Possibly some of our travellers are proceeding in so leisurely a fashion
that they may decide to sojourn a day or two in Tewkesbury. To them we
address the suggestion that they visit the adjoining town of Deerhurst
and see its venerable church. It is but a two-mile walk across the
fields, or a pleasant trip by boat on the Severn. It may, however, by
means of a small _detour_, be visited on the way to Gloucester. Although
it can boast of but little Decorated glass, that little is lodged in an
edifice of great interest, because it is the earliest dated one in
England. The obviously Saxon architecture, with its "herring-bone" and
"long and short" work, the window-tops composed of two slanting stones,
or else of arches cut from one piece--these unmistakable signs would
have told us that it antedated the Normans, but of such buildings there
are many in this country. Here, however, we have an exact date given us,
and, furthermore, the earliest known in all the land. A stone found here
(now preserved at Oxford) relates that this chapel was dedicated in
1056, and that Earl Odda caused it to be erected "in honour of the Holy
Trinity and for the good of the soul of his brother, Elfric, which at
this place quitted the body." It goes on further to say that "Bishop
Ealdred dedicated it on 12th April in the 14th year of Edward King of
the English." Two other early Saxon edifices of even more modest
dimensions lie close at hand. The ancient glass is contained in the four
small lancets of the west wall on the right as one enters, and is
obviously of the Decorated period. The most attractive bit is the small
panel showing St. Catherine framed in a canopy, holding her wheel in one
hand, and revolving it with the other. The background is red within the
canopy, but green outside, a very frequent adjustment at that time. In
both the upper and lower parts of these lancets are groups of three and
four kneeling donors, about eight inches high, with labels above them.
This glass has not always remained in its original embrasures, but,
fortunately, did not stray far. Its travels were cut short by a
gentleman who purchased it for L5 from an antiquary's shop in a
neighbouring town, and restored it to its early home. More important and
more beautiful sanctuaries will be encountered in our travels, but it is
well to have halted for even a brief time at this ancient Saxon fane, if
only to ponder upon how tenacious must have been the traits of those
early ancestors of ours, to have persisted to these modern days with
such vigour as to have made the adjective "Anglo-Saxon" so significant.