Tewkesbury Trip
We aren't going anywhere this Christmas. So today we are meeting my mum halfway at Tewkesbury. It's about 2 hrs for her from Devon, and 2 hrs for us from Nottinghamshire. It makes sense and there is a Brewers Fayre where we know we can eat reasonably well.
When I was younger I experienced this quite a lot. It used to be Strensham or Gordano Services. we'd be brought up in the car in Summer or Winter and then we'd be handed over to Nannar and Granddad for a week or two and then we'd do the same for the return. A clear memory from my youth. It seemed an adventure when I was very young. Once, when we had an estate car I distinctly remember lying in the boot of the car in a blanket or a sleeping bag watching the night sky and the yellow lights flashing past as we headed north.
We arrived first, but not by much. The motorway was virtually empty on our way down, even going past Birmingham, which usually slows us down. Not today, we flew down and had just started breakfast when Mum and Bruce turned up.
We'd then arranged to head into Tewkesbury. A town we have never visited, apart from the Brewers Fayre of course.
It is a rather lovely little market town. I'd call it a provincial town. The population is about the quarter of where I live at about 10,000 souls. Both Cheltenham and Gloucester are the bigger brothers to Tewkesbury, but it is small and rather lovely.
However, the elephant in the room is the ENORMOUS parish church next to the River Avon. Tewkesbury Abbey
Oddly, it should not even be here. It should be a selection of curtain wall and outlined walls, like most dissolved monasteries now are. Tewkesbury Abbey was Benedictine and survived intact.
At the dissolution the towns folk of Tewkesbury decided to purchase the Abbey, and then set it up as their new Parish Church. It still remains the second largest Parish Church in the United Kingdom. It is vast. It is a church that belongs in a vastly bigger town. It is the Ely Cathedral of the West.
It is utterly stupendous when you consider you could possibly put the entire population of the town into the Abbey and still have breathing space.
Another bonus to surviving the dissolution is the saving of vast swathes of Norman architecture. It is so impressive from the outside, incredibly so.
The Inside is no less impressive, especially the High Altar and the quire. Visual feasts for the eyes.
The colours in the ceiling of the High Altar are a visual treat, with the stunning right and blue; sumptuous. The quire also has an interesting aspect: A Yorkshire sun
The Yorkshire Sun placed here by the Victorious army of Edward IV after his victory at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. It also holds a macabre story. That is what lies beneath the sun on the floor.
That is the last Prince of Wales killed in battle.
Beneath this brass plaque, directly under the Yorkshire sun lies the remains of the last direct descendent of the Lancastrian Royal royal family, the son of King Henry VI. The failed king. Here is his 17 year old son Edward, killed in or soon after the battle of Tewkesbury.
The battle of Tewkesbury marked a crucial point in the war of the Roses as it marked Edward IV final victory over the Lancastrians. he reigned unmolested until 1483 when in scandalous circumstances his infamous brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester became Richard III. After the battle however, the Lancastrian forces sought sanctuary in the Abbey, The Yorkists stormed the Abbey a blood bath ensued. It was so horrific that the abbey was closed for a month until it had been cleaned and re-purified. Edward, Prince of Wales, therefore, is not the only great Lancastrian follower buried. Here lies another one,
Yes, underneath the shop til lies the Duke of Somerset, another victim of being on the losing side and beheaded. Now his remains are under a contactless card machine. Poor guy. The rest of the abbey home to two other noble families.
The earliest were the Earls of Gloucester. The last male Earl was the highest ranking nobleman killed at Bannockburn. His line died out with him. The other family associated with the Abbey were those that came from the female side of the Earl of Gloucester de clare family, the Despenser family.
The most famous of which is buried here;
Hugh Despenser the younger. Edward II, an appallingly weak king who happily played favourites which went from Pierre Gavaston and then after his death, he became friends with Hug Despenser. The family became richer, greedier and over-mighty. The Barons rebelled and deposed Edward in favour of his son Edward III. Despenser was brought to trial and then; Hung, drawn and quartered. The bits are in this tomb.
A macabre death, brutal and cruel. His suffering must have been immense and excruciating.
Unimaginable.
Yet, perhaps the oddest and most ironic burial is related the Prince of Wales. The man who become King Edward IV had three brothers; one died in the war of the roses (Edmund), that left Richard and George. One became Duke of Gloucester, and later Richard III. The Other, was George Duke of Clarence (A man who had at one point betrayed his brother and sided with the Lancastrians, but finally reconciled by Tewkesbury. He, ultimately was executed in 1478 by Edward IV). He is now buried, with his wife, in the same Abbey as the Prince of Wales.
Here he lays behind that gated entrance, behind the high altar. Major scions of the rival houses of York and Lancaster resting in the same Abbey. Ironic, I thought.
Here are some further photos taken of the interior to give you an impression of the size and the majesty of the space.
