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Tewkesbury Abbey was founded in 1087, William the Conqueror gave the manor of Tewkesbury to his cousin, Robert Fitzhamon, who, with Giraldus, Abbot of Cranbourne, founded the present abbey in 1092. Building of the present Abbey church did not start until 1102, employing Caen stone imported from Normandy and floated up the Severn.
After the Battle of Tewkesbury in the Wars of the Roses on 4 May 1471, some of the defeated Lancastrians sought sanctuary in the abbey, but the victorious Yorkists, led by King Edward IV, forced their way into the abbey, and the resulting bloodshed caused the building to be closed for a month until it could be purified and re-consecrated.
Tewkesbury Abbey is often called the Westminster Abbey of the Feudal Barony because of its wonderful collection of medieval tombs and monuments. It offers centuries of history for you to explore.
For the most part,
Christian worship at the Abbey has been emphatically High Anglican.
However, in more recent times there has been an acknowledgement of the
value of less solemn worship, and this is reflected in the two
congregational services offered on Sunday mornings.
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