Tewkesbury, a quaint old market-town of Gloucestershire, on the Avon at its confluence with the Severn, 9 miles NNW. of Cheltenham, 10 NNE. of Gloucester, and 15 S. by E. of Worcester. On the site of the cell of the hermit Theoc, from whom the place got its name, was founded in 715 a monastery, refounded in 1102 by Robert Fitzhamon as a great Benedictine abbey. Its noble church, consecrated in November 1123, measures 317 feet by 124 across the transepts, and remains essentially Norman, in spite of later additions—Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. It was restored by Scott in 1875–79. Special features are the west front and the massive central tower, 132 feet high. Many of the Clares, Despencers, Beauchamps, and other lords of Tewkesbury are buried here, as also the murdered Prince Edward and (possibly) Clarence; and in 1890 a tablet was erected to Mrs Craik, the scene of whose John Halifax is laid in Tewkesbury. The place has also a town-hall (1788), a corn-exchange (1856), Telford's iron bridge over the Severn (1824), with a span of 176 feet, a free grammar-school, &c. The thick mustard Falstaff speaks of is a thing of the past, and the trade is chiefly agricultural. Within half a mile was fought (4th May 1471) the famous battle of Tewkesbury, in which the Yorkists under
Edward IV. (q.v.) gained a crowning victory over the Lancastrians. Incorporated by Elizabeth in 1574, Tewkesbury returned two members to parliament from 1609 till 1867, and then one till 1885. Pop. (1851) 5878; (1891) 5269.
See works by Dyde (1790), Bennett (1830), Petit (1848), and J. H. Blunt (2d ed. 1877).