Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire was a Benedictine monastery and is now a Church of England parish church. William the Conqueror gave the manor to Robert Fitzhamon in 1087, and Fitzhamon and Giraldus, Abbot of Cranborne, founded the abbey in 1092. Construction began in 1102, using Caen stone imported from Normandy and floated up the Severn. The choir was consecrated on October 23, 1121, and the tower and nave were completed around 1150. Pevsner called the crossing tower probably the largest and finest Romanesque tower in England.
The choir was rebuilt from 1321 to 1335.
After the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Yorkist forces entered the building where defeated Lancastrians sought sanctuary, and the abbey was closed for a month. In 1539 the townspeople bought it from the Crown for £453, which saved it from demolition. George Gilbert Scott led a restoration that ended in 1879.
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