Abbey Church Of St Mary

Abbey Church of St Mary

This Anglican parish church, formerly the church of a Benedictine Abbey, stands as one of the finest surviving monastic churches in England. Founded in 1087 by Robert Fitzhamon and consecrated in 1121, the church suffered serious fire damage in 1178. The central tower was built in the second quarter of the 12th century. Additions and alterations to the north transept occurred in the early 13th century and were modified in the late 13th century. Extensive rebuilding of the eastern arm took place in the early 14th century, and complete stone vaulting was added in the mid-14th century.

The west window was rebuilt in 1686 (a date appears on a shield at the top of the main left mullion), and various parapets and other details were added at this time. Major restoration was undertaken by Sir Gilbert Scott and Sons between 1875 and 1879, based on Scott's report of 1864, with Thomas Collins (of Collins and Cullis) as the main mason and contractor. The pews were removed in 1796, and the galleries at the crossing were taken down in 1909. The monastic buildings and the eastern Lady Chapel were removed around 1540.

The church is constructed mainly in limestone ashlar, with some early work in coursed lias stone. The roofs are covered in lead or tile. The plan comprises an eight-bay nave with aisles and north porch, unaisled transepts with eastern chapels, a central crossing tower, and a choir and presbytery extending to a three-sided apse with ambulatory and radial chapels. A detached belfry stood to the north until its demolition in 1817. A series of important medieval chantry chapels is located around the eastern end.

The west front, probably planned for twin towers that were never built, features a large seven-light Perpendicular-style window of 1686 set within a Norman arch in six orders (formerly seven). Below this is a pair of plank doors in a moulded arch with dripmould. To the left, a section of the original Norman seventh-order respond is exposed. The plain aisle walls contain a two-light 14th-century window and a series of stair-window slits. The top of the Norman arch cuts into a two-stage range of blind arcading beneath a continuous billet mould, above which are two-stage Norman turrets with 17th-century round spirelets and pinnacles, connected by a run of classical parapet raised at the ends.

The north aisle has seven Decorated windows (six plus one) with slight dripmoulds. The first two, at the west end, are of four lights, set in walling slightly recessed from the remainder, on a plinth, and incorporating some lias stone. The remaining windows are of three lights. A classical parapet runs the full length. A large flying buttress with square pinnacle abuts the wall between the third and fourth windows; this is a late addition. The nave clerestorey has eight three-light 14th-century windows set in an irregular blind Norman arcade (much restored), again beneath the continuous classical parapet. The north and east faces of the west pinnacle match the west front.

The square north porch is part of the original Norman building, with an 1686 parapet. A large Norman opening in three orders, but with classical mouldings outside and square orders within, has attached Norman responds. A mid-level string course with chevron mould returns to the sides, which are plain. Above is a central statue niche below a carved tribune, and the 1686 parapet sits above a hollow-mould string course. The lierne-vaulted interior has stone benches. The inner opening contains doors of early wide-planking with strap hinges, but with moulded 17th or 18th-century applied panel framing externally, contained within four square orders on cushion-capital responds.

The south aisle has the remains of five bays of the cloister attached, and a porch bay rebuilt by Collins in the late 19th century at his own expense. To the left of the cloister is a large area of plain walling with various blocked openings and approximately four metres of corbel course in various sections of coursed ashlar, with a small added buttress. Above are a one-light and four three-light Decorated windows without dripmoulds, and the aisle has no parapet. The nave clerestorey has eight three-light 14th-century windows with no blind arcading, but above a heavy ovolo-mould cill string.

The north transept was originally identical to the south, but the apsidal chapel was removed and two chapels were added in the 13th century, later partly demolished. The transept west wall, on a plinth and incorporating some coursed lias, is plain, with a large five-light Reticulated window and a diagonal corner buttress with five offsets and some lias exposed in the foundation courses. The north wall shows marks indicating the position of the added chapel. Under a low gable is a broad weathered offset, beneath which are two two-light Decorated windows between flat buttresses. To the left are four stair-window slits and a concrete stair flight to a landing and small door. A doorway with multi-moulded 13th-century arch at lower right, now blocked, formerly gave access to the chapel. The east wall of the transept, above the chapels, has a low blind arcade under a medieval parapet, and weathering marks show the gables of previous steep-pitched roofs to the chapels.

