Tewkesbury

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Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury is a historic town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also the minor tributary the Swilgate. It gives its name to the district of Tewkesbury. The name Tewkesbury comes from the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the seventh century, Theoc, and in the Saxon tongue was called Theocsbury.

History

Tewkesbury is named after the Saxon hermit, Theoc, who is thought to have founded an hermitage here in the seventh century. Evidence of a church predating the abbey suggests that a considerable settlement rose up on the site previous to the Norman Conquest. Monastic buildings from the years immediately following the conquest can still be seen surrounding the abbey, which was begun in 1090 and consecrated on 23rd October 1121. Tewkesbury was the site of the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471. At “Bloody Meadow,” south of the town, Edward IV's forces defeated the House of Lancaster in the final battle of the Wars of the Roses. Tewkesbury was incorporated during the reign of Elizabeth I. Historically, Tewkesbury is a market town, serving the local rural area. It underwent some expansion in the period following World War II, and today has a small but significant high technology industry. Tewkesbury has also been a centre for flour milling for many centuries, and the Abbey Mill still stands. Flour is still milled at a more modern factory a short way upriver, once thought to be the largest and most modern flour mill in the world, although the milling equipment is actually housed in buildings partly dating back to the 19th century. The town also hosts a large Army supply depot at nearby Ashchurch. The town suffered from some decline in the early 1990s, with a few local shops and businesses closing, but now appears to be on the up again.

Architecture

The town features many notable Tudor buildings, but its major claim to fame is a fine Norman abbey, originally part of a monastery, which was saved from dissolution by King Henry VIII after being bought by the townspeople for £453 to use as their parish church. Most of the monastery buildings, as well as the vineyards, were destroyed during this time. The Abbey Mill however still remains, resting upon the Mill Avon, a channel built by the monks so that they could have a working mill closer to the Abbey. The weir exists to this day, and the channel represents one of the biggest projects in Tewkesbury's history, though the present sluice gate dates only from the last decade, replacing two installed in the 1930s. The Abbey Mill is also sometimes known as "Abel Fletcher's Mill", but this is simply the name given to it in Dinah Craik's novel "John Halifax, Gentleman", whose setting Norton Bury is based on Tewkesbury (see the Culture section below); Abel Fletcher never actually existed.

The Abbey is also thought to be the site of the place where the hermit "Jiraiya", once lived. The great Romanesque arch on the west front is particularly striking, and the stained glass window at this end has recently been restored. The monastery was founded by the Despensers as a family mausoleum, and the Despenser and Neville tombs are stunning examples of small-scale late medieval stonework. The tower is believed to be the largest Norman tower still in existence (though that at Norwich Cathedral is another strong contender). The tower once had a wooden spire which may have taken the total height of the building to as much as 260 feet, but this was unfortunately blown off in a heavy storm on Easter Monday 1559; the present pinnacles and battlements were added in 1600 to give the tower a more "finished" look. The height to the top of the pinnacles is 148 feet. The Abbey is thought to be the third largest church in Britain that is not a cathedral (after Westminster Abbey and Beverley Minster). From end to end it measures 312 feet, though prior to the destruction of the original Lady Chapel (also at the time of the dissolution), the Abbey's total length was 375 feet.

Tewkesbury also lays claim to Gloucestershire's oldest public house, the Black Bear, dating from 1308. Other notable buildings are the Royal Hop Pole Hotel in Church Street, mentioned in Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, the Bell Hotel, a large half-timbered structure opposite the Abbey gateway, and the House of the Nodding Gables in the High Street. The historic Abbey Cottages, over 500 years old, were rescued from dereliction in the 1970s; one houses a museum, the others are residential homes. At the Tudor House Hotel in the High Street however, although it is indeed chiefly a Tudor building, the frontage comprises artificial half timbering attached to a brick-built facade.

Just to the west of the town is Thomas Telford's impressive Mythe Bridge over the River Severn, an iron structure with a 176 foot span, opened in 1826 (a very similar structure, called Galton Bridge and also by Telford, spans the Birmingham Canal at Smethwick). Tewkesbury's other notable bridge is the stone-built King John's Bridge over the Avon, commissioned by King John in the late 12th century as part of improvements to the main road from Gloucester to Worcester. Original stonework can still be seen on its north side; the bridge was considerably widened in the early 1960s to meet modern traffic requirements.

