Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury Part 12

[20] The choir at Gloucester is 140 feet long and 33 feet wide.

[21] The sun was a favourite badge of Edward IV., and is said to have been adopted in consequence of the appearance of three suns before the battle of Mortimer's Cross. It appears upon some of his coins.

[22] The altar-stone at Gloucester was at one time used to pave the south porch, and is now in the crypt.

[23] The safety of the old gla.s.s has been ensured by a protective external window of rolled gla.s.s let in the mullions from the outside.

This was done in 1889.

[24] This Gilbert de Clare is said to have had a copy of Magna Charta and the Charta de Foresta made and deposited in the Abbey.

[25] The floor of the upper part was never flat, and was in all probability never intended for use.

[26] Heraldically speaking.

[27] Henry VII. left instructions in his will that a kneeling effigy of himself should be placed on the top of the Confessor's shrine at Westminster.

[28] The western pinnacle was carved locally in 1825-8, and is a very careful piece of work.

DEERHURST.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._ DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH, FROM THE SOUTH.]

DEERHURST.

Deerhurst, or Deorhurst--the wood or grove of wild beasts, as its etymology implies--lies close to Tewkesbury, and the visitor to the latter must on no account omit to pay a visit to the older building.

It may be reached by a pleasant walk through meadows on the left bank of the Severn, by the road or by a path across the fields.

The Priory church of Deerhurst is one of the oldest buildings of any importance that yet remain in use in England. Its exact date is more or less a matter of conjecture, but it seems certain from doc.u.mentary evidence, which is still accessible, that in the ninth century the Abbey or Priory was in a prosperous condition--the doc.u.ment referred to above being a grant of lands in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire to the Abbey in 804. No earlier authentic evidence than this exists, though a _lapsus calami_ of Leland (who credits the Venerable Bede with an acquaintance with Deerhurst about the year 700) would seem to give it an earlier date. From the earliest time Deerhurst--situated where it is, so near that great highway the Severn, and occupying a position on the direct line of traffic by road between Worcester and Gloucester, must have had an important part to play. Legend has it that Edmund Ironside and Canute, intent on fighting a duel after Essendune, met at Olney in 1016, but settled matters without coming to blows, and later tradition affirms that this meeting took place in the meadow--once an island or eyot, hence its present name--called the Naight.

Tradition, again, has it that the Abbey suffered from the Danes, and this seems likely enough, seeing that they were encamped at Cirencester for fully a year. Werstan, one of the monks who escaped from the Danes, is said by Leland to have founded a cell at Malvern, and was later murdered by the Danes in his own chapel there. In the windows of Malvern Priory he is described as "Sanctus Wersta.n.u.s Martir," but little else is known about him.

The Abbey, though small, was richly endowed with land, and is said to have been possessed of nearly forty thousand acres. Its wealth in landed property was the cause of its being transferred by Edward the Confessor in 1054-56 to the great French Abbey of St. Denis; and what was not so transferred was mostly given by the King, together with the Manor of Persh.o.r.e and other possessions, to his Abbey of St. Peter at Westminster, which was then building.

The Abbey lost its importance when it became an alien priory, and its landed possessions, which had once surpa.s.sed those of the abbeys at Gloucester and at Winchcombe, were dwarfed to very scanty dimensions.

It suffered, too, in prestige, having become a priory, and was constantly being harried by successive monarchs.

We find that the Conqueror confirmed the grant of the Abbey of Deerhurst to St. Denis, but that King John confiscated its revenues.

In 1225 Pope Honorius III. by a Bull approved that the Priory should be perpetual and conventual. In virtue of this the Prior could claim not to come into the King's hands, but it was many years before this claim was barely recognised. In this same year the Prior was again in possession of the Priory and its lands; but in 1250 (_temp._ Henry II.), the Priory was sold to Richard, Duke of Cornwall, who seems to have driven out the monks and destroyed the greater part of their buildings. Later in the same reign, 1260, the Abbot of St. Denis again got possession of the Priory.

In 1295 Edward I. took possession of all the existing alien priories for the sake of the revenue they would bring into his exchequer.

Edward III.[29] again despoiled the monks of what was theirs, and his grandson, Richard II., followed in his steps.

