Deerhurst: Priory Church of St. Mary the Virgin

The Priory Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire. The building at right was part of the monastic complex; it and the church form two sides of what would have been the cloisters.

About three miles south of Tewkesbury lies the tiny village of Deerhurst. In Tewkesbury, the abbey was full of tourists, and Tewkesbury itself is a busy tourist town with traffic constantly flowing down the main street. Clara and I had Deerhurst to ourselves, and I could almost feel that I was being transported to another age. There were no other cars in Deerhurst, which lies at the end of a single-lane road, and its quiet and seclusion added to its atmosphere of antiquity. The church in Deerhurst dates back to the eighth century; in other words, it's Saxon, built before the Norman Conquest. In Saxon times, Deerhurst was an important monastery. It was here that St. Alphege (martyred 1012) began his monastic career, although he found his fellow monks at Deerhurst too lax in their observance of their vows. St. Alphege went on to become Bishop of Winchester, and ended his life as Archbishop of Canterbury.

In the early eleventh century, England was oveerrun with Danes. In 1012, the Danes raided Canterbury and took Archbishop Alphege captive. When he refused to pay a huge ransom for his release from the cathedral's funds, he was killed with an axe. Four years later, the Danish King Cnute and the English King Edmund Ironside had reached a standoff, so they met at Deerhurst to negotiate a division of the kingdom between them.

The Saxon Church

A Saxon carving of the Virgin and Child over the front door.

A Saxon carving inside the front door.

The view toward the chancel. Notice the two filled-in Saxon windows flanking the later (Tudor) window. The arch behind the altar once opened into a (now ruined) apse.

The view back toward the front door. Notice the pointed Saxon double window.

The finest surviving Anglo-Saxon baptismal font.

Medieval Treasures

In the middle of the eleventh century, The Deerhust priory became attached to the Abbey of St. Denis in France, and most of its revenues went to the mother abbey. During the Hundred Years War, this association with France caused Deerhurst to be labeled an "alien house," and Henry VI confiscated its wealth. Nevertheless, the church still contains two remarkable medieval survivals: a fourteenth-century stained glass window depicting Sts. Catherine and Alphege, and some superb medieval brasses of Sir John Cassey and his wife, Dame Alice (ca. 1400). Brass rubbing is still permitted, upon approval. The photographs below are high-quality, and can be clicked for an enlargement and more detail. Unfortunately, the stained glass does not appear to be in very good condition.

Detail of the fourteenth-century glass: St. Catherine with her wheel.

The Cassey Brass. At Dame Alice's feet is a dog, bearing the inscription "Terri;" this is a very rare example of a named pet from medieval times.

Odda's Chapel, Deerhurst.

Deerhurst is unusual in that it has two Saxon churches. The second is a small chapel, known as Odda's Chapel, built by a Saxon earl in 1056. A dedication stone found nearby (now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford) says, in Latin: "Earl Odda ordered this royal hall to be built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity and for the soul of his brother Aelfric, who died in this place. Bishop Ealdred dedicated it on 12 April. The fourteenth year of Edward, King of the English." The chapel was discovered in the nineteenth century under the Elizabethan plaster of the attached house.

Tewkesbury Abbey

Clara sang in Tewkesbury Abbey with the St. Michael's Singers in December, but it was evening, and the magnificent fourteenth-century stained glass was dark. I've been curious to see the abbey since seeing Shakespeare's Henry VI, since it was at Tewkesbury that the Lancastrians met their final defeat in May 1471. In the Battle of Tewkesbury, the Yorkist forces of Edward IV met the Lancastrian forces of Henry VI, led by his wife, Queen Margaret, and his son Edward, the Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales was killed in the battle, and is buried in the quire of Tewkesbury Abbey. The Lancastrians who took refuge in the abbey were brutally slaughtered.

Tewkesbury Abbey from the north side.

It's difficult to imagine war and bloodshed within the peaceful walls of Tewkesbury Abbey. The nave is a stunning combination of heavy Norman columns and arches from the twelfth century, and ornate mid-fourteenth century Decorated Gothic vaulting in the roof. Much of the Gothic decoration dates from the time of Hugh Le Despenser, who fought with Edward III at Crécy and is buried in the remarkable tomb pictured at left. Three generations, and not quite a century later, the Beauchamp Chantry (or "Warwick Chapel," pictured right) was built by Isabella le Despenser (see yesterday's post). Both the Le Despenser Tomb and the Beauchamp Chantry are on the left (north) side of the presbytery.

The presbytery, with the Le Despenser Tomb and high altar.

The east window (The Last Judgement). Click to enlarge for more detail.


The glory of the Tewkesbury presbytery (the area that contains the high altar) are the mid-fouteenth century stained glass windows. The main east window, with its crowning rose, depicts the Last Judgement, and contains a portrait of the window's donor, Eleanor le Despenser. Her husband, Hugh (the father of the Hugh mentioned above), was a favorite of the unpopular Edward II. His influence on the king led to his execution at the hands of disgruntled barons in 1326.



In 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the Benedictine religious community at Tewkesbury Abbey, the citizens of Tewkesbury banded together and raised £453 to purchase the building for use as a parish church.