin Mary.
Other tombs of interest in the church will be found in making the
circuit of the ambulatory. The first of these is the tomb of _Sir Guy
de Brien_ [D]. It has a central position in the stone screen-work
which separates the chapel of St. Margaret from the north ambulatory.
Sir Guy married Elizabeth, the widow of Hugh, Lord Despenser. The tomb
is very similar in design to the Despenser tomb over against which it
is placed. The knight is represented at full length, clad in his
armour, with a lion at his feet. A vault-like canopy, still showing
traces of the blue paint with which it was decorated, rises over the
effigy. The monument is very lofty in proportion to its width, is full
of rather heavy detail, and, though worthy of careful inspection, will
not bear comparison with the Despenser tomb opposite.
The knight's lady elected to be buried in the tomb of her second
husband, Lord Hugh Despenser, who, like Sir Guy, was a liberal
benefactor to the Abbey.
[Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
THE "WAKEMAN CENOTAPH."]
Three panels facing the aisle have shields with arms upon them. The
central shield bears the arms of Sir Guy de Brien, and the other two
bear his arms and those of the Montacutes, his wife having been
Elizabeth Montacute.
The next chapel, that of St. Edmund, contains, lying across the
eastern half of the entrance, a magnificent tomb which goes by the
name of the _Cenotaph of Abbot Wakeman_ [E]. It is not known when the
tomb was built, but it is apparently earlier than Wakeman's time, who
was abbot from 1531 to the dissolution of the monastery in 1539.
Certainly Wakeman is not buried here, for he became the first bishop
of Gloucester, and was buried at Forthampton.
The tomb is peculiarly beautiful, and consists of a slab supported by
a rich piece of open or pierced work, in the pattern of which may be
seen three crosses. Upon the slab rests a representation of the corpse
of a monk undergoing the process of decay, and being devoured by
various lizards, snails, &c. It is rather a gruesome subject for
contemplation, reminding one of some of the drawings in the Dance of
Death at Basle. Immediately over the body, in the centre of the tomb,
is a massive ogee arch, richly foliated, from which descends a rather
cumbrous pendant--itself ogee in form--which divides the main arch
into equal parts, or arches, with rounded heads. These arches are
again subdivided into two smaller round-headed arches, full of very
fine carved work.
The front of the tomb, as seen from the ambulatory, is composed of a
very fine arch which springs from the piers at the side. Its lower
edge is foliated, and the spandrils are enriched with quatrefoils.
At the top of all is a projecting canopy in three main sections--a
portion of the rest is gone--all of very delicate and intricate carved
work.
In the south ambulatory in the middle one of the three chapels there
is a tomb to _Richard Cheltenham_ [I], who was abbot from 1481-1509.
It is a table tomb in the Perpendicular style, with very rich tracery
enriched with quatrefoils and shields. A depressed arch forms a
canopy, in the spandrils of which are the abbot's initials R.C. and
his pastoral staff.
Almost opposite to this is a depressed arch which supports a mass of
delicate work decorated with vine-leaves and grapes. Over this are
many canopied niches (much mutilated). The images they once contained
have been destroyed. Under the arch is now a coffin of Purbeck
marble, with a cross on the lid, and the inscription "_Johannes Abbas
hujus loci_."
[Illustration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._
THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE, LOOKING WEST.]
It is generally assumed that this is the coffin of John Cotes, who
died in 1347. The tomb [H] is supposed to be that referred to by
Leland as that in which some of the remains of Hugh Despenser the
younger, the Earl of Gloucester who was hanged and quartered in
Hereford in 1326--just three months before the murder of Edward II. in
Berkeley Castle--were interred. Close to this tomb, but more to the
east, is a fifteenth century tomb, presumably that of an abbot, but
his name is unknown.
To the east of the door of the chapel which is now used as a vestry,
is another tomb of an unknown abbot. The coffin lid bears a rich
floriated cross, with a representation of an abbot at the one end, and
that of a lamb at the other. The arch over the tomb is crocketed, and
is enriched with a profusion of ball-flower ornament in the moulding.
The finial is very heavy, though beautifully wrought to represent
birds and foliage. At the spring of the arch is the very curious
figure of a devil. Two pinnacles[28] at the sides have most grotesque
faces at the corners instead of the conventional foliage. This idea
has been adopted in the decoration of the tomb-recesses in the nave in
Bristol Cathedral.
On the western side of the vestry door is a beautiful Early English
tomb. The lid of the Purbeck marble coffin is inscribed "Alanus,
Dominus Abbas" along the moulded edge, and a similar inscription is to
be read at the right-hand end, "HIC IACET DOMINUS ALANUS ABBAS." This
is the tomb of Alan, who was made Abbot here in 1187, after having
previously been Prior at Canterbury. He was one of the most
distinguished of the Abbots of Tewkesbury: he had known Thomas a
Becket, and indeed wrote his biography. This tomb is no doubt the
oldest monument in the church. The arch over it is a moulded trefoil
arch, surmounted by a plain canopy of very simple and formal design.
The top of the coffin bears a very beautiful cross.
Further westward, near to the south transept is a thirteenth century
recessed arch, with pinnacles at either side and a decorated arch. The
tomb has been removed. The floor has been laid with fragments of old
encaustic tiles removed from other parts of the building.
=Organs.=--The church has two organs, both of which are noteworthy,
viz., the old organ in the choir, of which the interest is
historical, and the Grove organ in the north transept, the chief
interest in which, apart from its tone, is the perfection of its many
modern mechanical contrivances.
The organ in the choir was brought to Tewkesbury in 1737 from Magdalen
College, Oxford, and was placed on the then existing screen, where it
remained till 1875. It was built by John Harris, the grandfather of
Rene or Renatus Harris, for Magdalen College, Oxford. By Cromwell's
orders it was removed to Hampton Court, and is said to have been
played upon there by Milton, who was Cromwell's Secretary. In 1660 the
organ went back to Oxford, and was repaired in 1672. In 1690 Renatus
Harris contracted, for L150, to put it into thorough repair, and make
it "an extraordinary instrument and the best old organ in England." In
1736-37 the Magdalen College organ was sold to the then organ
committee of Tewkesbury.
Sixty years later (1796) a sum of L186 18_s._ 2_d._ was spent in
painting the case, in repairs, and in the addition of a swell organ;
and in 1848 it was enlarged by Willis at a cost of L322 15_s._ 8_d._
Little of the original work remains, with the exception of some of the
diapasons, the principal, and the tin pipes in the choir front. The
old organ is in constant use for ordinary evening services, and for
the services on Sunday mornings and afternoons. For the Sunday evening
services the Grove organ is generally used. Sometimes the two organs
are used together.
The Grove organ is a very fine instrument, but it is more fitted for a
concert-room than for the accompaniment of ordinary church music. It
was given, as the brass tablet sets forth, "_To the greater glory of
God, and to commemorate the Jubilee of the Queen in 1887._" The
specification is as follows:
CHOIR ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
1. Spitzfloete 8 ft.
2. [*]Viole Sourdine 8 ft.
