TEWKESBURY, a borough and market-town and parish, having separate
jurisdiction, locally in the lower division of the hundred of
Tewkesbury, county of GLOUCESTER, 10 miles (N. N. E.) from Gloucester,
and 103 (W. N. W.) from London, containing, according to the last census,
4962 inhabitants, which number has since considerably
increased. This place, which is of great antiquity,
is supposed to have derived its name from Theot,
a Saxon recluse, who, during the latter period of the
Octarchy, founded a hermitage here, where he lived in
solitude and devotion, and from whom it was called
Theotisberg, from which its present appellation is deduced.
In 715, a monastery was founded here by the
two brothers Odo and Dodo, Dukes of Mercia, and
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which, after having
experienced great injury during the Danish wars,
became a cell to the abbey of Cranborne in Dorsetshire.
After the Conquest, Robert Fitz-Haimon, who
attended William in his expedition to Britain, enlarged
the buildings of this monastery, and so amply augmented
its possessions, that the monies of Cranborne
removed, in 1101, to Tewkesbury, which they made
the principal seat of their establishment: it subsequently
was raised into an abbey of Benedictine monks,
and continued to flourish till the. dissolution, at which
time its revenue was estimated at £1598. 1. 3. The
last decisive battle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians
took place within half a mile of this town, in
1471; on this memorable occasion, many of the principal
nobility were slain on both sides, and not less than three
thousand of the Lancastrian troops. Queen Margaret,
who headed her own forces, was intrenched on the
summit of an eminence, called the Home Ground, at the
distance of a mile from the town, on the east side of the
road to Gloucester; and the troops of Edward IV., who
advanced against his opponents by way of Tredington,
occupied the sloping ground to the south, called the Red
Piece: the victory was decisive in favour of the Yorkists,
the defeat of the Lancastrians having been ascribed
to the treacherous inactivity of Lord Wenlock, one of
their generals, whom the chief commander, the Duke of
Somerset, struck dead on the field with his battle axe.
After their defeat, the Duke of Somerset, with about twenty
other distinguished persons, took shelter in the church,
from which they were dragged with violence, and immediately
beheaded. At the commencement of the
great civil war in the reign of Charles I., Tewkesbury
was occupied by the parliamentarians, who were
afterwards driven out, and the town was taken by the
royalists, by whom it was again lost and retaken, till,
in 1644, it was surprised and captured by Col. Massie,
governor of Gloucester, for the parliamentarians, in
whose possession it remained till the conclusion of the war.
The town is pleasantly situated in the northern part
of the luxuriant vale of Gloucester, and on the eastern
bank of the river Avon, near its confluence with the
Severn: it is nearly surrounded by the small rivers
Carron, over which is a new stone bridge, and Swilgate,
which is crossed by two, both these streams falling into
the Avon. It is handsome and well built, consisting of
three principal streets, well paved, and is amply supplied
with water: the houses are in general of brick,
but occasionally interspersed with specimens of the
ancient timber and brick buildings. Considerable improvements
have taken place, under the provisions of
an act obtained in 1786, among which may be noticed
the ranges of building, erected in 1810, to the east of
the High-street, on a tract of land called Oldbury, and
the recent formation of a new street. An elegant castiron
bridge has been lately constructed over the river
Severn, near the hamlet of Mythe, within half a mile
of the town, at an expense of £&6,000, subscribed on
shares of £ 100 each, opening a direct communication
between London and Hereford; it consists of one noble
arch, one hundred and seventy-two feet in span, with a
light iron balustrade, and was opened to the public in
1826. Near the division of the Worcester andPershore
roads is an ancient bridge of several arches over the
Avon, from which a level causeway has been raised, extending
to the iron bridge. A subscription library, with
a news-room, was established in 1828, and is well supported;
it contains at present more than one thousand
volumes. A small theatre has been recently fitted up,
which is occasionally opened by the Cheltenham company.
The races, established in 1825, take place annually
on the Ham, a large meadow near the town; and
assemblies are held at the town hall.