Population

The town itself has a population of around 10,000. If neighbouring Walton Cardiff (including the large new Wheatpieces estate), and Ashchurch (including the even larger but older Northway estate) are added, the figure rises to approx. 18,000. There appear to be limits on how far the town can expand in the future, due to the close proximity of large areas of land that are prone to flooding. However, the present "Borough of Tewkesbury," created in 1974, also contains a large portion of rural north Gloucestershire, extending as far as the edges of Gloucester itself and also Cheltenham, and has a present population of approx. 78,000.

Transport links

Tewkesbury is served by the M5 motorway and the A38 trunk road. Tewkesbury no longer has its own railway station (it was on a branch line from Ashchurch to Upton-upon-Severn and Malvern that was closed in two stages: Upton to Malvern in December 1952; Ashchurch to Upton, including Tewkesbury, in August 1961), but there are regular bus connections to the present Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station nearby on the main Bristol to Birmingham line (this station too had closed, in November 1971, but was reopened in June 1997). The National Cycle Network is to soon complete its work in this area and connect Tewkesbury to the National Scheme, as well as improving localised Cycle Routes.

Culture

Tewkesbury is home to many historic pubs.
The ska punk band ^* is from Tewkesbury.
The Bristol band The Cuban Heels all attended Tewkesbury School.
Tewkesbury's Roses Theatre combines an arthouse cinema and a live performance venue.
Eric Morecambe gave his last ever performance at the Roses Theatre, suffering a fatal heart attack seconds after coming off-stage at the end of a one-man show in 1984, dying a few hours later in Cheltenham General Hospital, aged 58.
The newsreader and TV presenter Anna Ford was born in Tewkesbury.
Tewkesbury School plays host to Tewkesbury Music Centre, an organisation which promotes young musicians.
Captain Scott, famous for his expedition to the South Pole, left one of the sleds used on the expedition to the former Tewkesbury Grammar School; it currently resides in the present Tewkesbury School's new Humanities Building.
The Victorian authoress Dinah Craik (1826-1887), set her most famous work "John Halifax, Gentleman", published in 1857, in Tewkesbury after visiting the town in 1852. The town is called Norton Bury in the book. Yet although there is a "Craik House" in Church Street, near the Abbey, Mrs. Craik never lived there and had no other connection with Tewkesbury (she came originally from Stoke-upon-Trent). Nevertheless, there is a memorial to her in the Abbey's south transept.
Tewkesbury has yet another different name in another literary work based on the town: "Portrait of Elmbury", published in 1945 by John Moore (1907-1967). Moore was Tewkesbury-born, and the book is described as a "fictional biography" of Tewkesbury. In the 1960s the name Elmbury was given to the new Secondary Modern School for Girls on the Ashchurch Road; in 1972 the school buildings became the nucleus of today's Tewkesbury School (Comprehensive).
Tewkesbury Mustard is a creamy blend of mustard and horseradish and is mentioned in Shakespeare's Henry IV — his wit was as thick as Tewkesbury Mustard. Originally made in the town, it gradually fell out of use and the exact recipe was presumed lost until the time of the Tewkesbury Festival in 1971 (a major programme of events commemorating the 850th anniversary of the consecration of the Abbey and the 500th anniversary of the Battle). Tewkesbury Mustard reappeared in local shops and elsewhere, and has been a steady seller ever since, though it is no longer made in Tewkesbury. Its fame has spread far and wide; Fortnum & Mason in London stocks it, Waitrose supermarkets sell their own-label jars of it, and recently it has even been seen in Kaufhaus des Westens, a major department store in Berlin (next to the Worcester sauce, no less). The Italians, too, are reported to be very fond of it.

Sports and recreation

Tewkesbury has one of the 471 King George's Fields as its recreation ground.
Tewkesbury Town Football Club

Nearby places

Town twinning

Tewksbury Township, New Jersey

External links

Tewkesbury | Borough of Tewkesbury | King George's Field