3. [*]Lieblich Gedacht (_w_) 8 ft.
4. Gemshorn 4 ft.
5. [*]Zauber Floete 4 ft.
6. Flautina 2 ft.
7. Clarionet 8 ft.
_Accessory Stops._
1. Ventil.
2. Octave Coupler.
3. Pneumatic Piston, acting on No. 1 off and on.
4. Swell to Choir.
5. Tremulant.
GREAT ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
1. Violone 16 ft.
2. Great Open Diapason 8 ft.
3. Small Open Diapason 8 ft.
4. Claribel (_w_) 8 ft.
5. Octave 4 ft.
6. Flute Octaviante 4 ft.
7. Quint Mixture, 12, 15.
8. [+]Great Mixture (4 ranks), 19, 22, 26, 29.
9. [+]Tromba 16 ft.
10. [+]Trumpet 8 ft.
_Accessory Stops._
1. Sub-Octave Choir to Great. 2. Swell to Great. 3. Solo to Great.
1. Ventil Flue to Quint Mixture.
2. Ventil Flue Great Mixture and Reed.
Two Pneumatic Pistons acting on Ventil placed beneath the keys as in
the Choir.
Three Composition Pedals.
SWELL ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
The swell-box is made in three thicknesses, each of one inch.
Between each thickness is a layer of felt.
1. Flauto Traverso 8 ft.
2. Open Diapason 8 ft.
3. [*]Viole d'Orchestre 8 ft.
4. [*]Voix Celeste 8 ft.
5. Geigen 4 ft.
6. [+]Mixture--3 ranks, 15, 19, 22.
7. [+]Contra Posaune 16 ft.
8. [+]Horn 8 ft.
9. Oboe 8 ft.
_Accessory Stops._
Octave Coupler. Ventil Flues to Geigen, Mixture, and Reeds.
Two Pneumatic Pistons acting on Ventils, as in the Great Organ.
Tremulant. Three Composition Pedals.
SOLO ORGAN (CC to C in alt^o., 61 notes).
1. Harmonic Flute 8 ft.
2. [*]Violoncello 8 ft.
3. [+]Tuba 8 ft.
4. Voix Humaine (metal, enclosed in a Swell-box) 8 ft.
_Accessory Stops._
Octave Coupler. Tremulant.
Two Ventils, two Pneumatic Pistons, as in the other manuals.
PEDAL ORGAN (CCC to F, 30 notes).
1. [*]Harmonic Bass (_w_) 32 ft.
2. Great Bass (_w_) 16 ft.
3. [*]Dolce Bass (_w_) 16 ft.
4. Great Flute (_w_) 8 ft.
5. [+]Bombarde 16 ft.
[*] Stops thus marked are of novel construction, being fitted with
prolongement harmonique.
[+] Stops marked thus are on heavy wind.
_w_ Stops marked thus are of wood.
Pedal Couplers:
1. Choir to Pedals.
2. Great to Pedals.
3. Swell to Pedals.
4. Solo to Pedals.
Manual Couplers:
1. Choir Octave.
2. Swell Octave.
3. Solo Octave.
4. Choir Sub-Octave to Great.
5. Swell to Great.
6. Solo to Great.
7. Swell to Choir.
The Tremulants are set in action by one pedal, or by the use of
the draw-stops, separately or collectively.
Pneumatic action is applied to the Organ throughout, except to
the Choir Organ, which is direct action.
* * * * *
=Church Plate.=--The oldest pieces of plate are two silver chalices,
one dated 1576, the other 1618. There is also a paten of the latter
date. A flagon weighing 54 ounces was given to the church by the
bachelors and maidens of the borough in 1688, and another was given in
1724. Curiously they are both fitted with whistle-handles. There are
also two cut-glass cruets, said to be of the fifteenth century.
=The Church Registers.=--These date from 1559, containing baptisms to
1598 and marriages to 1574, but are copies on parchment of an older
register (on paper) now lost. Another register, on paper, dates from
1595, and contains baptisms down to 1610, marriages to 1629, and
burials to 1608. Thenceforward, with few exceptions, the registers are
complete. The register of baptisms, 1607-1629, contains a quaint
composition:
"Lo, heare thou maiest with mortall eie beholde
Thy name recorded by a mortall wighte;
But if thou canst looke but spiritualie
Unto that God which gives such heavenly sighte
Thou maiest behold with comfort to thy soule
Thy name recorded in the heavenly roule.
And therefore praie the Register of heaven
To write thy name within the booke of life;
And also praie thy sinns maie be forgeven,
And that thou maiest flee all ceare and strife:
That when thy mortall bodies shall have end,
Thy soule maie to the immortal bliss ascende.
"_Per me_, GUILIELMUS PARKE, 1609."
=Arms of the Abbey.=--The arms are gules, within a border argent, a
cross engrailed or, and are so given by Willis in his _Seals of
Parliamentary Abbeys_, and by Tanner in _Notitia Monastica_. In Sir
Charles Isham's copy of the _Registrum Theokusburiae_, in a window in
the choir, and also on the old organ the border is omitted. It is also
a disputed point whether the Abbot was a mitred prelate or not.
Fuller, in his _Church History_, is in doubt about it, while Bishop
Godwin admits that some of the Abbots sat in Parliament. The Abbots,
without enjoying any prescriptive right, were summoned to Parliament
in the reigns of Henry III., Edward I., and Edward II., and the last
Abbot (Wakeman) was certainly summoned as a mitred Abbot. It may be
that the Abbot received the dignity in the time of Abbot Strensham,
who died in 1481.
=Old Tiles.=--In the Founder's Chapel (1397) are some tiles containing
the arms of Fitz-Hamon (a lion rampant), impaled with the arms of the
Abbey, a cross engrailed, and showing the head of a crosier above the
shield in the centre. In the Warwick chantry there is to be seen a set
of tiles with the arms of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, in
whose honour the chapel was built. The arms are a fess between four
crosslets with a crescent for difference. There are also some in the
Trinity Chapel, showing the arms of the Despensers, impaled with those
of Burghersh. Other tiles found in the church at different times give
the arms of De Clare, Despenser, Berkeley, De Warrenne, De Bohun,
Corbet, and De la Zouch.
ABBOTS OF TEWKESBURY.
=Giraldus= (1102-1109), previously Abbot of Cranbourn, was the first
Abbot of the Benedictine foundation. Deprived by Henry I. in 1109.
=Robert I.= (1110-1124). In his time the greater part of the Abbey as
it stands was finished, and dedicated in 1123.
=Benedict= (1124-1137).
=Roger= (1137-1161).
=Fromundus= (1162-1178). No new Abbot was instituted till--
=Robert II.= (1182-1183).
=Alan= (1187-1202). His tomb is in the south ambulatory of the choir.