Projecting from the transept is the west wall of the Chapel of St Nicholas. This has a small central gable with a small square window above a broad weathering course. The wall below is mixed ashlar and lias, with a corner buttress, and contains a 13th-century moulded arch enclosing the top of a two-light window with uncusped bars, with an ashlar blocking wall and small door. The north wall, noticeably out of alignment, has a deep central buttress and two two-light windows, with a later added flying buttress with square pinnacle crossing the pedestrian throughway. The chapel is also attached to the end of the Russell Almshouses by a wall with gateway.

The east side of the chapels has a continuous moulded plinth and three four-light Reticulated windows on a cill string. A large buttress with four offsets separates the chapels, and there is a further small buttress. To the left is a parapet with central gablet, and to the right a full gable containing a slit light.

The south transept has a plain west wall with some fire-damage marks and a five-light window with dripmould. Under the blocking course with saddle-back coping is a reconstructed blind arcade. The south wall has a small light to the low-pitched gable with coping and apex cross; below a weathered offset are two deep-set two-light 15th-century windows with segmental pointed heads in coursed stone showing some fire damage. Below is good ashlar walling. A diagonal buttress to the left has five offsets, and a broad flat Norman buttress to the right has stair window-slits and a blocked doorway approximately six metres from the ground. There is a series of stone corbels below window level. The east wall has part of the original apsidal chapel below blind arcading and a parapet; the chapel is mainly absorbed in the adjoining vestry but has a two-light inserted 14th-century window and a tiled roof.

The crossing tower, one of the finest surviving Norman towers in Europe, is in four stages with crenellated parapet, flat corner buttresses, and two-stage corner turrets with pinnacles. It had a wooden spire blown down in 1559. The four sides are virtually identical. Above the main roofs are weathering marks of the original steep-pitched roofs, flanked by a Norman window on each side, and there is some fire damage visible in the stonework. The upper levels have rich Norman blind arcading, with three louvred lights in the lower stage and two above, separated by a narrow band of interlaced arcading.

The choir and apse clerestorey at the east end has an open parapet with interlocking cusped triangles under small crenellations and above a moulded string course. The seven five-light Decorated windows are set under straight-sided crocketed gables with trefoil spandrels; there are two small lights between the main windows on both the north and south sides of the choir. Flying buttresses spring from low between windows to the piers dividing the chapels.

The four radial chapels and the vestry have hexagonal ends with narrow corner buttresses with four offsets, a moulded plinth, and cill string. Windows are variously three or four-light Decorated, with a single small quatrefoil above in three places, and the vestry has an upper room with two-light chamfer-mullioned lights. Roofs are all pyramidal or hipped tile, to an eaves above the vestry and adjoining chapel, but behind a parapet for the remainder. One stair turret with stone octagonal pinnacle rises above the parapet on the north and south sides. The eastern chapel was removed in 1540, and the blocked archway contains a four-light above a three-light window in Decorated style, in walling with pointed arch moulds. Octagonal pinnacled turrets rise on each side, above remains of shafts and vaulting springers.

Inside, the nave and transepts retain mainly Norman fabric but with 14th-century vaults, and the choir with ambulatory is principally 14th-century work, but with the Norman arcade remaining. The eight-bay nave has a stone-flagged floor and an arcade of lofty cylindrical piers with round bases and abaci; the bases in the raised area at the east end (part of the former monks' choir), however, are square, and the columns are marked by the position of the former rood screen. The plain round arches have a roll-mould on both sides. The westernmost bay is enclosed by plain walls and has a moulded and painted arch on very large corbels that are part leaf decoration and part figure. The window contains Hardman glass of 1896.