All in all, Tewkesbury Abbey is a remarkable building. Too large for the town it sits in, and dripping with history, though not all of the history, pleasant.
When I was younger I experienced this quite a lot. It used to be Strensham or Gordano Services. we'd be brought up in the car in Summer or Winter and then we'd be handed over to Nannar and Granddad for a week or two and then we'd do the same for the return. A clear memory from my youth. It seemed an adventure when I was very young. Once, when we had an estate car I distinctly remember lying in the boot of the car in a blanket or a sleeping bag watching the night sky and the yellow lights flashing past as we headed north.
We arrived first, but not by much. The motorway was virtually empty on our way down, even going past Birmingham, which usually slows us down. Not today, we flew down and had just started breakfast when Mum and Bruce turned up.
We'd then arranged to head into Tewkesbury. A town we have never visited, apart from the Brewers Fayre of course.
It is a rather lovely little market town. I'd call it a provincial town. The population is about the quarter of where I live at about 10,000 souls. Both Cheltenham and Gloucester are the bigger brothers to Tewkesbury, but it is small and rather lovely.
However, the elephant in the room is the ENORMOUS parish church next to the River Avon. Tewkesbury Abbey
Oddly, it should not even be here. It should be a selection of curtain wall and outlined walls, like most dissolved monasteries now are. Tewkesbury Abbey was Benedictine and survived intact.
At the dissolution the towns folk of Tewkesbury decided to purchase the Abbey, and then set it up as their new Parish Church. It still remains the second largest Parish Church in the United Kingdom. It is vast. It is a church that belongs in a vastly bigger town. It is the Ely Cathedral of the West.
It is utterly stupendous when you consider you could possibly put the entire population of the town into the Abbey and still have breathing space.Another bonus to surviving the dissolution is the saving of vast swathes of Norman architecture. It is so impressive from the outside, incredibly so.
The Inside is no less impressive, especially the High Altar and the quire. Visual feasts for the eyes.
The colours in the ceiling of the High Altar are a visual treat, with the stunning right and blue; sumptuous. The quire also has an interesting aspect: A Yorkshire sun
The Yorkshire Sun placed here by the Victorious army of Edward IV after his victory at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. It also holds a macabre story. That is what lies beneath the sun on the floor.
That is the last Prince of Wales killed in battle.
Beneath this brass plaque, directly under the Yorkshire sun lies the remains of the last direct descendent of the Lancastrian Royal royal family, the son of King Henry VI. The failed king. Here is his 17 year old son Edward, killed in or soon after the battle of Tewkesbury.
The battle of Tewkesbury marked a crucial point in the war of the Roses as it marked Edward IV final victory over the Lancastrians. he reigned unmolested until 1483 when in scandalous circumstances his infamous brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester became Richard III. After the battle however, the Lancastrian forces sought sanctuary in the Abbey, The Yorkists stormed the Abbey a blood bath ensued. It was so horrific that the abbey was closed for a month until it had been cleaned and re-purified. Edward, Prince of Wales, therefore, is not the only great Lancastrian follower buried. Here lies another one,
Yes, underneath the shop til lies the Duke of Somerset, another victim of being on the losing side and beheaded. Now his remains are under a contactless card machine. Poor guy. The rest of the abbey home to two other noble families.
The earliest were the Earls of Gloucester. The last male Earl was the highest ranking nobleman killed at Bannockburn. His line died out with him. The other family associated with the Abbey were those that came from the female side of the Earl of Gloucester de clare family, the Despenser family.
The most famous of which is buried here;
Hugh Despenser the younger. Edward II, an appallingly weak king who happily played favourites which went from Pierre Gavaston and then after his death, he became friends with Hug Despenser. The family became richer, greedier and over-mighty. The Barons rebelled and deposed Edward in favour of his son Edward III. Despenser was brought to trial and then; Hung, drawn and quartered. The bits are in this tomb.
A macabre death, brutal and cruel. His suffering must have been immense and excruciating.
Unimaginable.
Yet, perhaps the oddest and most ironic burial is related the Prince of Wales. The man who become King Edward IV had three brothers; one died in the war of the roses (Edmund), that left Richard and George. One became Duke of Gloucester, and later Richard III. The Other, was George Duke of Clarence (A man who had at one point betrayed his brother and sided with the Lancastrians, but finally reconciled by Tewkesbury. He, ultimately was executed in 1478 by Edward IV). He is now buried, with his wife, in the same Abbey as the Prince of Wales.
Here he lays behind that gated entrance, behind the high altar. Major scions of the rival houses of York and Lancaster resting in the same Abbey. Ironic, I thought.
Here are some further photos taken of the interior to give you an impression of the size and the majesty of the space.
All in all, Tewkesbury Abbey is a remarkable building. Too large for the town it sits in, and dripping with history, though not all of the history, pleasant.
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