Bells Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury | Page 6

was put to death in the Tower. Both were buried at Tewkesbury (vide p. 62).
The young Edward, son of the Duke of Clarence, was imprisoned in the Tower till his execution in 1499.
The Manor of Tewkesbury, as a possession of the Warwicks, passed into the hands of Lord Seymour of Sudeley, the husband of Catharine Parr, until his attainder, when they once more came into the hands of the Crown. James I. sold the manor to the Corporation in 1609. During the present century the lordship of the manor again passed by sale into private hands.
In the chronicles of the Abbey the following facts are recorded:--
In 1218 the dormitory roof fell down upon the monks when they returned from an early service, and Gilbert, a monk, had a thigh broken and his head injured, while the Prior Gunfrey escaped unhurt.
In 1224, Robert Travers, Bishop of Kildelo (i.e. Killaloe), in the winter dedicated two large bells in the tower.
In 1234 the principal gate of the monastery and two stables were burnt down.
In 1237, Hervey de Sipton, the then Prior, pulled down and rebuilt the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas. Nothing can be said definitely as to its size, owing to the later work done in this part. The chronicle, however, distinctly states that divine service was first held in Prior Sipton's new chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, on St. Nicholas' Day.[2]
The roof bears the arms of the Clares and Despensers, and this would give the date of the bosses as 1321-1337, i.e., about a century later than the date of the chapel.
The two chapels which are now usually known as those of St. James and St. Nicholas were, at one time, supposed, without authority, to have been the chapter-house of the monastery. They were so described as recently as 1881, in the plan used by the members of the Architectural Association for their excursion to Tewkesbury. For many years they were in use as a grammar school, and were walled off from the rest of the church.
In 1239 a grand altar was dedicated to the honour of the Virgin, "glorios? Virginis Mari?." This is by some supposed to refer to the present altar-stone of Purbeck marble.
In 1241, Oct. 25, the body of Fitz-Hamon, the founder of the existing fabric, was brought in from the Chapter House and placed on the site of the Founder's Chapel built later.
In 1243 the dormitory, which had been rebuilt (chiefly by Abbot Peter), was re-opened for use.
In 1246 the Prior, Henry de Banbury, built an Early English Chapel, dedicated to St. Eustachius. It seems probable that this was erected on the site of the apsidal Norman chapel, and the space (6 feet) between it and the Early English chapel. The vaulting corbels are all that remain.
In 1259 the Chapter-House was newly paved at the expense of the Convent.
The chronicles, as reprinted in "Annales Monastici" stop short in 1263, and from that time onwards there is a dearth of direct information as to the Abbey and its history.
The choir was altered in the time of Abbot Parker, by Elizabeth, the wife, successively, of Lord Badlesmere, of Hugh Lord Despenser, and Sir Guy de Brien. The original Norman clerestory was taken down and the Norman columns of the choir slightly raised, as will be seen from the choir aisle on the side where the original capitals were left unaltered. At the same time the beautiful series of apsidal chapels was added; stone vaulting took the place of the earlier wooden roofing and the space between the four piers that support the tower was vaulted. This work contains the arms of Sir Guy and of the Montacutes.
1397. The Founder's Chapel was erected by Abbot Parker.
In 1422 Henry VI. granted the patronage of Deerhurst Priory to Tewkesbury. Much litigation followed with Eton College in consequence, but in 1469 the grant was confirmed and carried out by John Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester.
On May 30, 1471, the Abbey, which had been polluted with blood during the battle of Tewkesbury, and had not been available for divine service for a month, was cleansed with special ceremony by the Bishop of Down and Connor, who was acting as suffragan to the Bishop of Worcester and reconsecrated.
At the Dissolution the whole establishment, which, from the lists of what was to be kept and what was to be destroyed, was of considerable size, was seized by the King's Commissioners. The houses and buildings assigned to remain "undefaced" were "The lodging called the New Warke, leading from the gate to the late Abbot's lodging, with buttery, pantry, cellar, kitching, larder, and pastry thereto adjoining; the late Abbot's lodging; the hostery; the great gate entering into the court, with the lodging over the same; the Abbot's stable, bakehouse, brewhouse and slaughter-house, the almery, barn, dairy-house; the great barn