About the beginning of the fifteenth century this
place seems to have carried on a considerable trade upon
the Severn; and a petition was forwarded to the House
of Peers, in the 8th of Henry VI., stating that the inhabitants
had been accustomed "to ship all manlier of merchandise
down the Severn to Bristol," and complaining
of the disorderly conduct of the people of the forest of
Dean, who are reported "to have come with great riot and
strength, in manner of war, as enemies of a strange
country, to stop and plunder their ships as they parsed
by the coasts near the forest; and that the marauders
sometimes not only despoiled them of their merchandise,
but destroyed their vessels, and even cast overboard
their crews, and drowned them." For the redress
of these grievances an act was passed in the same
year, and, in 1580, Queen Elizabeth made Tewkesbury
an independent port, for the loading and discharging of
ships with merchandise to and from the parts beyond
the seas, which grant was afterwards revoked, on a
petition from the inhabitants of Bristol. Tewkesbury
formerly enjoyed a considerable trade in woollen cloth,
and was celebrated for the manufacture of mustard
of superior quality: the principal branch of trade
at present is the stocking frame-work knitting, which
was introduced about the commencement of the eighteenth
century, and in which from seven to eight hundred
frames are at work, employing about one thousand
five hundred persons. The manufacture of cottonthread
lace, was established at Oldbury in 1825,
and is in a flourishing state; a considerable trade is
carried on in malt, and some in leather, and there is
a large manufactory for nails; an extensive distillery
and a rectifying establishment were opened in 1770; the
former has been abandoned, but the latter is still conducted
on an advantageous scale. A very considerable
carrying trade centres here, in connexion with the Avon
and the Severn, goods being conveyed by land and
water to all parts of the kingdom; on the bank of the
Avon are extensive corn-mills, formerly belonging to the
abbey. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday;
the former for corn, sheep, and pigs j the latter for
poultry and provisions. The fairs are on the second Monday
in March, the second Wednesday in April, May 14th,
the first Wednesday after September 4th, and October
10th, for cattle, leather, and pedlary; fairs were also
held in June and December, but they have been recently
discontinued: statute fairs are held on the
Wednesday before, and the Wednesday after, Old
Michaelmas-day, and there are great cattle markets on
the second Wednesday in June, August, and December.
The market-house, erected by a company, to whom the
corporation have mortgaged the tolls for ninety-nine
years, is a handsome building, with Doric columns and
pilasters, supporting a pediment in front.
Tewkesbury, though a borough by prescription, was
first incorporated by Elizabeth, in 1574; whose charter
was confirmed by James I., in the 3rd year of his
reign, and when that monarch sold the manor to the
corporation, in 1609, he granted a new charter, with
extended privileges 5 which being lost, or destroyed,
during the parliamentary war, an exemplification of it
was obtained under the great seal in the reign of
Charles II.: this was surrendered, in 1685, to James II.,
who, in the following year, incorporated the inhabitants,
under the title of " Mayor, Aldermen, and Common
Council-men}" but the functions of the municipal
body having ceased in 1692, the town remained without
a corporation till 1698, when William III. granted
the present charter. The government, under this last
charter, is vested in two bailiffs, a high steward, recorder,
twenty-four principal burgesses, or common
council-men, and twenty-four assistants, with a town
clerk, who is also clerk of the peace, a coroner, chamberlain,
Serjeants at mace, and subordinate officers.
The bailiffs, who are elected annually, and the high
steward and recorder, who hold their offices for life,
are appointed from among the principal burgesses, the
latter, as vacancies occur, being chosen from the assistants.
The bailiffs, with four principal burgesses, appointed
annually on the second Thursday in October, are
justices of the peace within the borough. There were
formerly several trading companies incorporated under
the charter, but the only one now in existence is that of
Cordwainers. The freedom of the borough is acquired
by birth, servitude to a resident freeman, and by gift of
the corporation. The eldest son of a freeman, born
after his father's admission, is entitled to the freedom
on his father's decease, but if the son die first, the
right does not devolve upon any other. The bailiffs
and justices hold quarterly courts of session, for all
offences within the borough not capital; the bailiffs
and recorder hold a court of record, every Friday, for
the recovery of debts not exceeding £ 50; and the corporation,
as lords of the manor, hold a court leet, the
jurisdiction of which extends over all the parishes in
the hundred of Tewkesbury. The town hall, in which
the courts are held, and the public business of the corporation
is transacted, is a handsome building, erected
in 1788, by Sir William Codrington, Bart, at an expense
of £ 1200;' the lower part is appropriated to
the use of the courts, and the upper part contains
a hall for the meetings of the corporation, and an
assembly-room. The common gaol, house of correction,
and penitentiary for the borough, was built ja
1816, at the northern extremity of the High-street, at
an expense of £3419. 11. 7., raised by a rate on
the inhabitants, and was subsequently considerably enlarged
and improved: it contains four wards for the
classification of prisoners, and is under the superintendence
of the bailiffs and justices of the peace for
the borough, and of two visiting magistrates. The
county magistrates hold here a petty session. for the
division every alternate Wednesday. The borough first
received the elective franchise in the 7th of James I,
since which time it has continued to return two members
to parliament: the right of election is vested in the
freemen generally, and in all proprietors of freehold
houses within the ancient limits of the borough, of
whom the number is about six hundred; the bailiffs
are the returning officers.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Gloucester, endowed with £400 private
benefaction, and £600 royal bounty, and in the patronage
of the Crown. The church, dedicated to
St. Mary, situated at the south-western part of the
town, and formerly the collegiate church of the ancient
monastery, is a spacious and venerable cruciform
structure, principally in the Norman style of architecture,
with a noble and richly-ornamented tower
rising from the centre, and supported on four massive
lofty piers with circular arches. The nave and
choir, which latter was repaired in 1796, at an ex
pense of £2000, are separated from the aisles by a noble
range of cylindrical columns and circular arches,
highly enriched with mouldings and other ornaments
peculiar to the Norman style; the former is lighted
by a range of clerestory windows in the later style, inserted
in the Norman arches of the triforium, and
the latter by an elegant range of windows in the decorated
style, with rich tracery, and embellished with
considerable portions of ancient stained glass; the windows
of the aisles and transepts are of the decorated
and the later styles, and the large west window of the
later style is inserted in a very lofty Norman arch
of great depth, with shafts and mouldings richly ornamented;
the roof is finely groined, and embellished,
at the intersections of the ribs, with figures of angels
playing on musical instruments; the east end of the
choir is hexagonal, and contains several beautiful chantry
chapels, in the decorated style of English architecture:
the Lady chapel and the cloisters have been destroyed,
but the arches which led to them may be traced on the
outside of the building, and on the north side are the
remains of the chapter-house, now used for a school.
