Tewkesbury is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at
the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor
tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook. It gives its name to the Borough
of Tewkesbury, of which the town is the second largest settlement.
The name Tewkesbury comes from Theoc, the name of a Saxon who founded a
hermitage there in the 7th century, and in the Old English tongue was called
Theocsbury. An erroneous derivation from Theotokos enjoyed currency in the
monastic period of the town's history. Geography
= Nearby places= Bredon
Bishop's Cleeve Cheltenham
Evesham Gloucester
Pershore Malvern
Upton upon Severn Cotswolds
Forest of Dean Malvern Hills
Winchcombe Gretton
Worcester It is in a rural environment and is in
lowland which makes it easier to flood, because of the ham, a plain.
Demography At the 2011 UK census the town itself
had a population of 10,704. If the neighbouring parishes of Wheatpieces,
Northway and Ashchurch Rural are added, the figure rises to 20,318. The
Tewkesbury urban area is divided in two by the north-south running M5 motorway,
opened in February 1971. However, the town is generally considered as the
built-up area to the immediate east and west of the M5 at junction 9, with the
town centre, abbey and old town situated to the west. The close proximity of
large areas of land that are prone to flooding, as evidenced by the severe
floods that struck the region in July 2007, would make further expansion
difficult. However, the present Borough of Tewkesbury, created on 1 April 1974,
also contains a large portion of rural north Gloucestershire, extending as far
as the edges of Gloucester itself and also Cheltenham, and has a present
population of 81,943. Landmarks
The town features many notable Tudor buildings, but its major claim to fame
is Tewkesbury Abbey, a fine Norman Abbey, originally part of a monastery,
which was saved from the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII after
being bought by the townspeople for £483 to use as their parish church. Most of
the monastery buildings, as well as the vineyards, were destroyed during this
time. The Abbey Mill however still remains, resting upon the Mill Avon, a
channel built by the monks. The weir exists to this day, and the channel
represents one of the biggest projects in Tewkesbury's history, though the
present sluice gate dates only from the 1990s, replacing two installed in the
1930s. The Abbey Mill is also sometimes known as "Abel Fletcher's Mill", but
this is simply the name given to it in Dinah Craik's novel John Halifax,
Gentleman, whose setting Norton Bury is based on Tewkesbury.
The abbey is thought to be the site of the place where the hermit Theoc once
lived. The great Romanesque arch on the west front is particularly striking, and
the stained glass window at that end has been restored. The monastery was founded
by the Despensers as a family mausoleum, and the Despenser and Neville tombs are
fine examples of small-scale late medieval stonework.
The tower is believed to be the largest Norman tower still in existence. The
tower once had a wooden spire which may have taken the total height of the
building to as much as 260 feet, but this was blown off in a heavy storm on
Easter Monday 1559; the present pinnacles and battlements were added in
1600 to give the tower a more "finished" look. The height to the top of the
pinnacles is 148 feet. The abbey is thought to be the third largest church
in Britain that is not a cathedral. From end to end it measures 331 feet, though
prior to the destruction of the original Lady Chapel, the total length was 375
feet. The abbey is a parish church, still used for daily services, and is
believed to be the second-largest parish church in England, again, after Beverley
Minster. Tewkesbury claims Gloucestershire's
oldest public house, the Black Bear, dating from 1308. Other notable
buildings are the Royal Hop Pole Hotel in Church Street, mentioned in Charles
Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, the Bell Hotel, a large half-timbered structure
opposite the Abbey gateway, and the House of the Nodding Gables in the High
Street. The historic Abbey Cottages, over 500
years old, were rescued from dereliction in the 1970s; one houses a museum, the
others are residential homes and commercial offices. At the Tudor House
Hotel in the High Street however, although it is indeed chiefly a Tudor
building, the frontage comprises artificial half-timbering attached to a
brick-built façade. The local branch of Store Twenty-One was once the location
of the Swan Hotel, where a balcony still exists today and from which local
election results were announced. Also notable in the town architecture is
the Old Baptist Chapel built in about 1655, as one of the earliest examples
from that denomination – behind the chapel is a small cemetery for those who
were members of the chapel. Just to the west of the town is Thomas
Telford's impressive Mythe Bridge over the River Severn, a cast-iron structure
with a 170-foot span, opened in 1826. Tewkesbury's other notable bridge is the
stone-built King John's Bridge over the Avon, commissioned by King John in the
late 12th century as part of improvements to the main road from
Gloucester to Worcester. Original stonework can still be seen on its north
side; the bridge was widened in the mid-to-late 1950s to meet traffic
requirements. Railways
Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station is 2.3 miles from the town centre. It
was the last mainline station in Gloucestershire to be reopened, as
British Rail was being fragmented into Railtrack.
The nearby Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has views of Tewkesbury Abbey en
route between Cheltenham Racecourse and Winchcombe.
Road transport Tewkesbury is served by the M5 and M50
motorways and the A38 and A46 trunk roads. There are frequent direct buses
to Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station and to Cheltenham. Other direct
bus services include Gloucester and Evesham. Congestion on the A46 around
Ashchurch and junction 9 of the M5 is being addressed through a series of road
works starting in 2014. Culture
The Roses Theatre combines an arthouse cinema and a live performance venue. The
Roses Theatre is where comedian Eric Morecambe collapsed after a charity
performance in May 1984. He died hours later in Cheltenham General Hospital.