The triforium has paired Norman openings to plain arches, below the windows inserted when the vault was added around 1322; the three-light openings are in deep square embrasures under flat segmental pointed heads that rise above the transverse vault rib. The vault has three parallel longitudinal ribs and is of the net lierne form, rising from corbel heads and shafts above the columns. Diagonal ribs embrace two bays. The aisles have many memorial slabs in the floors. Half-round Norman responds divide the bays, which have narrow recesses formerly finishing to round-arched windows, but now with wider 14th-century lights in splayed reveals with segmental pointed heads. Simple ribbed vaults have ridge ribs and unplastered severies. A continuous stone bench runs along both walls. Windows to the north contain Hardman glass of 1896. The windows to the south are smaller, as they are above the former cloister.

Inside the door from the north porch is a late 19th-century carved timber draught lobby, and the west end of the south aisle is enclosed by a crenellated ashlar wall with door. At the east end is an elaborate doorway giving access to the cloister. The crossing tower is carried on four plain arches with roll-mould outer order, on paired half-round shafts to east and west. Deep plain walls provide support to east and west, ending in half-columns, with high blocked openings between choir and ambulatory. The intricate lierne vault, based on squares and octagons, is brightly painted.

The north transept is partly filled by the pipework of the Grove organ and has a typical west-country stick lierne vault in two bays. Above the ambulatory is a small rose window with quatrefoil, with memorial glass of the late 19th century. A wide plain arch opens to the Abbey Shop, or Chapel of St James, under a blocked Norman gallery arch and a Norman triforium with one-two-one openings. A quadrant arch spans the entrance from the north aisle. The Chapel of St James to the east has a timber barrel roof with an extra outer slope, and the adjoining vaulted St Nicholas's chapel is approached through a large moulded 13th-century arch.

The south transept has been less modified than the north and retains the apsidal Norman Lady Chapel with plain ribs. Above this is a blocked Norman arch containing some organ pipes, and to the left is a triangular window with foil tracery. The triforium has a series of paired openings, and the vault is similar to that in the north transept. The south wall has shallow recessed arched panels, with a buttress containing a stair turret and door to the left. Evidence of fire damage can be seen near the crossing. The west wall, incorporating some lias stone, has a deep square recess, possibly a former access to the cloister. A quadrant arch gives access from the aisle.

The choir with presbytery has a rich late 19th-century encaustic tile floor, stepped at the screen, the presbytery, and the altar. Low cylindrical Norman columns carry moulded arches below a wall passage without parapet or railing, and seven large five-light windows with very fine contemporary glass. The complex stellar lierne vault is brightly painted.

A series of important chantry chapels fills the arcade. From northwest to southwest these are: (i) the Warwick or Beauchamp Chantry, begun in 1422, a two-stage richly embellished cage with a pendant vault in square bays; (ii) the Robert Fitzhamon or Founder's chantry, designed around 1397 with a fan vault. Fitzhamon died in 1107, and his chantry was originally in the Chapter House, but was moved in the mid-13th century. Abbot Parker undertook the present design, with screens of large Perpendicular five-light windows; (iii) the Hugh, Baron Despencer chantry, a complex cage of around 1350 in three pinnacled stages with plastered, unribbed vaults. At the base of the screen is a series of 19 drilled holes at approximately 150mm centres; (iv) opposite this, at the entrance to the Chapel of St Margaret, the tomb of Sir Guy de Brien, late 14th century, built into the stone parclose screen to the chapel; (v) at the entrance to the Chapel of St Dunstan, the so-called Wakeman Cenotaph, with a heavy cusped and crocketed arch under a rich canopy. The cadaver lies on the tomb-slab above a delicate openwork geometrical screen; (vi) an unidentified 14th-century tomb over broken fragments of a female figure, and a 15th-century chest under a damaged canopy with cusped ogee arch and a parapet of small crenellations; (vii) a large monument to Hugh le Despenser (died 1326), with six central panels flanked by two slightly canted panels on each side, with remains of damaged canopies and other detail. This covers a large polished Purbeck marble sarcophagus with Latin inscription to Abbot John Cope (died 1347); this was moved from the cloister in the 17th century and presupposes the earlier loss of the Despenser figure; (viii) the Edward Despenser Chantry, or Chapel of the Holy Trinity, of 1375, a jewel-like stone cage with fan vault, having a kneeling figure in a delicate pinnacled tribune above the canopy. There is some 14th-century wall painting in the chantry, restored by the Pilgrim Trust in 1983. Opposite the last, at the chapel entrance, is a free-standing tomb to Abbot Richard Cheltenham (died 1504), with a flat four-centred arch over a chest with shield panels and a flat, unfinished top. The slab normally carries a 19th-century cased model of the Abbey.