He was a friend of Thomas a Becket, having previously been Prior of
St. Saviour's, Canterbury.
=Walter= (1202-1213), previously Sacrist of the monastery. He was
succeeded by--
=Hugh= (1214), who had been the Prior. Dying in a year, his successor
was Bernard, but the latter was never instituted.
=Peter= (1216-1231) was a monk from Worcester.
=Robert Forthington= (1232-1254), or =Robert III.= had previously been
Prior. A tomb ascribed to him is in the south ambulatory.
=Thomas de Stokes= (1254-1275) had been Prior of St. James, Bristol.
=Richard de Norton= (1276-1282).
=Thomas Kempsey= (1282-1328).
=John Cotes= ( -1347).
=Thomas de Legh= (1347-1361).
=Thomas Chesterton= (1361-1389).
=Thomas Parker, or Pakare= (1389-1421).
=William Bristow, or de Bristol= (1421-1442).
=John de Abingdon= (1442- ), who was probably identical with
=John de Salis, or Galys=.
=John Strensham, or Streynsham= ( -1481). He was Abbot at the time of
the Battle of Tewkesbury.
=Richard Cheltenham= (1481-1509).
=Henry Beoly, or Bealy= (1509- ), was Abbot in 1526.
=John Walker= (d. 1531).
=John Wich, Wyche, or Wakeman= (1531-1539). This ecclesiastic was the
last Abbot of Tewkesbury. He, unlike the Abbot of Gloucester, seems to
have been in no wise unwilling to surrender his Abbey. In return he
obtained a pension of L266 13_s._ 4_d._, and also the house and park
at Forthampton. When, later, Gloucester was made a bishopric, he was
the first bishop. He was buried at Forthampton.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] In point of actual size the Tewkesbury piers are 30 feet 8 inches
high, and 6 feet 3 inches in diameter; while the piers at Gloucester
are 30 feet by 6 feet. Those at Malvern are considerably less in
height.
[8] This boss represents the Virgin as being present at the Table.
[9] The ball-flower here as well as that in the vestry differs from
that in the neighbourhood, as there is a curious little side-twist or
kink in it.
[10] Mr. W.H. St. John Hope's description of this quoted _in extenso_
in "Gloucester" (Cathedral Series) is most interesting, and should be
carefully studied.
[11] Letters in brackets refer to the plan at the end.
[12] This Transept was used from 1813-17 as a temporary National
School.
[13] The columns are, with the exception of one which is round,
roughly hexagonal.
[14] In some plans this chapel is ascribed to St. Nicholas.
[15] The arch of this chamber shows distinct traces of fire, not
mentioned in any records, and the staircase to the tower, which then
communicated with this chamber, shows traces for a short distance on
the stonework.
[16] The same moulding is found at Durham in the doorway from the nave
into the cloisters, but there it is much mutilated; it is also found
at St. Joseph's Chapel, Glastonbury, and in various forms in the West
of England.
[17] It is not quite certain whether Sir Guy is actually buried here.
[18] It is generally considered to be that dedicated to St. John the
Baptist. The other altar in this chapel may have been dedicated to St.
George, though the chapel of the latter was probably one of those in
the nave.
[19] The dedication of this Norman chapel, like that of several others
here, is not known.
[20] The choir at Gloucester is 140 feet long and 33 feet wide.
[21] The sun was a favourite badge of Edward IV., and is said to have
been adopted in consequence of the appearance of three suns before the
battle of Mortimer's Cross. It appears upon some of his coins.
[22] The altar-stone at Gloucester was at one time used to pave the
south porch, and is now in the crypt.
[23] The safety of the old glass has been ensured by a protective
external window of rolled glass let in the mullions from the outside.
This was done in 1889.
[24] This Gilbert de Clare is said to have had a copy of Magna Charta
and the Charta de Foresta made and deposited in the Abbey.
[25] The floor of the upper part was never flat, and was in all
probability never intended for use.
[26] Heraldically speaking.
[27] Henry VII. left instructions in his will that a kneeling effigy
of himself should be placed on the top of the Confessor's shrine at
Westminster.
[28] The western pinnacle was carved locally in 1825-8, and is a very
careful piece of work.
DEERHURST.
[Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH, FROM THE SOUTH.]
DEERHURST.
Deerhurst, or Deorhurst--the wood or grove of wild beasts, as its
etymology implies--lies close to Tewkesbury, and the visitor to the
latter must on no account omit to pay a visit to the older building.
It may be reached by a pleasant walk through meadows on the left bank
of the Severn, by the road or by a path across the fields.
The Priory church of Deerhurst is one of the oldest buildings of any
importance that yet remain in use in England. Its exact date is more
or less a matter of conjecture, but it seems certain from documentary
evidence, which is still accessible, that in the ninth century the
Abbey or Priory was in a prosperous condition--the document referred
to above being a grant of lands in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire
to the Abbey in 804. No earlier authentic evidence than this exists,
though a _lapsus calami_ of Leland (who credits the Venerable Bede
with an acquaintance with Deerhurst about the year 700) would seem to
give it an earlier date. From the earliest time Deerhurst--situated
where it is, so near that great highway the Severn, and occupying a
position on the direct line of traffic by road between Worcester and
Gloucester, must have had an important part to play. Legend has it
that Edmund Ironside and Canute, intent on fighting a duel after
Essendune, met at Olney in 1016, but settled matters without coming to
blows, and later tradition affirms that this meeting took place in the
meadow--once an island or eyot, hence its present name--called the
Naight.
Tradition, again, has it that the Abbey suffered from the Danes, and
this seems likely enough, seeing that they were encamped at
Cirencester for fully a year. Werstan, one of the monks who escaped
from the Danes, is said by Leland to have founded a cell at Malvern,
and was later murdered by the Danes in his own chapel there. In the
windows of Malvern Priory he is described as "Sanctus Werstanus
Martir," but little else is known about him.
The Abbey, though small, was richly endowed with land, and is said to
have been possessed of nearly forty thousand acres. Its wealth in
landed property was the cause of its being transferred by Edward the
Confessor in 1054-56 to the great French Abbey of St. Denis; and what
was not so transferred was mostly given by the King, together with the
Manor of Pershore and other possessions, to his Abbey of St. Peter at
Westminster, which was then building.
The Abbey lost its importance when it became an alien priory, and its
landed possessions, which had once surpassed those of the abbeys at
Gloucester and at Winchcombe, were dwarfed to very scanty dimensions.
It suffered, too, in prestige, having become a priory, and was
constantly being harried by successive monarchs.
We find that the Conqueror confirmed the grant of the Abbey of
Deerhurst to St. Denis, but that King John confiscated its revenues.
In 1225 Pope Honorius III. by a Bull approved that the Priory should
be perpetual and conventual. In virtue of this the Prior could claim
not to come into the King's hands, but it was many years before this
claim was barely recognised. In this same year the Prior was again in
possession of the Priory and its lands; but in 1250 (_temp._ Henry
II.), the Priory was sold to Richard, Duke of Cornwall, who seems to
have driven out the monks and destroyed the greater part of their
buildings. Later in the same reign, 1260, the Abbot of St. Denis again
got possession of the Priory.