Eric is remembered at the theatre with the naming of a conference/changing
room: The Eric Morecambe Room. The Battle of Tewkesbury is mentioned in
Shakespeare's play Richard III. Robert Falcon Scott, famous for his
expedition to the South Pole, left one of the sleds, used on that expedition,
to the former Tewkesbury Grammar School; it is kept in the Tewkesbury School's
Humanities building. Tewkesbury mustard, a creamy blend of
mustard and horseradish, made the town famous in the 17th century and is again
being manufactured. The mustard was mentioned in some of Shakespeare's
works. The ska punk band [spunge] are from
Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury Town Band plays locally,
tours abroad and takes part in competitions.
Every Wednesday and Saturday, one of the town centre car parks is the location of
the Tewkesbury Market. A Farmers Market is also held every month, usually hosted
by Tewkesbury Abbey. = Festivals and fairs=
In February Tewkesbury holds a Winter Beer Festival, organised by
theTewkesbury branch of CAMRA. Since 2005, an annual Food and Drink
Festival has been held, in or near the Abbey grounds.
In July the town hosts Tewkesbury Medieval Festival, "Europe's largest
battle re-enactment and fair". Thousands of re-enactors travel to the town from
around the world to re-enact the Battle of Tewkesbury near to the original
battle site. The festival includes a "living history" recreation of a
medieval encampment, games, food and a large fair where re-enactment clothing,
furniture and weaponry can be purchased. In 2008 the festival celebrated its 25th
anniversary. In July the Water Festival takes place
with events on the river and the banks including an evening procession of lit
boats ending with a firework display. The festival started in 1996 but its
future is now in question due to funding issues and the 2006 event was much
reduced in scale. The event was cancelled in 2007 as it coincided with
the Summer 2007 Flood. The event was scheduled for 2008 on Saturday, 20
September, but was again cancelled due to flooding in the weeks prior to the
event. In October the town holds the annual mop
fair. Originally a hiring fair where people came to seek employment, the
event is now a large travelling funfair taking over much of the centre of town.
The fair itself is also an underlining point of Tewkesbury's industrial past,
as Walker Gallopers were produced in the area by Walkers in the early 20th
century. The fair is organised by The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain
Every year at the end of July and into August the Abbey hosts a festival of
liturgical music entitled Musica Deo Sacra.
Cultural references Victorian author Dinah Craik visited
Tewkesbury in 1852, and later set her most famous work John Halifax, Gentleman
in the town, calling it Norton Bury in the book. There is a "Craik House" in
Church Street, near the Abbey, but Mrs Craik never lived there and had no other
connection with Tewkesbury. There is a memorial to her in the Abbey's south
transept. Author John Moore was born and lived in
Tewkesbury. He set his novel Portrait of Elmbury as a "fictionalised biography"
of Tewkesbury, the town being the "Elmbury" of the book. Another of his
books, Brensham Village used nearby Bredon as its basis. A local museum has
been named after him. A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad also
mentions Tewkesbury, as well as nearby Bredon Hill, even though neither place
is in Shropshire. The opening scene of the 1995 film
version of Richard III takes place at the Field Headquarters of King Henry's
army at Tewkesbury. In 2008 an episode of the UK TV series
Top Gear was filmed in the vicinity, with a car being used as the "fox" in a
fox hunt. Notable people
Henry Disston - industrialist - born Tewkesbury 1819.
Robert Harold Compton - South African botanist - born Tewkesbury 1886.
Kathleen Hawkins- poet - born Tewkesbury 1883.
Alfred Jones - cricketer - born Tewkesbury 1900.
Henry Green - author - born Tewkesbury 1905.
Anna Ford - newsreader and TV presenter - born Tewkesbury 1943.
Eric Morecambe - British comedian - collapsed backstage at the town's Roses
Theatre 1984. John Moore - writer - born Tewkesbury
1907. Eunice Spry - sadistic foster mother and
subject of a high-profile case - lived in Tewkesbury.
Sports and recreation Tewkesbury has one of the 471 King
George's Fields as its recreation ground.
The football club, Tewkesbury Town FC have three men's teams in the Saturday
Cheltenham Leagues, two teams in the Evesham Birdseye Sunday Leagues, a
Veterans team for ages 35+ in the Gloucestershire North County League and
hold weekly training sessions for Ladies in preparation for starting a team in
the 2014/15 season. They are holders of the Gloucestershire County Cup as well
as the Evesham Bluck cup, Pershore Hospital cup, are Evesham League
Division 3 Champions and are the Evesham Leagues Team of the Year 2012/13.
The cricket team, Tewkesbury Cricket Club 1st XI play in the Glos/wilts
Division of the West of England Premier League.
The rugby team, Tewkesbury RFC, plays Rugby Union in Gloucestershire Division
One and has gained promotion to Gloucester Division Premiership
The Tewkesbury Triathlon Club meets every Saturday at the Cascades
pool.Tewkesbury Tri Club The running club, Tewkesbury AC compete
in local, national and international running events.
Cheltenham College Boathouse is situated at Lower Lode
Cascades swimming pool is situated in the centre of the town.
Facilities at Tewkesbury School are used as a public sports centre for swimming,
gym, squash and other sports. The Tewkesbury lawn green Bowling Club
plays in the Gloucestershire men's and ladies leagues.
Twin town Tewkesbury is twinned with Miesbach in
Bavaria, Germany. References
External links Tewkesbury Borough Council
BBC archive film of Tewkesbury from 1984 Tewkesbury Medieval Festival VIDEO
Tewkesbury Mop Fair - Celebrating 800 Years of Fairs VIDEO
Tewkesbury at DMOZ A comprehensive collection of Tewkesbury
historical data