Tewkesbury Abbey
| Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin | |
|---|---|
Tewkesbury Abbey
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| 51°59′25″N 2°9′38″W / 51.99028°N 2.16056°WCoordinates: 51°59′25″N 2°9′38″W / 51.99028°N 2.16056°W | |
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | High church |
| Website | www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk |
| History | |
| Dedication | St Mary the Virgin |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Tewkesbury |
| Diocese | Gloucester |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | The Revd Canon Paul Williams |
| Laity | |
| Organist/Director of music | Carleton Etherington |
| Organist(s) | Simon Bell |
| Churchwarden(s) | Karen Vincent and John Jeffreys |
The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, (commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey), in the English county of Gloucestershire, is the second largest parish church in the country and a former Benedictine monastery. It is one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, and has probably the largest Romanesque crossing tower in Europe.
Tewkesbury had been a centre for worship since the 7th century, becoming a priory in the 10th. The present building was started in the early 12th century. It was unsuccessfully used as a sanctuary in the Wars of the Roses. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became the parish church for the town. George Gilbert Scott lead Restoration in the late 19th century. The church and churchyard within the abbey precincts includes tombs and memorials to many of the aristocracy of the area.
Services have been high church but now include Parish Eucharist, choral Mass and Evensong. These are accompanied by one of the church's three organs and choirs. There is a ring of twelve bells, hung for change ringing.
The Chronicle of Tewkesbury records that the first Christian worship was brought to the area by Theoc, a missionary from Northumbria, who built his cell in the mid-7th century near a gravel spit where the Severn and Avon rivers join together. The cell was succeeded by a monastery in 715, but nothing remaining of it has been identified.
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Wikipedia