In 1295 Edward I. took possession of all the existing alien priories
for the sake of the revenue they would bring into his exchequer.
Edward III.[29] again despoiled the monks of what was theirs, and his
grandson, Richard II., followed in his steps.
The Priory had a respite from such continued harryings with the
accession of Henry IV. (1399). This king took possession of it as an
alien Priory, but immediately handed it over to William Forester, the
then Prior, with the stipulation that in the event of a war with
France the King should receive a sum of money equal to that which in
time of peace would be paid to the Abbey of St. Denis. With halcyon
days like these the Priory set about rebuilding what had been
destroyed, and works were undertaken--much of which is standing at the
present time.
Henry V. by charter in 1419 confirmed the policy of Henry IV. in
giving the Prior all the rights and privileges enjoyed by William
Forester, and Henry V. acknowledged the claim of the Priory to be
conventual and perpetual, and as such, not to come into the King's
hands. However, one king proposes, another disposes. Henry VI. in
1463, while confirming all existing rights, made the Priory a denizen
priory with the same status as all other similar English foundations.
But this change was followed by yet another in four years' time. Henry
VI. being the founder of Eton College, and King's College, Cambridge,
was in want of funds, and he relieved the pressure on his exchequer by
appropriating the possessions of the Priory, and handing part of them
to his royal College at Eton, and part (in 1422) to the already rich
Abbey at Tewkesbury. Much litigation followed with Eton, and in 1469
the Priory was united and annexed by Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester,
to the monastery at Tewkesbury, with the stipulation that the "Abbot
of Tewkesbury was to find and maintain there one monk in priest's
orders, to be called Prior or Warden, four other monks, and one
secular priest daily to perform divine service in that priory."
The independence of Deerhurst was now at an end, and little is heard
of it again. At the Dissolution, like many of the Tewkesbury
possessions, it became private property, the site, the buildings and
the tithes being conveyed to George Throgmorton, a local personage,
who became the lay impropriator. The tithes passed later into the
hands of the family of Cassey, of Wightfield Court; but the lands
became the property of the Coventry family, and at the end of the
seventeenth century gave the title to Viscount Deerhurst, the fifth
Baron. At the Dissolution Deerhurst became a curacy, and remained so
till 1682, the advowson then being transferred from lay hands to those
of the Bishop of Worcester.
EXTERIOR.
Of the exterior of the church there is not much to be said. The chief
feature is the =Tower=. It has been reduced in height, probably at the
time that the steeple was blown down in 1666, but no churchwardens'
accounts of that date remain. It is 70 feet high, 21 feet 8 inches
from east to west, and 14 feet 4 inches from north to south, with a
slight batter to the walls, which at the base are 32 inches in
thickness. For about 35 feet or so the masonry is Saxon work, but has
been subsequently severely handled, especially on the west side. The
east side contains a wall-plate of early date, and more of the
interesting early work. The upper part is later work, having ashlar
quoins at the four angles.
The entrance door is a Pointed arch of the fourteenth century date
inserted within the earlier round-headed arch, of which the outer
edges have considerably crumbled away. Above the arch is a piece of
stonework, similar to one above the long, narrow window, considered by
some to be a mutilated carved head, but with more real likeness to a
broken mechanical contrivance for hoisting up weighty goods into the
upper part of the tower. On the right of the entrance door is the door
which now gives entrance to the belfry. In many parts of the exterior
there are traces of the coarse herring-bone work so prevalent in Saxon
masonry. At the north-west and south-west angles of the aisles are
gargoyles, that at the north-west corner being the better preserved.
The church was rough-cast all over in the early part of this century,
but was restored in 1861-62 to practically its present appearance.
Part of the tower, that to the west, has a battlement, while the rest
has a low gabled roof. The windows in the belfry are decorated in
character, but much of the masonry near them seems to be re-used stone
from other parts.
By obtaining entrance to the farmyard upon which the east end abuts,
traces of the original apsidal termination may be seen. It is much to
be regretted that the church precincts are so built upon that
examination is difficult.
INTERIOR.
The western entrance is situate in the tower front, and by three
doorways gives access to the nave.
=The Nave.=--The nave of the present church measures 60 feet by 21
feet, including what was the original choir, which was under the
central tower, and which, from the plan, must have been 20 feet in
length. The nave proper would be 38 feet by 21 feet, making allowance
for the thickness of the choir arch wall. It is more than probable
that the wall which separated the choir from the nave was in character
like the present eastern wall, with a spacious and lofty arch spanning
the opening, which gave access to the apsidal eastern end. Traces of
such an arch were found at the restoration of the church in 1861-62.
As was the case at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and elsewhere, the nave was
the parish church, and the choir and the rest of the building
eastwards the private chapel of the Priory. Small though the original
nave was--for the present aisles are later additions--it was, if the
walls are of the original height, unusually lofty for a church of its
date. The original nave had transepts, as shown in plan on page 118,
with a room, probably a sacristy, to the east of the north transept
and a similar room or a chapel at the east of the south transept.
On either side of the nave the original walls have been pierced, and
an arcade of three good Early English arches was inserted in the
thirteenth century. It will be noted that the easternmost of the three
arches on each side is slightly wider in span than the other two. All
the capitals differ in their details. Over these arches on either side
is a triangular opening about 18 feet from the floor level, similar to
the opening in the west end of the nave. The edges of these openings
are left quite square, _i.e._, there is no splaying.
The clerestory windows are, for the most part, early fifteenth
century, and replaced the early windows, which may have been of
circular form.
At the west end of the nave there are several very curious features.
The arch of the doorway is a plain, round-headed arch with its edges
left quite square, and the impost is plain with the exception of a
hollow immediately below the abacus. In height the doorway is 10 feet,
and in width 5-1/2 feet, and it leans slightly to the north. Above this
doorway, in the corners of the west wall, are two impost members or
brackets, similar to those in the chancel, which may have been
intended to support the floor joists of a chamber or gallery at this
end of the nave. Not far above these brackets is a triangular opening
similar to those in the north and south walls of the nave, and
through which, from the room in the tower, a view is obtained of the
nave generally. It is on the same level as those in the nave. To the
right of this is a blocked-up round-headed doorway, which once gave
access from the room in the tower on this level to a gallery at the
east end of the nave. The jambs are each of two similar blocks of
stone.
[Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
INTERIOR, LOOKING WEST.]
Above this, in the centre of the upper part of the west wall of the
nave, is perhaps the most curious architectural feature of the church.
It is a two-light window, each light having a head formed of an
isosceles triangle. The outer jambs, as also the broad central massive
pier, are slightly fluted, and in some of these flutings is a bar in
relief. On the church side the bars are inserted in the upper part of
the hollow; on the tower side they are in some cases at the top, in
others in the lower half.