The Priory had a respite from such continued harryings with the accession of Henry IV. (1399). This king took possession of it as an alien Priory, but immediately handed it over to William Forester, the then Prior, with the stipulation that in the event of a war with France the King should receive a sum of money equal to that which in time of peace would be paid to the Abbey of St. Denis. With halcyon days like these the Priory set about rebuilding what had been destroyed, and works were undertaken--much of which is standing at the present time.

Henry V. by charter in 1419 confirmed the policy of Henry IV. in giving the Prior all the rights and privileges enjoyed by William Forester, and Henry V. acknowledged the claim of the Priory to be conventual and perpetual, and as such, not to come into the King's hands. However, one king proposes, another disposes. Henry VI. in 1463, while confirming all existing rights, made the Priory a denizen priory with the same status as all other similar English foundations.

But this change was followed by yet another in four years' time. Henry VI. being the founder of Eton College, and King's College, Cambridge, was in want of funds, and he relieved the pressure on his exchequer by appropriating the possessions of the Priory, and handing part of them to his royal College at Eton, and part (in 1422) to the already rich Abbey at Tewkesbury. Much litigation followed with Eton, and in 1469 the Priory was united and annexed by Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester, to the monastery at Tewkesbury, with the stipulation that the "Abbot of Tewkesbury was to find and maintain there one monk in priest's orders, to be called Prior or Warden, four other monks, and one secular priest daily to perform divine service in that priory."

The independence of Deerhurst was now at an end, and little is heard of it again. At the Dissolution, like many of the Tewkesbury possessions, it became private property, the site, the buildings and the t.i.thes being conveyed to George Throgmorton, a local personage, who became the lay impropriator. The t.i.thes pa.s.sed later into the hands of the family of Ca.s.sey, of Wightfield Court; but the lands became the property of the Coventry family, and at the end of the seventeenth century gave the t.i.tle to Viscount Deerhurst, the fifth Baron. At the Dissolution Deerhurst became a curacy, and remained so till 1682, the advowson then being transferred from lay hands to those of the Bishop of Worcester.

EXTERIOR.

Of the exterior of the church there is not much to be said. The chief feature is the =Tower=. It has been reduced in height, probably at the time that the steeple was blown down in 1666, but no churchwardens'

accounts of that date remain. It is 70 feet high, 21 feet 8 inches from east to west, and 14 feet 4 inches from north to south, with a slight batter to the walls, which at the base are 32 inches in thickness. For about 35 feet or so the masonry is Saxon work, but has been subsequently severely handled, especially on the west side. The east side contains a wall-plate of early date, and more of the interesting early work. The upper part is later work, having ashlar quoins at the four angles.

The entrance door is a Pointed arch of the fourteenth century date inserted within the earlier round-headed arch, of which the outer edges have considerably crumbled away. Above the arch is a piece of stonework, similar to one above the long, narrow window, considered by some to be a mutilated carved head, but with more real likeness to a broken mechanical contrivance for hoisting up weighty goods into the upper part of the tower. On the right of the entrance door is the door which now gives entrance to the belfry. In many parts of the exterior there are traces of the coa.r.s.e herring-bone work so prevalent in Saxon masonry. At the north-west and south-west angles of the aisles are gargoyles, that at the north-west corner being the better preserved.

The church was rough-cast all over in the early part of this century, but was restored in 1861-62 to practically its present appearance.

Part of the tower, that to the west, has a battlement, while the rest has a low gabled roof. The windows in the belfry are decorated in character, but much of the masonry near them seems to be re-used stone from other parts.

By obtaining entrance to the farmyard upon which the east end abuts, traces of the original apsidal termination may be seen. It is much to be regretted that the church precincts are so built upon that examination is difficult.

INTERIOR.

The western entrance is situate in the tower front, and by three doorways gives access to the nave.

=The Nave.=--The nave of the present church measures 60 feet by 21 feet, including what was the original choir, which was under the central tower, and which, from the plan, must have been 20 feet in length. The nave proper would be 38 feet by 21 feet, making allowance for the thickness of the choir arch wall. It is more than probable that the wall which separated the choir from the nave was in character like the present eastern wall, with a s.p.a.cious and lofty arch spanning the opening, which gave access to the apsidal eastern end. Traces of such an arch were found at the restoration of the church in 1861-62.

