Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and thus became an important trading point, which continued as railways and, later, the M5 and M50 motorway connections were established.
The town gives its name to the Borough of Tewkesbury, a local government district of Gloucestershire. The town lies on the border with Worcestershire, marked largely by the Carrant Brook (a tributary of the River Avon).
The name Tewkesbury is thought to come from Theoc, the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the 7th century, and in the Old English language was called '. An erroneous derivation from Theotokos (the Greek title of Mary, mother of God) enjoyed currency in the monastic period of the town's history.
The Battle of Tewkesbury, which took place on 4 May 1471, was one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses and is marked annually by a medieval festival in the town, including historical re-enactment.
Geography
Geographic position
The town is situated approximately halfway between the cities of Gloucester and Worcester, positioned where natural rises in the land allowed early settlers of the town to avoid flooding, yet also to take advantage of the fertile soils and transport connections. The layout of the town centre and radiating trunk roads remains largely unchanged since medieval times.
Expansion
In 1965, Tewkesbury borough, Gloucestershire, was enlarged by incorporating the then-new Mitton housing estate, on land previously in Bredon parish, Worcestershire, as part of the West Midland Counties Order. The estate now forms part of the "Tewkesbury Town with Mitton" borough council ward, which also covers Tewkesbury town centre. A further housing project in Mitton was completed in the first decade of 2000. Mitton is now a contiguous low-density rural suburb connected to Tewkesbury. Other suburbs include Newtown, Wheatpieces and Northway.
Nearby places
- Bredon
- Bishop's Cleeve
- Cheltenham
- Evesham
- Gloucester
- Pershore
- Malvern (Great Malvern)
- Upton upon Severn
- Cotswolds
- Forest of Dean
- Malvern Hills
- Winchcombe
- Gretton
Demography
At the 2021 UK census the Tewkesbury parish had a population of 10,663. If the neighbouring parishes of Wheatpieces (3,582), Northway (4,859) and Ashchurch Rural (1,814) are added, the figure rises to 20,918. 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 94,884.
Historical landmarks
thumb|right|Tewkesbury War Memorial (The Cross), and High Street.
The town features many Medieval and Tudor buildings, but is most famous for Tewkesbury Abbey, a Norman abbey church.
The Abbey
The Abbey was built by the Normans and consecrated in the year 1121.
Originally the Abbey formed part of a Benedictine monastery and was saved from the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII after being bought by the townspeople for the price of the lead on the roof 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 allegedly built by the monks. This channel represents one of the biggest projects in Tewkesbury's history, though the present weir dates only from the 1990s, replacing two sluice gates 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 Romanesque arch and stained glass window 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 (though that at Norwich Cathedral is another strong contender). 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 . The abbey is thought to be the third largest church in Britain that is not a cathedral (after Westminster Abbey and Beverley Minster). From end to end it measures , though prior to the destruction of the original Lady Chapel (also at the time of the dissolution), the total length was . 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.
Pubs, inns and taverns
Tewkesbury claims Gloucestershire's oldest public house, the Black Bear, dating from 1308. The pub closed in 2017 and after undergoing renovation from 2019 to 2022, reopened in 2023. Other notable large hostelries are the Royal Hop Pole Hotel in Church Street (which has recently been converted into a part of the Wetherspoons pub chain with the discovery of a former medieval banqueting hall in the structure), 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.
thumb|left|[[The Royal Hop Pole, mentioned in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers]]
Around the Abbey
The Abbey Cottages, adjacent to Tewkesbury Abbey, were built between 1410 and 1412. They were restored 1967 to 1972 by the Abbey Lawn Trust, a building preservation charity. They house the John Moore Museum, residential homes and commercial offices. The John Moore Museum was established in 1980 in memory of the writer and naturalist, John Moore. The museum consists of three buildings: the main John Moore Museum, home to an extensive Natural History collection; the Merchant's House, restored to its Tudor appearance; and the Old Baptist Chapel. The Old Baptist Chapel, located off Church Street, is a timber-framed building, formally a medieval hall house dating to the 1480s. Sometime in the 17th century, it was converted for use as a Nonconformist meeting house. Including the original baptistery and pastor's room, the building is of significant historic interest. The building was restored to its 1720 appearance in the 1970s by Tewkesbury Borough Council. It was further renovated and interpreted in 2015 by the Abbey Lawn Trust and is used as a venue for a variety of cultural events. Behind the chapel is a small cemetery for those who were members of the congregation. This includes the grave of William Shakespeare-Hart, fifth great-grandnephew of William Shakespeare. The cemetery is managed by Tewkesbury Borough Council.
Along the river
Just to the west of the town is Thomas Telford's Mythe Bridge over the River Severn, a cast-iron structure with a 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 1950s to meet traffic requirements at the time.
The river was significant in the commercial development of the town.
The large industrial flour mill site, built in 1865 stands near the confluence of the Avon and Severn rivers, where barges were used to transport goods. The mill, known as Healing's Mill (and previously owned by Allied Bakeries) closed for milling in 2006.
The mill building facing the river is now a well-known "at risk" structure, and can be seen clearly to have sunk on one end of its foundations.
The Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre, also known as Tewkesbury fire station, is a combined project between Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) and Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS).
Mythe Chapel, which was built in 1870, was deconsecrated in 1977.
Governance
Modern governance
thumb|left|[[Tewkesbury Town Hall]]