The following dimensions show how massive is this piece of primitive
work. The sill on which the window is built is of stone concealed by
plaster. Each light in its widest part is 18 inches, 13 inches between
the plinths on the sill. The plinths are 14 inches in thickness, and
that of the central pier is 21 inches. The central pier itself is a
trifle shorter than the jambs, 1 foot 8 inches, but this difference is
made up by a much more massive impost, the central impost being 9
inches thick as compared with 8 inches in the case of the others. Each
impost is, as it were, in square-edged layers, each layer overhanging
the one below it. The head of each opening is formed of two single
stones so cut that they meet at an angle of about 30 degrees. These
stones are 11-1/4 inches in thickness, and 3 feet 6 inches long on the
outside edges. In the angle between the two portions of the window
they measure 3 feet 1-1/2 inches. They are carried right through the
wall, with a plain label almost square in section.
Above the window, resting on the label points is an oblong block of
stone which is thought at one time to have been painted, as no
inscription can be traced.
Near the tower end is a portion of the Perpendicular timbered roof,
and the rest of the roofing of the nave and chancel is modern work
designed upon the basis of the older example.
The =South Aisle= was added in the twelfth century. The south wall of
the south transept was continued to the west, the greater part of the
west wall of this transept being removed, a segmental arch being
inserted exactly where the oak-screen is now. The wall from the
original south-east corner of the tower was carried southwards to meet
the new wall mentioned above. Next, the solid walls of the nave were
pierced with three unequal openings, and, from the piers thus left,
arches were carried across the new south aisle to the new south wall
of the church, and the walls of the inner porch seem to have been
pierced with arches about the same time, one being also made to span
the space from the extreme end of the original wall of the nave to the
new south-east corner of the tower. A turret and staircase seem next
to have been made outside the church in the angle thus made by the new
works, but the plan seems to have been soon altered by the carrying
out of the west wall of the aisle till it was flush with the west
front. The then external doorway into the turret became an internal
one, but has been blocked up, access to the tower staircase being
obtained by the narrow door in the west front. The remains of
Transitional Norman work in the south aisle are scanty, but of extreme
interest.
In the thirteenth century the =North Aisle= was constructed, and made
to correspond with the south aisle, though it is slightly narrower.
Its beautiful capitals inspired the workers to do their best and
harmonise those in the south aisle arcade with those in the other
aisle.
The walls of the nave were carried up to receive the clerestory
windows about the year 1400, but as to their original height it is
only possible to conjecture.
The Decorated windows of the north aisle all differ in style and date,
that in the north transept being the earliest. The westernmost window
in the south aisle is approximately of the same date, and contains the
only glass in the church that is of any interest. The other windows in
this south aisle are Perpendicular, and are high in the wall owing to
the existence of the cloister, a blocked-up door into which can be
seen under the westernmost window. Some fifteenth century oak seats in
this aisle are worth notice.
In the north aisle the north-west window of four lights (by Wailes) is
a memorial to Hugh Edwin Strickland (1853). The head of the window
contains the fanciful device relating to the Persons of the Trinity,
and below are Noah, Aaron, David, and St. John the Baptist.
In the lowest tier are Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, the
Annunciation, the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan.
The next window (by Clayton and Bell) is a memorial window erected by
the Rev. G. Butterworth, till lately Vicar of Deerhurst.
In the north wall near the font is a blocked-up doorway, containing
another memorial to a member of the Strickland family.
[Illustration]
Pater -- non est -- Filius
| |
est est
| |
| |
| Deus |
non | non
est | est
| est |
| | |
Spiritus
Sanctus
Both the aisles of the nave had undoubtedly at one time altars at
their eastern ends. The north aisle contains three aumbries and the
south aisle has one, probably removed from elsewhere in the church. It
contains a piscina and a small circular recess or reliquary in its
eastern side.
The north aisle contains a very fine specimen of a brass dated 1400,
which records the death of Sir John Cassy, Chief Baron of the
Exchequer in the reign of Edward III., and his wife Alicia. The
inscription runs (in finely cut black letters, with beautiful
ornaments between each word), "Hic jacet Joh[~e]s Cassy miles quondam
Capitalis Baro Sccii (_i.e._ Scaccarii) Regis qui obiit xxiii^o die
Maii Anno Dn[~i] MCCCC, et Alicia uxor ejus. qu[~o]r a[~i]abus pp[~e]r
deus." The Chief Baron is represented in his robes, with a lion at his
feet; his wife in a long loose flowing dress, fastened at the wrists
and round the neck. She has her dog at her feet, with his name "Tirri"
engraved upon his side. Only one other instance exists of a pet's name
being thus handed down.[30] Above the figures is a rich canopy, and a
figure of the Virgin and St. Anne, a figure of St. John the Baptist
being unfortunately missing.
Close to this are one or two other brasses. One of Elizabeth, daughter
of Thomas Bruges, Esq., of Coverle, and wife of William Cassey, Esq.,
of Whyghtfylde, and then of Walter Nowden, Esq., 1525. Another small
brass in the floor of the doorway to the choir records that "Here
lyeth the body of Edward Guy, gent., who married Francis the eldest
daughter of John Gotheridge, Esq., and had by her six sonnes and one
daughter, and was here buried the sixt day of Dec. A^o. 1612."
Near to the Cassy brass is an old chest, and a stone coffin with a
foliated cross upon its lid. This had been under the pavement till the
1861-62 restoration--hence its excellent state of preservation.
The blocked door in the east wall of this north transept once gave
access to the sacristy.
=The Font.=--The font, one of the most interesting points in this
interesting church, has had a curious history. A lady in the
neighbourhood (Miss Strickland, of Apperley Court) found in a garden
close to the river, in 1870, an upright carved stone. It occurred to
this lady that the stone was in reality the stem or lower part of the
font then in Longdon church, in Worcestershire, as the ornament seemed
to be similar. The Vicar of Longdon was then asked to give up the bowl
portion which had been conveyed in 1845 from a Deerhurst farmyard to
Longdon church. The request was graciously entertained, and Longdon
church received in exchange a new font. The two portions--probably
long separated--were then replaced as they are now to be seen in
Deerhurst, and the font previously in use there was given to Castle
Morton church.
[Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
FONT.]
The bowl is, like other early fonts, rather tub-shaped, made of
coarse-grained oolite, a Cotswold district stone, covered with
uncommon ornamentation. It measures externally 28-1/2 inches in
diameter, internally 24 inches, and 21 inches in height. The
ornamentation consists of eight panels, each containing spirals which
form an endless pattern, as they conjoin with other similar lines. Mr.
Westwood in the _Arch. Soc. Journal_ said of the ornament that it is
"especially Irish, and is found in the finest of the most ancient
illuminated Irish copies of the Gospels, and in those which were
executed in England under the influence of the Irish missionaries.