As was the case at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and elsewhere, the nave was the parish church, and the choir and the rest of the building eastwards the private chapel of the Priory. Small though the original nave was--for the present aisles are later additions--it was, if the walls are of the original height, unusually lofty for a church of its date. The original nave had transepts, as shown in plan on page 118, with a room, probably a sacristy, to the east of the north transept and a similar room or a chapel at the east of the south transept.

On either side of the nave the original walls have been pierced, and an arcade of three good Early English arches was inserted in the thirteenth century. It will be noted that the easternmost of the three arches on each side is slightly wider in span than the other two. All the capitals differ in their details. Over these arches on either side is a triangular opening about 18 feet from the floor level, similar to the opening in the west end of the nave. The edges of these openings are left quite square, _i.e._, there is no splaying.

The clerestory windows are, for the most part, early fifteenth century, and replaced the early windows, which may have been of circular form.

At the west end of the nave there are several very curious features.

The arch of the doorway is a plain, round-headed arch with its edges left quite square, and the impost is plain with the exception of a hollow immediately below the abacus. In height the doorway is 10 feet, and in width 5- feet, and it leans slightly to the north. Above this doorway, in the corners of the west wall, are two impost members or brackets, similar to those in the chancel, which may have been intended to support the floor joists of a chamber or gallery at this end of the nave. Not far above these brackets is a triangular opening similar to those in the north and south walls of the nave, and through which, from the room in the tower, a view is obtained of the nave generally. It is on the same level as those in the nave. To the right of this is a blocked-up round-headed doorway, which once gave access from the room in the tower on this level to a gallery at the east end of the nave. The jambs are each of two similar blocks of stone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo. R.W. Dugdale._ INTERIOR, LOOKING WEST.]

Above this, in the centre of the upper part of the west wall of the nave, is perhaps the most curious architectural feature of the church.

It is a two-light window, each light having a head formed of an isosceles triangle. The outer jambs, as also the broad central ma.s.sive pier, are slightly fluted, and in some of these flutings is a bar in relief. On the church side the bars are inserted in the upper part of the hollow; on the tower side they are in some cases at the top, in others in the lower half.

The following dimensions show how ma.s.sive is this piece of primitive work. The sill on which the window is built is of stone concealed by plaster. Each light in its widest part is 18 inches, 13 inches between the plinths on the sill. The plinths are 14 inches in thickness, and that of the central pier is 21 inches. The central pier itself is a trifle shorter than the jambs, 1 foot 8 inches, but this difference is made up by a much more ma.s.sive impost, the central impost being 9 inches thick as compared with 8 inches in the case of the others. Each impost is, as it were, in square-edged layers, each layer overhanging the one below it. The head of each opening is formed of two single stones so cut that they meet at an angle of about 30 degrees. These stones are 11- inches in thickness, and 3 feet 6 inches long on the outside edges. In the angle between the two portions of the window they measure 3 feet 1- inches. They are carried right through the wall, with a plain label almost square in section.

Above the window, resting on the label points is an oblong block of stone which is thought at one time to have been painted, as no inscription can be traced.

Near the tower end is a portion of the Perpendicular timbered roof, and the rest of the roofing of the nave and chancel is modern work designed upon the basis of the older example.

The =South Aisle= was added in the twelfth century. The south wall of the south transept was continued to the west, the greater part of the west wall of this transept being removed, a segmental arch being inserted exactly where the oak-screen is now. The wall from the original south-east corner of the tower was carried southwards to meet the new wall mentioned above. Next, the solid walls of the nave were pierced with three unequal openings, and, from the piers thus left, arches were carried across the new south aisle to the new south wall of the church, and the walls of the inner porch seem to have been pierced with arches about the same time, one being also made to span the s.p.a.ce from the extreme end of the original wall of the nave to the new south-east corner of the tower. A turret and staircase seem next to have been made outside the church in the angle thus made by the new works, but the plan seems to have been soon altered by the carrying out of the west wall of the aisle till it was flush with the west front. The then external doorway into the turret became an internal one, but has been blocked up, access to the tower staircase being obtained by the narrow door in the west front. The remains of Transitional Norman work in the south aisle are scanty, but of extreme interest.

In the thirteenth century the =North Aisle= was constructed, and made to correspond with the south aisle, though it is slightly narrower.