The church contains a fine series of monuments, from
the earliest period of the decorated, to the latest period
of the later, style of English architecture, among
which are several to the early patrons of the abbey,
and to those who fell in the battle of Tewkesbury;
In a light and elegant chapel on the north side of Jfce.
choir, erected by Abbot Parker, in 1397, is the tomb or
Robert Fitz-Haimon, the founder, who was killed at
Falaise in Normandy, in 1107, and whose remains, alter
having been interred hi the chapter-house, were removed
into the church, in 1241; an altar-tomb, enclosed
with arches surmounted by an embattled cornice, on
which are the figures of a knight and his lady, is supposed
to have been erected for Hugh le Despenser and his wife
Elizabeth, daughter of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury.
Near this is a beautiful sepulchral chapel, built
by Isabel, Countess of Warwick, for her first husband,
Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, who was killed
at the siege of Meaux, in 1421: it is profusely ornamented,
and the roof, which is richly embellished with
tracery, was supported on six pillars of blue marble,
of which only two are remaining. Among the modern
monuments is one, by Flaxman, to Anne, wife of
Sir S. Clarke, Bart., of finely executed sculpture. Five
hundred additional sittings, of which three hundred
are free, have lately been made to the church, at an
expense of £200, by grant of the Incorporated Society
for the enlargement of churches and chapels. There are
places of worship for Baptists,. the Society of Friends,
Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists, all which have
Sunday schools annexed.
The free grammar school was founded in 1576, and
endowed with £20 per annum, by Mr. Ferrers, payable
out of the manor of Skillingthorpe, in the county of
Lincoln, also with lands purchased with money left by
Sir Dudley Digges, and with some chief rents; it is
under the superintendence of the bailiffs, justices, chamberlain,
and town, clerk of the corporation, by whom the
master is appointed; the room appropriated to it is
supposed to have been the chapter-house of the abbey.
The Blue-coat school is endowed with one-twelfth part
of the rents of a farm in Kent, devised for charitable
uses by Lady Capel, in 1721, and with £2.10. per annum
given by Mr. Thomas Merret, in 1724, being further supported
by subscription; forty boys are clothed and instructed
in it. The National school, under the superintendence
of the same master, was established in 1813,
and a building for its use, and also for that of the
Blue-coat school, was erected adjoining the churchyard,
in 1817, the two establishments having been incorporated,
at an expense of £ 1345. 8. 3. A Lancasterian
school was established in 1813, for which a building
had been previously erected, at the cost of more
than £600, raised by contribution; the ground was
given by N. Hartland, a member of the Society of
Friends; these schools are supported by subscription.
In the churchyard are some unendowed almshouses for
ten poor widows. A dispensary, established in 1815; a
lying-in charity, in 1805; and a society for the distribution
of blankets among the poor, in 1817, are supported
by subscription; and there are various charitable bequests
for distribution among the poor. Near the entrance into
the town from Gloucester is the house of industry, a large
brick building well adapted for the purpose. Of the
monastic buildings, with the exception of the church,
there are few remains; the principal is the gateway of the
ancient monastery, which appears to have been erected
in the fifteenth century; it is surmounted with an embattled
parapet rising above the cornice, from which
are projecting figures, and below it is a canopied niche
between two square-headed windows. Roman coins
have been frequently dug up in the vicinity, and, in
1828, several were found near the abbey church. At
Walton, near the town, is a mineral spring, the water
of which resembles that at Cheltenham. The hamlet
of Mythe, remarkable for the beauty-of its situation,
is on the north-west side of the town, near the
confluence of the Severn and the Avon. On the southwest
side is a tumulus, from which the descent to the
Severn is precipitous and abrupt. George III. visited
this spot in 1788, since which time it has obtained the
name of Royal Hill: in the immediate vicinity are some
handsome seats. Southwick, another hamlet, situated,
as its name implies, to the south of the town, is mentioned
in the Norman survey, under the name Sudwick,
as containing three hides of land. Alan of
Tewkesbury, a monk of the abbey, the friend and biographer
of Thomas a Becket; and Estcourt, the celebrated
dramatist, who was contemporary with Steele and
Addison, were natives of this town. Tewkesbury gave
the title of baron to George I., previously to his accession
to the throne, which at present is extinct.