Tewkesbury (Old market town)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

an old market town of Gloucestershire, England; on the Avon at its confluence with the a the Severn; 9 miles N. N. W. of Cheltenham, and 15 S. by E. of Worcester r. 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 feet across the transepts, and remains essentially Norman, in spite of later additions-Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. It was restored by Scott in 1875-1879. Special features are the W. 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 span of 176 feet, a free grammar school, etc. Manufacture of mustard was previously the chief industry. It has now been replaced by the shoe trade. Within half a mile was fought (May 4, 1471), the battles of Tewkesbury, in which the Yorkists under Edward IV. gained a crowning victory over the Lancastrians. keeled and striated; first dorsal of numerous feeble spines, and continuous with the second. It is a rare fish, more frequently met with in the Mediterranean than in the Atlantic. Nothing is known of its habits, but as, when young, it accompanies the Meduse, it must be regarded as a pelagic form. At a later period of its existence it probably descends to greater depths, coming to the surface only at night. It attains a length of about 18 inches.