Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury Part 5

At the easternmost end of this aisle is the door by which access was given the church from the cloisters. The entrance to this door consists of a depressed arch, with a square head over it; the spandrils are pierced with an open quatrefoil. This door stands within the original Norman doorway, which was filled in, and traces of the supporting shaft with its capital may be seen. Above are seven niches, with brackets and canopies of good carved work. Over the canopy on either side is an angel with a plain s.h.i.+eld.

At the restoration of the church this doorway was very carefully dealt with at the cost of the then Mayor, Mr. Thomas Collins. Up to the time of the restoration of the church, 1891-92, this doorway had been walled up with many pieces of broken carved work from other parts of the church. The doors were designed by Mr. J. Oldrid Scott, executed locally, and given by the late Mr. Thomas Collins.

To the east of the cloister door [O] is a tomb with a fine crocketed ogee arch, and with an angel bearing a plain s.h.i.+eld in place of a finial. On one of the cusps are to be traced the chevrons of the De Clares, and another bears a lion rampant. Beyond the fact that it was the tomb of a relation of the De Clares nothing definite can be said.

Some have thought it to be the tomb of Sir Thomas Morley, the husband of Anne, daughter of Edward, Lord Despenser, and widow of Hugh, Lord Hastings, who died in 1417. It may here be noted that a lion rampant, sable, crowned or, are to be found on one of the s.h.i.+elds at Lord Despenser's feet in the Isham register. This tomb is generally known as the Duke of Somerset's tomb, but the arms as they exist show no resemblance to the arms he would be ent.i.tled to bear, viz., those of the Beauforts.

In the floor of the south aisle is an interesting stone with an inscription in Norman French, in bold Lombardic capitals running round the border:

[Ill.u.s.tration: (in Norman: Leger de Parr lies here. May G.o.d have mercy on his soul.)]

_i.e._, "Leger de Parr lies here. May G.o.d have mercy on his soul."

According to Bennett, this stone had been moved from some other place in the church.

Up to the time of the restoration the extreme western portion of the south aisle was part and parcel of the Abbey House Estate. In 1883, when the estate was put up for sale, the room thus formed in the church was withdrawn from the auction, and soon afterwards was presented by the then owner to the Abbey, to be in future an absolute part of the building. In the south wall near this Abbey chamber is a blocked-up doorway which gave access to the Outer Parlour of the monks.

TRANSEPTS AND AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR.

The whole of the nave, as in most cathedrals, is open to the inspection of the visitor free of any charge; but the choir, the tombs, the chapels and transepts, are reserved, and shown to visitors on payment of a small fee. This fee is payable at the verger's desk at the entrance to the north transept. A further fee is payable by those who wish to photograph in this or in any other part of the building.

=North Transept.=[12]--The whole of this north transept is taken up with the Grove organ, of which an account is given on p. 98. The dimensions of the transept are 40 feet by 34 feet, and 58 feet in height. For the most part this transept consists of original Norman work, very little altered with the exception of the fourteenth century stone vaulting and the insertion of windows of the same period.

On the north wall of the transept is a tablet, in painted alabaster, to John Roberts. It has been neglected, but it is worth deciphering.

It runs: "Here resteth what was mortal of John Roberts of Fiddington, gent. Careful he was to maintain tillage, the maintenance of mankind.

He feared G.o.d, was faithful to his country, friends, good to the poore and common wealth, just to all men. Who left us Jan. 1631, aged 77."

The text is, "For Christ is to mee both in life and in death advantage."

The north side has two small pointed windows with geometrical tracery.

Below these are recessed Norman arches. On the floor level the masonry is new, having been built up inside the Early English arch.

On the south side are the backs of the choir stalls. On the west side, in the wall is a large Decorated window containing five lights with flowing tracery. This window was blown into the church in 1819, and then rebuilt.

The eastern wall contains two Norman arches, one of which is merely the continuation of the north aisle, through the transept to the north ambulatory. The other is in the north wall of the transept, and opens into the choir vestry. Over these two arches were formerly two other open arches. One of these, viz., that over the choir vestry, has been walled up, and the other has a circular or rose window. After undergoing repairs the window was glazed by Hardman, in 1892, as a memorial to Mary Anne Moore. The subject is "The adoration of the Lamb." In the central light is the Agnus Dei; while in the other six encircling quatrefoils are angels censing, and representing Blessing, Glory, Honour, Power, Wisdom and Strength. The gla.s.s has been designed to give the effect of older gla.s.s, and, so far as that is possible, it may claim to be a success.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (_H.J.L.J.M._) THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE, LOOKING WEST, SHOWING THE BACK OF THE DESPENSER MONUMENT.]

This rose window occupies the s.p.a.ce which originally was the west end of the original Norman triforium of the choir, to which access was given by the staircase in the north-east corner of the transept.

