The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, one of the finest Norman buildings in England, is the second largest parish church in England, having become so at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Its massive crossing tower was rated “probably the largest and finest Romanesque tower in England” by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. Fourteen of England's cathedrals are of smaller dimensions; only Westminster Abbey contains more medieval tombs. An abbey (from the Latin abbatia, which is derived from the Syriac abba, father), is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serve as the spiritual father or mother of the community. ... Location within the British Isles The Tewkesbury War Memorial, locally known as the Cross Tewkesbury is a historic town in Gloucestershire, England. ... Gloucestershire (pronounced ; GLOSS-ter-sher) is a county in South West England. ... The Nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the nave anticipates the Gothic style. ... A parish church is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... The Dissolution of the Monasteries (referred to by Roman Catholic writers as the Suppression of the Monasteries) was the formal process, taking place between 1538 and 1541, by which King Henry VIII confiscated the property of the Roman Catholic monastic institutions in England and took them to himself, as the... Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE (January 30, 1902 – August 18, 1983) was a German-born British historian of art and, especially, architecture. ... The Abbeys western façade The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to as Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ...

The Chronicle of Tewkesbury records that the first Christian worship was brought to the area by Theoc, a missionary from Northumbria, who built his cell in the mid-7th century near on a gravel spit where the Severn and Avon rivers join together. The cell was succeeded by a monastery in 715, but nothing remaining of it has been identified. Section from Shepherds map of the British Isles about 802 AD showing the kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria is primarily the name of a petty kingdom of Angles which was formed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, and of the much smaller earldom which succeeded the... The Severn is the name of a river in the United Kingdom. ... The River Avon or Avon is a river in or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in the midlands of England. ...

In the 10th century the religious foundation at Tewkesbury became a priory subordinate to the Cranbourne Abbey in Dorset. In 1087 William the Conqueror gave the manor of Tewkesbury to his cousin Robert Fitzhamon, who, with Giraldus, Abbot of Cranbourne, founded the present abbey in 1092. Building of the present Abbey church did not start until 1102, employing Caen stone imported from Normandy and floated up the Severn. A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ... William of Normandy (French: Guillaume de Normandie; c. ... Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107) was Lord of Gloucester and the conqueror of Glamorgan. ... ‘Caen stone’ is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone. ...

Robert Fitzhamon died at Falaise in Normandy, in 1102, but his son-in-law, Robert Fitzroy, the natural son of Henry I who was made Earl of Gloucester, continued to fund the building work. The Abbey's greatest single later patron was Lady Eleanor le Despenser, last of the De Clare heirs of the FitzRoys. In the High Middle Ages Tewkesbury became one of the richest abbeys of England. Robert of Gloucester also frequently refers to the historian Robert_of_Gloucester Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (~1090 - October 31, 1147) was an illegitimate son of Henry I of England, and one of the dominant figures of the English Anarchy period. ... Henry I of England (c. ... The title of Earl of Gloucester was created several times in the Peerage of England. ...

The market town of Tewkesbury developed to the north of the abbey precincts, of which vestiges remain in the layout of the streets and a few buildings: the Abbot’s gatehouse, the Abbey Mill, Abbey House, the present vicarage and some half-timbered dwellings in Church Street. The Abbey now sits partly isolated in lawns, like a cathedral in its close, for the area surrounding the Abbey is protected from development by the Abbey Lawn Trust, originally funded by a United States benefactor in 1962 [1]. Location within the British Isles The Tewkesbury War Memorial, locally known as the Cross Tewkesbury is a historic town in Gloucestershire, England. ... Timber framing is the modern term for the traditional half-timbered construction in which timber provides a visible skeletal frame that supports the whole building. ...

One of its most distinguished abbots was Alan, the biographer of Thomas a Kempis. Alan, Abbot of Tewkesbury (date of birth unknown) is said by Gervase of Canterbury (contemporary chronicler) to be of English (ie non-Norman) descent. ... Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471) was a medieval Christian monk and author of Imitation of Christ, one of the most well-known Christian books on devotion. ...

The churches' 17th-century organ was originally made for Magdalen College, Oxford; after the Civil War it was removed to the chapel of Hampton Court Palace after the Civil War. It came to Tewkesbury in 1737. The organ of Bristol Cathedral, Bristol, England. ... Magdalen College could be Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalene College, Cambridge This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The clock tower straddles the entrance between the inner and outer courts Hampton Court Palace is a former royal place on the north bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames about 12 miles (19 km) southwest and upstream of Central London, nowadays open to...

The Abbey has its own choir which sings weekend services. Weekday evensongs are sung by the choir of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury which was founded for this purpose in 1973 by Miles Amherst.

