ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. MARY, TEWKESBURY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

The clear yearly value of all the Possessions of the Monastery, as well spiritual as temporal, besides 1367. 8s. 1d. granted in fees and annuities to several persons, amounted to 1,5957. 17s. 6d.

Amongst the jewels reserved for his Majesty's use, were two Mitres gilt, garnished with rugged pearl and counterfeit stones; and of silver plate for the same purpose, 1,431 oz. The ornaments reserved for his Majesty's use, were, one Cope of silver tissue, with one Chasuble and Tunicle of the same; one Cope of gold tissue, with one Chasuble and two Tunicles of the same. It appears by a Grant made in 34 Henry VIII., that before, and at the time of, the dissolution, the body of the Abbey was used as the Parish Church, and that the Parish had preserved it from destruction, and had then purchased of the King, the Chancel, Tower, Bells, Clock, Chimes, and Churchyard for the stipulated sum of 4831.

PLATE I. VIEW OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT AND TOWER.

The earliest Towers of Anglo-Norman architecture were placed, in the conventual churches, between the Transepts, and when accompanied by others on the west Front, as at Lichfield, were distinguished by the appellation of Rood spires, being in the very centre of the Cross, which usually formed the ground plan of the building. There was formerly a lofty Spire of wood, covered with lead, upon this Tower, which, according to Dyer's History of Tewkesbury, from the Black Book belonging to the Corporation, was erected by Robert, first Earl of Gloucester, the son of Henry I., and fell down in the time of divine service, upon Easter day, 1559. A very ingenious author on the antiquities of this Church considers the spire of more modern date. "The exterior of the Tower has undergone less change, and is of a more unmixed Norman character than any other part of the building; for the spire formed no part of the original design: the battlements and pinnacles have been renewed, but probably not in any very different manner from what they were built at first, as it does not seem quite clear, notwithstanding the current opinions to the contrary, that pinnacles were never adopted by the earliest Norman builders; though it is certain they prevailed much more gene. rally, and in a rectangular instead of a conical form, after the pointed arch was introduced. Battlements seem to have been a Norman improvement on the plain parapets, or hanging eaves, of the Saxons, suggested probably by their own fortified castles; these likewise were more lavishly employed, as well in the inside as the outside of their buildings, when the Norman yielded to the Gothic style; the predominant zig-zag moulding, which laces the heads and sides of the arcades,the pillars and pilasters rather elongated beyond the dimensions of earlier times, the two conjoined arches under a larger one, and the range of small arches whose heads intersect each other, all these dis

tinguishing peculiarities, which occur in this conspicuous member of Tewkesbury church, are so many testimonies of its having been erected soon after the Conquest."- Cursory Disquisition on the Conventual Church of Tewkesbury, &c. p. 28.

The Tower rises above the Body and Transepts in a plain base, with an ornamented superstructure divided into three stories, above which is the embattled parapet and pinnacles at the angles, of comparatively modern construction; the height of the whole to the coping of the battlement is one hundred and thirty-two feet. The first story above the basement is adorned with a range of arches and columns, admitting three windows upon each side; above this is a very curious series of intersected arches, such as have been presumed to have given the idea of the first pointed arch, which division is again surmounted by a similar range of arches to the lower story, but with only two windows upon each face, which are however divided into two lights, though under one arch. The author, whom we have before quoted, presumes that this was one of the same sort of Towers spoken of by Mr. Warton, which he tells us "were calculated to produce the effect of the Louvre, or Lantern, in the inside, and were originally open almost to the covering," and instancing Winchester Cathedral, he adds, "nearly the whole of the inside of this Tower was formerly seen from below, and for that reason its side arches or windows, of the first story at least, are artificially wrought and ornamented." The same remark might be justly applied to the Tower of Tewkesbury, where we may perceive, in that part of it now used as a Belfry, more pains employed in the workmanship than if it had always been shut up from the Church below, as it now is, would probably have been bestowed upon it. The present floor of this room is laid upon a vaulted ceiling, springing from corbels of more delicate execution than those in the Nave, and bearing evident marks, from the pointed style of it, and from the arms which occur in it, of a much later date than the Tower itself. In the walls surrounding it, there is the same sort of Gallery, as in the Nave and Transepts, for the purpose of giving access to the higher parts of the building; which would be wholly without a meaning in this place, if we could suppose that the present floor had always belonged to it. It may be further urged, in support of this having been a Louvre Tower, that there was, till very lately, a square strong building in the Churchyard, which had every appearance of having been built as a Campanile, an edifice often placed apart, and so called from the purpose it was applied to, of holding the bells; for in the oldest Cruciform Churches, the convenience of their affording a Belfry, was but an afterthought, or at least, a secondary object, in the construction of Towers; as the great additional strength which they gave by their incumbent weight, to the main arches of the building, would be alone sufficient to recommend them.-Curs. Disq. p. 30.