Thus it is found in all the illuminated Gospels of St. Chad and Mac
Regol (which is in the Bodleian Library and ascribed to 820 A.D.), and
in the Gospels of Lindisfarne or Durham Book, but I do not recollect
having seen it in manuscripts known to be more recent than the ninth
century." The ornament of the running border was thought by the same
writer to be a later addition; others deem it contemporary with the
scroll work, and think the design may have been obtained from some
Saxon goldsmith's work.
Whether the stem belongs to the bowl, or whether the stem ought not to
be inverted, are perhaps questions of minor importance. The spiral
ornament in both parts is exactly the same, an interlaced strap
ornament occupying three out of the seven panels in the stem. The
effect of a heptagonal stem on an octagonal base or plinth is
certainly odd. The _base_, or step, is probably of the late
fourteenth, or of the fifteenth century. Originally there was not a
hole in the bottom to let the water drain away, but one in the side.
There is no trace of any leaden lining to the font-bowl.
=The Choir=, with the destroyed sanctuary, had a total length of 38
feet, a breadth of 20 feet. The actual height of the choir cannot now
be accurately estimated, though it seems to have been higher than that
of the nave. The interior at present is all of the same height. The
walls were apparently quite plain, and not pierced for any windows.
There were in the actual choir space four doorways, _i.e._, a pair on
the north and another pair on the south side. Of each pair one doorway
gave access to the transept, and the other, in the earliest history of
the church, to the open air. These doorways are quite plain, and are
cut straight through the wall. Those on the south side and one on the
north have lintels or level tops; the other has a straight lined arch
composed of two long pieces of stone.
In each side wall of the choir, above these doorways, is an open arch,
cut through the wall with a slightly projecting border at the sill,
which is 10 feet or so above the level of the present pavement. The
jambs are quite plain, with heavy impost members, slightly hollowed,
and a square label, much damaged and defaced. These two archways were
no doubt made to admit a modicum of light to what must always have
been a dimly lighted choir.
The eastern wall of the present chancel contains the arch (now blocked
up) which formed the entrance to the apsidal sanctuary. This arch is
very spacious, being 12 feet 3 inches wide between the capitals, and
20 feet high. It is composed of a single broad, flat-faced member,
with well carved but primitive caps, supported by a semi-cylindrical
shaft on either side. The plinth, or base, is but slightly moulded,
and is 23 inches in height. The label is square and exceptionally
prominent, springing from carved heads representing tusked animals
(probably boars) of considerable size.
Above the arch is a Perpendicular window, which was probably inserted
after the sanctuary had been removed, though it may have replaced an
earlier opening. Between the sill of the window and the blocked-up
arch there are impost members or brackets fixed in the wall, and
abutting against the side walls, the mouldings which return being
different in each. There were probably similar brackets in the western
wall of the choir which has been removed, and they may have been
supports for the floor of the central tower. On this same wall are two
stone slabs about 4 feet by 3 feet, with pointed tops flanking the
window, which look as if they were intended to block up the splayed
openings of former and possibly still existing window openings, though
they have been internally and externally blocked.
There is no trace in any account of the church as to how or when the
eastern tower was removed or destroyed. Lyson's two drawings of the
church show the choir portion considerably higher than the rest of the
building, with a roof quite different in pitch. This might be due to
the fact that the choir had been loftier than the nave, or to the
partial removal of the masonry of this tower. It seems just a probable
explanation that this tower fell towards the end of the fifteenth
century--perhaps after a fire of which there are traces in the south
east corner of the building--and in its fall did such damage to the
sacristy, the apsidal sanctuary, and the chapel at the east of the
south transept, that the brethren of Tewkesbury, of which abbey
Deerhurst had become a cell in 1469, felt it to be beyond their means
to restore the fabric. This, of course, is merely a theory, but it
would account satisfactorily for the structural alterations carried
out about that time. The forced disuse of the old sanctuary would
involve the blocking up of the choir arch which gave access to it, and
also the making of an additional window in the then east wall of the
chancel. As there was no tower to support, the west wall of the choir
may have been removed and the rood-screen erected, the door of
entrance to which still exists in the south aisle, unblocked. It is an
open question when this west wall of the choir was removed. If it were
done, as some have thought, in the twelfth or the thirteenth century,
the removal may have been a predisposing cause of the fall of the
tower.
The chancel contains some good oak seats and panelling which run all
round the three available sides of the square. These were the seats
for communicants, and the communion table until about sixteen years
ago stood in the middle of the chancel. This Puritan arrangement was
formerly not uncommon, but is now probably unique, seeing that
Winchcombe church, where it once existed, has lately been "restored."
Some of the panelling was part of a Jacobean pulpit, one panel of
which, with the date 1604, is to be seen. The chancel rail is of
carved wood, in keeping with the rest of the chancel furniture.
Mr. Micklethwaite in his Paper on Saxon Churches (_Arch. Journ._ vol.
lxiii.) refers to Deerhurst specially, and his remarks are, by his
permission, here quoted, with one or two slight verbal alterations:
"The Plan shows that in its last Saxon form it was a two-towered
church of like plan to the church at Dover, on the Castle Hill. The
central tower has gone, but the western one remains, and is a very
remarkable building. The plan of the church shows the side walls of
the nave black as still existing, which in fact they do, but only the
upper parts of them. They are carried by arcades of thirteenth century
work. These may take the place of earlier ones, and the church may
have had aisles at its first building. If it had, I suspect that it
lost them as Brixworth did, and was without when the east part of the
church was put into the form shown on the plan. That seems to have
been about the beginning of the eleventh century, but it is certain
that there is earlier work in the west end and in the tower, and
probable that there also is in the side walls of the nave. The
presbytery was round-ended and wide-arched, as at Worth, and there is
an arch in the east wall of the south transept leading to an altar
place beyond. In the corresponding position on the other side (_i.e._,
in the north transept) is a doorway which has led to some chamber
outside.
"The openings from the tower to the transepts on the floor lines are
very small doorways, but there is an arch higher up on each side which
looks as if it might have opened from an upper floor or gallery.[31]
[Illustration: PLAN OF DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH BEFORE THE
CONQUEST.
_By J.T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., from "The Archaeological
Journal."_]
"To the end of the Saxon time it was usual to make living-rooms in the
towers and roofs of the churches, but the evidence of it is clearest
in the fore-buildings of the early monastic churches. That at
Deerhurst gives more points than are found together in any other
single monument, but the parallels of all, except the division of the
two lower stories of the tower, may be found elsewhere, and nearly all
at Wearmouth and Brixworth.
"Here is a section of the tower of Deerhurst looking north, with later
mediaeval work left out, and indications given of missing parts, of
which those that remain supply the evidence.
[Illustration: THE TOWER.