The ambulatory has simple ribbed vaults without ridges and unplastered severies, and the radial chapels have high stellar lierne vaults carried on rich multiple shafts. In St Margaret's Chapel is a staircase door in one wide plank. The double chapel of St Edmund and St Dunstan has a 17th-century aumbry door. Behind the main altar is a stone enclosing screen with door and panelling with unusually poor-quality carving, including incipient ball-flower, surmounted by an open reticulated parapet. There is a large iron grille in the floor above a crypt or vault.

The vestry has a doorway with ball-flower surround; to its left is a large canopied wall tomb with multiple ball-flower enrichment to Abbot Robert Forthington, 1254. To the right are two further wall tombs. The first is to Abbot Alan (1187-1202), with a Purbeck marble slab with raised cross, and beyond this is a deep, unidentified memorial with a floor of Malvern encaustic tiles. Above the vestry door are three figure corbels.

Other monuments include: in the south transept west wall, in alabaster with low-relief portrait, to Thomas Collins, signed "Boulton, 1900." This remembers "A Wise Master Builder", a JP, five times Mayor of Tewkesbury, "Always zealous in preserving the ancient beauty of his native town...". Collins was the mason working for Scott who also contributed to the work and was personally very involved here and elsewhere in the town. On the crossing southeast pier is a 16th-century-style white marble wall monument to Mrs Craik, authoress of 'John Halifax, Gentleman' (died 1887), signed HH Armstead, RA. It includes a bas-relief portrait and inscription "A Tribute to Noble Aims and to a Gracious Life". On the column respond at the west end of the south aisle is a fine baroque monument set to the curve of the column. At the east end of the north aisle is a recessed tomb with canopy without pinnacles, and a recumbent figure, possibly Lord Wenlock, killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury. In the tiled flooring of the choir, under the crossing, a 19th-century brass plate commemorates Edward, Prince of Wales, who was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471). Further east are four brass plates to members of the Despenser family. At the west end of the south aisle is a dignified carved wood war memorial, 1914-1919, above a stone altar, set to the Norman arched recess.

Fittings include remains of medieval choir stalls with 12 misericords on the north side of the choir; there are three further misericords immediately outside the 19th-century choir screen on the south side. Above these is a painted Royal Arms. In the south crossing arch is one of the three organs. This is the Milton organ, "one of the most notable in Britain", possibly by Renatus Harris, originally for Magdalen College, Oxford, moved to the Abbey in 1737 and overhauled by Willis in 1848, but moved to its present location in 1887. The Grove organ in the north transept was presented by Reverend CW Grove in 1887 in commemoration of the Jubilee. The third instrument, against the choir screen, is by Thomas Elliott, 1813.

Two cast-iron Gurney Stoves, now gas-fired, still heat the nave, numbered A32 and A407, from "The London Warming and Ventilating Company". The pulpit is a late 19th-century octagonal marble piece, and there is a very fine brass lectern with separate set of brass-framed steps, given at Easter 1878 by Reverend CW Grove in memory of his first wife. The octagonal font, on three steps, incorporates an early eight-shaft sandstone base and has a lofty canopy. Each aisle has a section of 17th-century railing and gate, presumably part of a former communion rail, closing access to the ambulatory. On the walls of the west bay of the north aisle is a series of large benefactions boards.

The Abbey was bought from the Crown at the Dissolution by the townsfolk for £453 and has since remained their parish church. The eastern Lady Chapel had just been demolished in preparation for a new one, which was not realised. The remaining monastic buildings were completely removed. A great storm damaged the west end in 1661, necessitating the rebuilding of the window.

The Abbey is remembered in restoration history because the proposed restoration by Scott impelled William Morris to inveigh against what he foresaw as a damaging decision; this eventually led to the setting up of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Scott's restoration was undertaken; it is difficult now to appreciate the concern aroused at the time, as Scott's work was conservative, certainly compared with some of his restoration work elsewhere.