Bells Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury | Page 2

Petit 19

The Choir before 1864, from an old photograph 22
The Nave before 1864, from an old photograph 23
The Abbey Gate 25
Tile showing the Arms of Fitz-Hamon and the Abbey impaled 27
Tewkesbury Abbey, from the North 28
The Abbey, from the South 31
The Cloister Doorway 35
The Nave, from 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 Archæological Journal" 118
The Tower, from "The Archæological 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 Ælfric, 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 Ælfric, 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 Theokusburiæ" gives a
full-page illustration of this "par nobile fratrum," as Dr. Hayman