_From "The Archaeological Journal."_]
"The tower is considerably larger from east to west than from north to
south, and on the ground and second stories is divided into two
unequal parts, the eastern being the larger. The eastern division has
formed the usual porch of entrance from the fore-court, with an arch
eastwards towards the church, and two small doorways north and south
from the covered walks of the fore-court. These doorways were
destroyed in the thirteenth century, or later, when the walls were cut
away and pointed arches as wide as the chamber itself inserted. On the
west, an arch rather lower than that towards the church leads to the
western division, which was not the baptistery, but a sort of
vestibule to it. The baptistery itself stood, in the usual way, west
of the tower and in the midst of the fore-court. A doorway of the
thirteenth century now fills up the arch between it and the tower,
which gives us the latest date up to which it can have stood.
"Ascent to the upper part of the tower must have been by wooden stairs
or ladders in the western division. The western room on the second
story probably had no use except as a landing. It received only a
borrowed light from the baptistery, which equalled in height two
stories of the tower. The eastern room was entered by a door from the
other. It has windows on the north and south sides, and a triangular
opening towards the church on the east. In the same wall, towards the
north side, is the doorway which led to the gallery in the church, and
which, I think, is an insertion of the tenth century or later.
"The third stage is now divided, but was originally one room, and
that, as appears by the treatment of its details, an important one. I
have suggested that it may have been used as a night quire. On the
east is the very remarkable two-light window towards the church. There
are windows in the middle of the north and south walls, and close by
each is a round-headed recess very like those on the walls of the
crypt at Ripon, and, I believe, like them, intended to hold lights.
"In the west wall is a doorway now towards space, but originally
leading to an attic in the gable above the baptistery. This room
cannot have been very convenient, but the treatment of its door-case
marks it as one of some importance. Perhaps it was the abbot's room.
"Only part of the fourth stage remains, but enough to show that it was
a single room like the one below; and on the east side, where the wall
remains higher than elsewhere, is a doorway which led up one or two
steps into the space between the ceiling and the roof of the nave.
This seems to point to that loft having been used as the general
dormitory.
"The tower must have gone up at least one more story, where the bells
would hang, but that has all been replaced by later work.
"One reason for believing that the church at Deerhurst had aisles and
lost them is that on each side of the nave in the Saxon wall, above
the thirteenth century arches, is a three-cornered window like that
from the second stage of the tower to the church, and looking as if it
had served as a sort of squint from some chamber outside, which
chamber is more likely to have been an attic in the roof of an aisle
than anything else. If any such others existed at Deerhurst, there
must have been separate access to them from the church or from
outside, as they could not be reached from the tower."
THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS.
The chief remaining portion of the domestic buildings runs parallel
with the wall on the right hand of the path leading from the gate in
the churchyard to the west entrance of the church, and must have
formed the east side of the larger cloister, as the corbels for the
penthouse roof still exist in the walls, as they also do on the south
wall of the church. Two doors into the cloister from the church, one
at either end of the south aisle, have been blocked up.
The other sides of the cloister, which have entirely disappeared,
probably comprised on the south side a refectory, and on the west side
perhaps the Prior's apartments and a dormitory or infirmary. The
humbler domestic buildings were probably to the east of the block
composed of the church; and a smaller cloister, or at any rate a
smaller quadrangle of buildings may have existed to the east of the
present block now inhabited as a farm.
These farm buildings, which measure 68 feet 9 inches by 26 feet, with
walls 30 inches in thickness, are probably late fourteenth or early
fifteenth century, but contain many later modifications. There is a
large upper room near the church with certainly a fifteenth century
panelled ceiling, added to the existing open roof. This roof has a
quatrefoil opening, through which it was possible to see what was
taking place in the hall below.
Below this room (used as a granary) is a cellar three steps below the
ground-floor level, with a Norman shaft, introduced from some other
part of the buildings, to strengthen the floor above.
The present parlour, when in use as a hall, seems to have had two
entrances on the south side, one of which, now blocked, serves as a
small pantry.
The north wall of these buildings contains an early fifteenth century
two-light window, upon which the other windows seem to have been
modelled. The south wall contains two windows, one of two lights, the
lower one four. The east side is the most interesting from the
presence of a reticulated window, similar to one at Clevedon Court,
Somerset. This one originally measured 7 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 9
inches, but has been carried up 3 feet higher.
Near to this window, on the east, a wing has been rebuilt on the site
of older buildings, with old materials re-used.
[Illustration: _Photo. Dr. Oscar Clark._
FOURTEENTH CENTURY WINDOW.]
FOOTNOTES:
[29] In 1339 the Priory had license given to it to hold two fairs
annually, each to last three days, outside the precincts. They were to
be held "_in inventione et in exaltatione Crucis_."
[30] The tomb of Sir Bryan de Stapleton and Cecilia Bardolph at Ingham
(1438) has a dog upon it. His name is "_Jakke_."
[31] The plan shows parts which now exist only in the form of
foundations below ground. They are taken from a plan made in 1860
under the direction of Mr. Slater the architect, who was then carrying
out considerable alterations in the church. It is now in the
collection of the Society of Antiquaries. The southern apse was not
found by Mr. Slater, but is put in on the authority of Dr. J.H.
Middleton, who found evidence of it.--J.T.M.
THE SAXON CHAPEL.
[Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
THE SAXON CHAPEL.]
About eighty yards or so from the Church of St. Mary at Deerhurst was
discovered in 1885 in property known as _Abbot's Court_, a second
Saxon building. It was proved, after careful examination, that this
was a chapel, and the discovery of this fact threw considerable light
upon the inscribed stone in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, which had
been removed thither in 1675, bearing the inscription--
+-----------------------------------------+
| [cross] ODDA DVX IVSSIT HANC |
| REGIAM AVLAM CONSTRVI |
| ATQVE DEDICARI IN HONO- |
| R[=E] [=S] TRINITATIS PRO ANIMA GER |
| MANI SVI AELFRICI QVE DE HOC |
| LOCO ASS[=V]PTA. EALDREDVS VERO |
| E[=P][=S] QVI EAND[=E] DEDICAVIT II IDI |
| BVS A[=P][=L], XIIII AVT[=E] ANNOS REG |
| NI EADWARDI REGIS ANGLOR[=V]. |
+-----------------------------------------+
_I.e._ to say in English: "[Symbol: cross] Duke Odda ordered this
Royal Hall to be built and dedicated to the honour of the Holy Trinity
for the soul of his brother AElfric which was taken up from this place.
Bishop Ealdred it was who dedicated the same on the 12th April in the
14th year of the reign of Edward, King of the English."
[Illustration: _From "The Archaeological Journal."_]
This stone, of which a facsimile has been erected in this Saxon
chapel, was for many years assumed to refer to the larger church at
Deerhurst, but as soon as the smaller chapel was discovered, it was
seen that the inscription could only refer to that building. The
finding of a second stone, the dedication slab of an altar, in a
chimney-stack, also seemed to confirm the idea that the building, with
its nave, its chancel arch, and its chancel, was the chapel dedicated
in 1056 by Earl Odda.
