Battle of Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury ( TEWKS-bər-ee) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and thus became an important trading point, which continued as railways and, later, the M5 and M50 motorway connections were established. The town gives its name to the Borough of Tewkesbury, a local government district of Gloucestershire. The town lies on the border with Worcestershire, marked largely by the Carrant Brook (a tributary of the River Avon). The name Tewkesbury is thought to come from Theoc, the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the 7th century, and in the Old English language was called Theocsbury. An erroneous derivation from Theotokos (the Greek title of Mary, mother of God) enjoyed currency in the monastic period of the town's history. The Battle of Tewkesbury, which took place on 4 May 1471, was one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses and is marked annually by a medieval festival in the town, including historical re-enactment.

The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, it has the largest Romanesque crossing tower in Europe. Tewkesbury had been a centre for worship since the 7th century. A priory was established there in the 10th century. 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, Tewkesbury Abbey became the parish church for the town. George Gilbert Scott led the restoration of the building in the late 19th century. The church and churchyard within the abbey precincts include 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 services are accompanied by one of the church's three organs and choirs. There is a ring of twelve bells, hung for change ringing.

Eleanor de Clare, suo jure 6th Lady of Glamorgan (3 October 1292 – 30 June 1337) was a powerful Anglo-Welsh noblewoman who married Hugh Despenser the Younger, the future favourite of Edward II of England, and was a granddaughter of Edward I of England. With her sisters, Elizabeth de Clare and Margaret de Clare, she inherited her father's estates after the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hereford at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. She was born in 1292 at Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan, Wales and was the eldest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord of Glamorgan and Princess Joan of Acre.

Abbey Gatehouse is a gatehouse building to Tewkesbury Abbey, in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.The building was constructed in stone ashlar around 1500 A.D, and has a single large room at first-floor level accessed by a narrow spiral stair. It survived the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, but by the early 19th century the building had fallen into disrepair and was derelict. In 1849 the then owner, John Martin, M.P. for Tewkesbury, employed the services of local architect James Medland to undertake its repair and it was fully restored. In the 20th century the building was used for various parish uses, but the difficult access restricted its useful purpose. In 1986 a lease was negotiated with the Landmark Trust, who set about refurbishing and conserving it, and providing facilities to suit its current use as holiday accommodation.

The River Swilgate is a small river that flows through Gloucestershire, England. It is formed by the confluence at Elmstone Hardwicke of the Hyde Brook which flows westwards from Bishop's Cleeve, and Wymans Brook that flows north west through Cheltenham. The Swilgate flows north west and north to Tewkesbury where it joins the River Avon close to its confluence with the Severn.The Swilgate gained some notoriety when New Statesman's issue of 4 January 2013 stated: "The Swilgate, the tributary of the Avon that runs round the southern edge of the town, had overflown its banks four days earlier".

The Old Baptist Chapel is a Grade II* listed building situated in Church Street, Tewkesbury, UK. Records show that a Baptist congregation has been in existence in the town since 1623, but the exact date of the present building is unknown. The building was originally a timber-framed house, believed to date from the 15th century, standing in a back alley now known as "Old Baptist Chapel Court", opposite Tewkesbury Abbey, and may have begun to be used as a meeting place by the local Baptists as early as 1620. The house was adapted, probably in around 1720, for use by the local Baptist congregation in their worship, and a baptistery was installed. The façade and windows date from this conversion.Later in the 18th century, a new Baptist chapel was built in nearby Cheltenham, and in 1805 a new chapel opened in Tewkesbury, with the old chapel being converted back to residential use. In the 1970s, it was restored by the local authority, Tewkesbury Borough Council, and now appears much as it would have done in 1720. The 1805 building was replaced during the 1980s.The old chapel is now managed by the John Moore Museum on behalf of Tewkesbury's Abbey Lawn Trust. In 2015, it was awarded a grant of £189,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a three-year programme of refurbishment, resulting in the installation of kitchen and toilet facilities. Behind the chapel is a small cemetery, now administered by Tewkesbury Borough Council. The chapel is open to the public and is used as a concert venue, among other things.

Swilgate is a cricket ground in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1893, when Tewkesbury played Handsworth Wood.Gloucestershire played two List A matches at the ground, the first of which saw them play Yorkshire in the 1972 John Player League. The second and final List-A match at the ground came the following season in the same tournament when Gloucestershire played Lancashire.Gloucestershire Women used the ground in the 2010 Women's County Championship Division Five South and West against Wiltshire Women. In local domestic cricket, the ground is the home venue of Tewkesbury Cricket Club.

The Royal Hop Pole is a listed pub in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Located on Church Street, it is an English Heritage hotel. It has recently been converted into a part of the Wetherspoons pub chain. It is famous for being mentioned in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers.

Tewkesbury Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Tewkesbury Town Council, is a Grade II* listed building.

Severn Ham, Tewkesbury (grid reference SO885325) is a 70.82-hectare (175.0-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire near Tewkesbury, notified in 1974.It is on the east side of the Severn to Old River Severn, Upper Lode SSSI.

Tewkesbury Museum is a small community museum dedicated to the social history and heritage of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, England. The museum is housed in a 17th-century half-timbered building at 64 and 64a Barton Street in property which was given to the Borough of Tewkesbury in 1956 on the express condition that it be used as a museum; but the museum did not open until 1962, after all of the previous tenants of the building had left. Complications introduced by local government reform in 1974 almost led to its demise. The ancient Borough of Tewkesbury was dissolved and incorporated into the new District Council covering North West Gloucestershire. The first Clerk for the new Council persuaded Councillors that it should be named Tewkesbury Borough and he transferred as much of the old Borough as he could to the new Borough. This included an attempt to transfer the Museum. After some legal advice, the Museum reverted to the Town Council’s control.The building is Grade II* listed by English Heritage.An active society of Friends of Tewkesbury Museum supports the work of the museum.

The River Avon () in central England flows generally southwestwards and is a major left-bank tributary of the River Severn, of which it is the easternmost. It is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare's Avon, to distinguish it from several other rivers of the same name in the United Kingdom. Beginning in Northamptonshire, the river flows through or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, near the Cotswold Hills area. Notable towns it flows through include Rugby, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham, Pershore and Tewkesbury, where it joins the Severn. It has traditionally been divided since 1719 into the Lower Avon, below Evesham, and the Upper Avon, from Evesham to above Stratford-upon-Avon. Improvements to aid navigation began in 1635, and a series of locks and weirs made it possible to reach Stratford, and to within 4 miles (6 km) of Warwick. The Upper Avon was tortuous and prone to flooding, and was abandoned as a means of navigation in 1877. The Lower Avon struggled on, and never really closed, although by 1945 it was only navigable below Pershore. Restoration of the lower river as a navigable waterway began in 1950, and was completed in 1962. The upper river was a more daunting task, as most of the locks and weirs were no longer extant. Work began in 1965 on the construction of nine new locks and 17 miles (27 km) of river, using mainly volunteer labour, and was completed in 1974 when it was opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The Avon connects with the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in the centre of Stratford, and is used primarily by leisure craft. Plans to extend the navigable river to provide a link with the Grand Union Canal at either Warwick or Leamington Spa have met with some opposition.