[Abbey Church:[2]]

[Interior Church Choir:[3]]

[Vaulted Church Ceiling:[4]]

[Tomb of Abbot Alen:[5]]

Construction time-line:

• 23 October 1121 -- the choir consecrated
• 1150 -- tower and nave completed
• 1178 -- large fire necessitated some rebuilding
• ~1235 -- Chapel of St Nicholas built
• ~1300 -- Chapel of St. James built
• 1321-1335 -- choir rebuilt with radiating chantry chapels
• 1349-59 -- tower and nave vaults rebuilt; the lierne vaults of the nave replacing wooden roofing
• 1400-1410 -- cloisters rebuilt
• 1438 -- Chapel of Isobel (countess of Warwick) built
• 1520 -- Guesten house completed (later became the vicarage)

After the Battle of Tewkesbury in the Wars of the Roses on May 4 1471, some of the defeated Lancastrians sought sanctuary in the abbey, but the victorious Yorkists, led by King Edward IV, forced their way into the abbey, and the resulting bloodshed caused the building to be closed for a month until it could be purified and re-consecrated. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the people of Tewkesbury saved the abbey from destruction in 1539: Insisting it was their parish church, which they had the right to keep, they bought it for the value of its bells and lead roof (which would have been salvaged and melted down, leaving the structure a roofless ruin :the price came to £453. The bells merited their own free-standing belltower, an unusual feature in English sites: after the Dissolution it was used as the gaol for the borough until it was demolished in the late 18th century. The central stone tower was originally topped with a wooden spire, which collapsed in 1559 and was never rebuilt. Some restoration undertaken in the 19th century under Sir Gilbert Scott included the rood screen that replaced the one removed when the Abbey became a parish church. What remains is one of the finest Norman buildings in Britain. October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining. ... Events Concordat of Worms condemns Pierre Abélards writings on the Holy Trinity. ... Plan of lierne vault - Ely Choir, (liernes are shaded black). ... Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in Arles, France A cloister (from latin claustrum) is part of cathedrals and abbeys architecture. ... Combatants House of York House of Lancaster Commanders Edward IV of England Edmund Beaufort Strength Unknown Unknown Casualties Unknown Unknown The Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, which took place on May 4, 1471, completed one phase of the Wars of the Roses. ... Lancaster York For other uses see Wars of the Roses (disambiguation) The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) were collectively an intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. ... May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ... Sanctuary has multiple meanings. ... Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470–1471. ... Events January 15 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. ... Gilbert Scott may refer to several of a family of British architects: Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811 - 1878), who was principally known for his architectural designs for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and St Pancras Station George Gilbert Scott Junior (1839 - 1897), son of the above Sir Giles Gilbert Scott... The Rood screen was a common feature in late medieval church architecture, dividing the chancel from the nave. ...

Famous graves in the abbey

• 1107 -- when the abbey's founder Robert Fitzhamon died in 1107, he was buried in the chapter house while his son-in-law Robert fitzRoy (an illegitimate son of King Henry I), Earl of Gloucester, continued building the abbey
• 1375 -- Edward Despenser, Lord of the Manor of Tewkesbury, is remembered today chiefly for the effigy on his tomb, which shows him in full color kneeling on top of the canopy of his chantry, facing toward the high altar
• ~1395 -- Robert Fitzhamon's remains were moved into a new chapel built as his tomb
• 1471 -- a brass plate on the floor in the center of the sanctuary marks the grave of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, the son of King Henry VI and end of the Lancastrian line, who was killed in the Battle of Tewkesbury - the only Prince of Wales ever to die in battle.
• 1477 -- the bones of George, "Butt of Malmsey" Clarence, (brother of Edward IV and Richard III) and his wife Isabelle (daughter of Richard "the Kingmaker" Neville) are visible behind a glass window in a wall behind the high altar
• <1539 -- the cadaver tomb Abbot Wakeman had built for himself is not actually a grave, because he was not buried there
• Also buried in the abbey are several members of the Despenser, de Clare and Beauchamp families, all of whom were generous benefactors of the abbey.

Henry I of England (c. ... In England, Lord of the Manor is a feudal title. ... Sanctuary has multiple meanings. ... Edward of Westminster (October 13, 1453 – May 4, 1471) was the only Prince of Wales ever to die in battle. ... Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21/22, 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 (though with a Regent until 1437) and then from 1470 to 1471. ... Combatants House of York House of Lancaster Commanders Edward IV of England Edmund Beaufort Strength Unknown Unknown Casualties Unknown Unknown The Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, which took place on May 4, 1471, completed one phase of the Wars of the Roses. ... The Prince of Wales Feathers. This Heraldic badge of the Heir Apparent is derived from the ostrich feathers borne by Edward, the Black Prince. ... George (Plantagenet), Duke of Clarence (October 21, 1449 - February 18, 1478) was the third son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville, and the brother of King Edward IV of England. ... Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470–1471. ... Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death and the last king from the House of York. ... Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428—April 14, 1471), was also known as Warwick the Kingmaker. ... Beneath Masaccios fresco of the Trinity painted in 1425-28 in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, is a painted representation of a cadaver tomb A cadaver tomb (or memento mori tomb, Latin for reminder of death) is a sarcophagus that resembles a carved stone bunk-bed with the deceased shown...

See also

• Greater Churches Group
• Cathedral diagram

The Greater Churches Group is a self help organisation within the Church of England. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

References

• Richard K. Morris and Ron Shoesmith (editors), 2003. Tewkesbury Abbey: History, Art and Architecture ISBN 1904396038
• Official site
• Britannia.com Detailed tour
• Illuminated armorials in the Founders' and Benefactors' Book of Tewkesbury Abbey, early 16th century, at the Bodleian Library
• David Bagley, "The bells of Tewkesbury Abbey"
• Heritage Trail: Tewkesbury Abbey
• Abbey School
• The abbey of Tewkesbury, Victoria County History of England: Gloucestershire, Vol. 2, pp.61-6.