Bells Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury | Page 2

the West End 40
Masons' Marks 41
The North Choir Aisle, looking West, showing the back of the Despenser Monument 52
Interior of the Tower above the Vaulting 54
Wall Arcade in Early English Chapel 57
The Ambulatory, looking towards St. Margaret's Chapel 59
The North Choir Aisle and St. Edmund's Chapel 61
The Vestry Door, South Choir Aisle 66
The Apsidal Chapel, South Transept 68
The Choir, looking West 72
Rib-centres in the Choir Vault 73
The Sedilia 75
The Warwick Chapel 85
Chantry of the Founder, Fitz-Hamon 89
The Despenser Monument 90
The Trinity Chapel 92
The "Wakeman Cenotaph" 94
The South Choir Aisle, looking West 96
DEERHURST.
Deerhurst Priory Church, from the South 104
Interior, looking West 110
Font 114
Plan of Deerhurst Priory Church before the Conquest, by J.T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., from "The Arch?ological Journal" 118
The Tower, from "The Arch?ological Journal" 119
Fourteenth Century Window 122
The Saxon Chapel 123
Dedication Stone 124
Plan of Saxon Chapel 124
Dedication Slab of an Altar 124
Chancel Arch in the Saxon Chapel 125
PLAN of Deerhurst Priory and its Domestic Buildings as now existing 129
PLAN of Tewkesbury Abbey 130

[Illustration: Photo. Dr. Oscar Clark. THE ABBEY--FROM THE NORTH-WEST.]
[Illustration: TEWKESBURY ABBEY IN 1840. By Rev. J.L. Petit.]

TEWKESBURY ABBEY.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION AND FABRIC OF THE ABBEY CHURCH, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS BENEFACTORS.
Tradition, originating in the desire to account for the name of the town, would assign the foundation of a cell or chapel to Theoc, or in Latin form Theocus, in or about 655. In support of this theory Camden and others assert that it was called in Anglo-Saxon times Theocsburg or Theotisbyrg. Others would derive the name from the Greek "Theotokos," as the Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and others again refer us back to a very early name, Etocisceu--Latinised as Etocessa. In Domesday Book the town is called Teodechesberie, and throughout the Chronicles of the Abbey is called Theokusburia.
The Chronicles of the Abbey tell us that the first monastery at Tewkesbury was built by two Saxon nobles, Oddo and Doddo, in or about the year 715, a time when Mercia was flourishing under Ethelred, and later, under Kenred and Ethelbald. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and endowed with the manor of Stanway and other lands for the support of the Benedictine monks who, under a Prior, were there installed. Oddo and Doddo died soon afterwards, and were buried in the abbey church of Pershore.
Much has been written about these mythical founders, and confusion in the minds of the chroniclers, and in those of subsequent writers too, has been caused by the similarity between the names of Oddo and Doddo, and Odda and Dodda. It is stated in the old Tewkesbury Chronicle that Oddo and Doddo were brothers, who in 715 founded a small cell at Tewkesbury, and that Doddo built a church at Deerhurst to show his love for a brother who had died some time before. They seem to have been two noble dukes, members of an illustrious family and renowned for their great virtue. Oddo is said to have become a monk, and after his death to have been buried at Pershore Abbey.
As Mr. Butterworth points out in his book on Deerhurst, this seems to be a travesty of what actually happened. There were in the eleventh century two brothers, Odda and ?lfric, with probably a third brother, Dodda, who were related to Edward the Confessor, and were, besides, his friends and followers. Charters are extant bearing their signatures and names, and covering the period 1015-1051. It is this Odda who caused to be built the "aula regia" at Deerhurst in memory of his brother ?lfric, with a stone[1] bearing an inscription of which a copy is now in the Saxon Chapel at Deerhurst. This Odda, with his brother, was buried at Pershore. Odda's existence at this time is further confirmed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (edited by Ingram), which states that Odda was in 1051 made Earl over Devonshire, Somerset, Dorset, and the Welsh. The same chronicle says that Odda was also called Agelwin. Florence of Worcester says that he was also called Ethelwin.
It is perhaps easy to see how a chronicler writing 250 years later, should be led to assume that Oddo and Doddo were identical with Odda and Dodda. Sir Charles Isham's "Registrum Theokusburi?" gives a full-page illustration of this "par nobile fratrum," as Dr. Hayman calls them, in which they are termed "duo duces Marciorum et primi fundatores Theokusburi?" i.e., two Earls of the Marches and first founders of Tewkesbury. Each knight is in armour, and bears in his hand a model of a church. Both are supporting a shield (affixed to a pomegranate tree) bearing the arms of the Abbey, which the blazoning on their own coats repeats.
[Illustration: PAGE FROM THE "REGISTRUM THEOKUSBURI?." (H.J.L.J.M.)]
According to the chronicle, Hugh, a great Earl of the Mercians, caused the body of Berthric or Brictric, King of Wessex, to be