The =interior of the tower= for more than three centuries was accessible only from the outside of the church, but is now approached by a staircase in the north-east angle of the north transept. After mounting the first flight, which is somewhat worn, the transept vaulting is crossed by a species of bridge, and at the end of this access is given by a narrow doorway to the first floor of the tower, which contains a large room 33 feet square, with a curiously formed floor. This room has some good Norman work on the walls, and when open to the church, as it was originally, it must have been one of the striking features of the interior from below. That it was open originally may be inferred from the plain treatment of the western side, _i.e._, the side that would not catch the eye of those using the nave and looking eastwards.

On the floor-level the arcading is practically uniform, with the exception of one column.[13] Above, on the north, south, and east sides is arcading, and still higher in each side are two round-headed window openings.

This s.p.a.cious apartment owes the form of its curious floor to the vaulting of the lantern-s.p.a.ce in the time of Sir Guy de Brien, whose arms are found in the lierne-vaulting which supports the floor. The room was cleared and improved in 1887, when the hanging ringing-chamber was removed, and the floor and ceiling put in good order. The ringing-floor is on the next stage, and the belfry is the floor above.

The clock was erected as a Jubilee memorial in 1887, at a cost of over 200. It is built on the lines of the clocks at Westminster and Worcester Cathedral, and chimes the so-called "Cambridge quarters" as arranged by Dr. Crotch. Small though the clock looks from the level of the churchyard, it must be remembered that it is the ma.s.sive tower that dwarfs it--the diameter of the face is in reality 8 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (_H.J.L.J.M._) INTERIOR OF THE TOWER ABOVE THE VAULTING.]

Nothing is known of the place of origin of the pre-Reformation bells, but, arguing from the proximity of Gloucester, it may be a.s.sumed that out of the eight bells weighing 14,200 lb. or more, some may have been cast by John Sandre, of Gloucester.

The eight bells were bought from the King's Commissioners for 142, _i.e._, at the rate of 5 lb. for a s.h.i.+lling. They may have been bought to sell again, as the number was soon reduced to _four_. In 1612 a fifth bell was added, as a rhyme on the cover of the baptismal register (1607-1629) tells us:

"William Dixon and Thomas h.o.a.re Made us that bell which wee ring before, Which men for that good deede praie we they maie thrive, For we having but four bells, they made them five; And out of the grownde this bell they did delve The 24th of Julie, Anno Dom. 1612."

Near the arcaded pa.s.sage in the room in the tower are some memoranda of the changes possible with five bells, rudely engraved in the stonework.

In 1632 the peal was recast and a sixth bell was added, and in 1679 the two newest bells were recast. Two new bells were added in 1696. In 1797 the great or tenor bell was recast. From the time when the bells were overhauled and tuned at Gloucester, in 1837, no further alteration has been made. The present peal is about 500 lb. less in weight than the peal in use at the time of the Dissolution.

From the top of the tower a fine view is to be obtained--Cheltenham, and Gloucester, with its beautiful Cathedral tower, on the south, the Malvern Hills on the west, the Cotswolds on the east and north-east.

The Severn and the Avon wind through the landscape, and on the far horizon may be seen the distant hills of Wales.

The old shafting has been chipped away on the west face of the stonework opposite to the north-east tower pier. As one turns round the corner into the north ambulatory or choir aisle, it will be noticed that on the wall is a monument by Flaxman to Lady Clarke; it is small and un.o.btrusive, but the sculpture is thoroughly good and worthy of a great artist.

On the right hand opposite is the Warwick Chapel (p. 83), of which the glory in part has departed, viz., the decoration in colour and in gold, and much of the architectural detail.

=St. James' Chapel.=[14]--This chapel (dimensions 28 feet by 24 feet), which opens on to the north transept of the north ambulatory, was from 1576 up to 1875 walled off from the rest of the church and used as premises for the "Free Grammar School of William Ferrers, citizen and mercer of London." The school ceased to be held here about forty years ago, but the inserted masonry and brickwork was not removed till the restoration of 1875 and following years, when the chapel was restored by the Freemasons of the county. From the time that the chapel ceased to be a school it fell into a bad state of repair, and was open to the sky before the recent restoration, when the present roof of timber, covered with lead--the only wooden roof in the church--was erected and the stonework repaired.

There seems no doubt that this chapel was originally a Norman apse with a vaulted chamber[15] above, like that in the sister transept, and that it was enlarged in the thirteenth century by Prior Henry Sipton. This is distinctly stated in Annals to have been done in the case of the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas in 1237. No trace remains of any of the work of Prior Sipton owing to the later works carried out in this chapel. The nave of a Lady Chapel was built on the north side of the north transept, and its chancel (the existing northern part of the choir vestry) was carried out to the east, this portion of the chapel being quite detached, as the windows (now blocked up) in the upper part of the south wall plainly show. Access for the laity was given by a door in the nave portion, while the monks had an entrance through the adjoining chapel, which may, after its rebuilding in 1237, have contained two altars, one to St. James and another to St. Nicholas. This theory of the two altars in this chapel would account for much of the confusion in the naming of the chapel by subsequent writers. The vaulting of this chapel is at first sight a difficult problem to solve, as the eastern side is divided into two equal parts, while the western side is divided into two unequal parts.