[Illustration]
The dedication stone has been mutilated by being converted into the
topmost portion of a window, and the inscription admits of two
interpretations. What remains is here shown. This may mean "_In
honorem sanctae Trinitatis hoc altare dedicatum est_," or, as Mr.
Micklethwaite suggests, "_In honorem Sancti Petri[32] apli (apostoli)
hoc altare dedicatum est._"
The chapel consists of a nave 25 feet 6 inches in length by 15 feet 10
inches in breadth, and a chancel 14 feet by 11 feet 3 inches, entered
by a round-headed arch 6 feet 6 inches in width and 10 feet in
height.[33]
The jambs of this curious arch are nearly 28 inches and the imposts
nearly 10 inches in thickness. The latter are chamfered and moulded
rudely with two hollows. The arch is distinctly horse-shoe-shaped, and
on the nave side has a square label merging into the abacus, while the
chancel side has none. The doorways were two in number, opposite to
each other, in the north and south walls. Of the latter only traces
remain. The north door was blocked when the chapel was discovered, but
is now opened to give means of access to the building. Only half the
doorway is original.
[Illustration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._
CHANCEL ARCH IN THE SAXON CHAPEL.]
It is a doubtful point how the chancel was lighted, as there is no
trace of a window in the old portion of the east wall, while the rest
of this wall and the south wall were Tudor alterations. The north wall
contains a sixteenth century window.
In the north-east corner of the chancel is an Early English bracket of
beautiful work, for the presence of which it is difficult to account,
unless the chapel were in use in the thirteenth century.
The walls of the nave were originally 17 feet high, as compared with
15 feet for the chancel portion. There were also two windows in the
nave opposite to each other. That in the north wall has been altered;
that in the south wall is very curious and interesting. It is splayed
both inside and out, from an opening 3-1/2 x 2-1/2 feet, with a sill 10
feet 6 inches above the level of the ground. The arch is of long, thin
slabs of stone, inserted in mortar with wide joints, in some cases two
inches in thickness.
A ladder gives access to what was the floor above, when the chapel was
divided into two floors for domestic occupation.
Externally the chapel measures 46 feet by 21 feet, the walls being on
an average 30 inches thick.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] The property even then belonged to the Abbey of St. Peter at
Westminster.
[33] "Most small English churches were built on a plan which is purely
'_Scottish_,' all through the Saxon time and beyond it. There are
scores of them all over the country. The smaller church at Deerhurst,
built in the middle of the eleventh century, will serve for an
example. Note its small square presbytery and narrow arch. The church
at Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, is a contemporary dated building of
like form, but rather larger size" (J.T. Micklethwaite in _Arch.
Journal_, vol. liii.).
INDEX TO TEWKESBURY ABBEY
Abbey church purchased by the town, 15.
Abbots, list of, 101.
Aisles of Nave, 47-51.
Altar, 74.
Ambulatory, 51.
Arcading, Early English, 57.
Arms of the Abbey, 101.
Aula regia, Deerhurst, 4.
Battle of Tewkesbury, 14.
Bell-tower, detached, 16, 33.
Bosses of vault of nave, 42, 43.
of St. Edmund's Chapel, 60.
Chantries, 83.
Chapels and Chantries:
Fitz-Hamon, 88.
Lady (Early English), 30, 57, 58.
Norman, 69.
St. Edmund, 60, 95.
St. Eustatius, 13, 29, 30.
St. Faith, 63.
St. James, 55.
St. John Baptist (?), 64.
St. Margaret, 58.
Trinity, 91.
Warwick, 83.
Chapter House, 34.
Choir, interior, 71.
Clare, Gilbert de (I), 9, 80.
Gilbert de (II and III), 10, 79, 80.
Clarence vault, 62.
Cloister, 34.
Consecration of the Abbey, 7.
Cotes, Abbot, 96, 102.
Craik (Mrs.), monument of, 67.
Cranbourn and Tewkesbury, 5, 6.
Despenser monument, 90.
Despensers, The, 10.
their graves, 81.
Dimensions, 129.
Dissolution, the, 14.
Doorway from cloister, 49.
Edward, Prince of Wales, grave of, 78.
Eustatius, St., chapel of, 13, 29, 30.
Fitz-Hamon, Robert, 6, 7.
Font, 20, 43.
Foundation of the Abbey, 4, 6.
Gateway, Abbey, 24.
Giraldus, Abbot, 6, 7, 101.
Hugh, Earl (of Mercia), 5.
Lady Chapel, supposed, 30, 57.
Eastern, 37, 63.
Lectern, 44.
Masons' marks, 41.
Monastic buildings, 24.
Morris, William, 21.
Nave, interior, 39.
Odda, 4.
Organs, 97-100.
Parapet of apse, 36.
Plate, silver, 100.
Porch, north, 30.
Pulpit, 44.
Registers, 100.
Restoration, 20-22.
Robert I, Abbot, 7.
Robert, first Earl of Gloucester, 8.
Roof of nave, 42.
Screen, choir, 45.
Sedilia, 75.
Tiles, encaustic, 76, 101.
Tomb in north aisle of nave, 48.
of Sir Guy de Brien, 59, 93.
Duke of Clarence, 62.
Abbot Cheltenham, 65, 95.
Abbot Alan, 67, 97.
Tower, 18, 30.
Interior, 53.
Transept, north, 51.
Transept, south, 68.
Triforium, 41.
Vault of Nave, 42.
of Choir, 73.
Vestry, 36, 65.
Wakeman, Abbot, 95, 102.
Cenotaph, so called, 95.
Warwick, Duke of, his grave, 79.
Countess of, 11.
West front, 32.
window, 17, 33, 46.
Windows, north aisle, 47.
south aisle, 49.
Choir, 76.
INDEX TO DEERHURST PRIORY
Aisle, north, 112.
south, 111.
Brasses, 113.
Choir, 115.
Denis, St., Abbey granted to, 106.
Dissolution, 107.
Eton, Priory granted to, 107.
Exterior, 108.
Font, 114.
Interior, 108.
Monastic buildings, 121.
Nave, 108.
Plan, original, 117.
Saxon chapel, 123-126.
Tower, central, 116.
western, 108, 119.
[Illustration: THE PRIORY CHURCH AND ITS DOMESTIC BUILDINGS AS
NOW EXISTING.]
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. MARY,
TEWKESBURY.]
DIMENSIONS OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY.
Ft. In.
Total Length (exterior) 331 0
Total Length (interior) 311 1
Breadth of West End (exterior) 80 0
NAVE:
Length 170 0
Breadth 71 0
Height of Vaulting 58 6
Height of Piers 30 8
Diameter of Piers 6 3
Total Length of Transepts North to South 122 4
CHOIR AND PRESBYTERY:
Total Length 103 2
Breadth 33 0
TOWER:
Height to top of Pinnacles 148 3
WEST WINDOW:
Extreme Height 65 0
Breadth 34 0
Area 25,110 square feet
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