A pillar seems to have stood in the centre, if the lists of n.o.blemen buried (after the battle in 1471) in the two chapels are trustworthy.

When the fourteenth century Lady Chapel at the east end of the church was built, the _raison d'etre_ of the Early English Lady Chapel ceased, and the chapel entrances were enlarged to their present form.

Any distinctive features that they had in the way of wall decoration were lost either at the Dissolution, when part was pulled down, or during the subsequent use of the eastern chapels as a schoolroom.

Pa.s.sing through into the adjoining chapel on the north, which was probably the chancel of an =Early English Lady Chapel=, the visitor will note the great contrast between this and the adjacent chapel. It is very much richer in its ornament, and though it has been terribly mutilated, much work of surpa.s.sing interest is still left to us. The north wall contains the remains of a trefoil-headed arcade of great beauty, the spandrils of which show richly carved foliage, the effect of which was further heightened by the application of colour. Of the arcading eleven capitals remain, but only three pillars and bases, the rest having been cleared away.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (_H.J.L.J.M._) WALL ARCADE IN EARLY ENGLISH CHAPEL.]

In the wall of the present west end is a window decorated with a moulding consisting of two series of chevrons, completely undercut, pointing laterally in contrary directions.[16] Numerous interesting remains of Early English mason's work are in the chapel, and many have been built into the wall on the east side, the most important being remains of a fine altar-piece in Purbeck marble.

There is a window on the east side containing four lights, the subjects, beginning from the north side, being as follows:--(1) The mythical Saxon founders, Oddo and Doddo, A.D. 715. (2) The Norman founders, _i.e._, Fitz-Hamon and Sibylla. (3) Earl Robert, 1089-1123. (4) The Countess of Warwick, 1439. The figures are based on the MS. Chronicle of the Abbey, belonging to Sir Charles Isham of Lamport. This window, the tracery of which is new, is by Bourne of Birmingham, and forms a memorial to a former churchwarden, John Garrison, who died in 1876. The tracery contains the red and white roses of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, appropriately enough, seeing that under the floor, in front of the altar to St. James, are interred the remains of Lord Edmund, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Thomas Courtenay, the Earl of Devon, Sir Richard Courtenay, Lord John Somerset, and Sir Humphrey Hadley, who were beheaded after the battle of Tewkesbury. Sir Thomas Tresham, who also was beheaded at the same time, was buried before a pillar between the altars of St. James and St. Nicholas.

The whole of this part of the chapel was once the choir or chancel of the detached Early English Lady Chapel which was erected early in the thirteenth century. The Annals of Tewkesbury record that in 1239 the _Church_ of Tewkesbury with a greater altar was dedicated in honour of the glorious Virgin Mary. The word Church might mean this Early English Lady Chapel, which with its nave and chancel would be a model church, although somewhat small in size; but the words _majore altari_ are generally taken to mean the large slab of Purbeck marble now in its place in the choir as an altar slab.

Lady Chapels were not invariably at the east end of the main building.

At Bristol there was and is still an elder Lady Chapel which at one time was detached from the main building.

The floor in these chapels is that which was formerly in the choir up to the time of the restoration of the church.

=St. Margaret's Chapel.=--This is one of the series of the fourteenth century chapels which surrounds the ambulatory of the choir.

An old altar-cloth which was given by Anne, Countess of Coventry, in 1731 to the church was removed to this chapel after the restoration of the building.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo. A.H. Hughes._ THE AMBULATORY, LOOKING TOWARDS ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL.]

A very fine screen of stonework separates this chapel from the ambulatory, the tomb of Sir Guy de Brien (late Decorated--erected in 1390) forming part of the screen.[17] Sir Guy was the third husband of the Lady Elizabeth Despenser who is buried in the tomb on the other side of the ambulatory. In the panelling are the arms of Sir Guy, who was also Lord Welwyn, and those of his wife, who was by birth a Montacute. This knight served Edward III. as standard-bearer at Crecy in 1346, and was a great benefactor to the Abbey. He is credited with the vaulting of the tower, as his arms occur in the bosses there.

The vaulting, which springs from engaged shafts, is excellent work, like that in the other chapels, and the bosses are worth notice. In the central boss in the ceiling the Coronation of the Virgin is represented, and surrounding it are heads of lions and of men.

An aumbry, lavabo, and piscina are all worthy of study.