36 CRANBORNE AND TEWKESBURY. 



this were the effigy of FitzHamon, that after the lapse of three 

 centuries, when masses for the repose of his soul were no longer 

 heard in this church, and the monument itself become old and 

 unvalued, it was ordered to be broken up. It had outlived the 

 memory of the age. It was ever the custom to erect honorary 

 monuments or cenotaphs to celebrated personages who were 

 interred in distant places. For instance, Dr. Harman tells us 

 that the fragment of a monument to this very Robert Fitz le Roy, 

 Earl of Gloucester, was found beneath the altar in Tewkesbury, 

 and we know that his body was interred before the High Altar in 

 the Priory Church of St. James', Bristol, where stood at that time 

 the Chief Castle of the Honour of Gloucester, and that priory was 

 fated, like that of Cranborne, to be affiliated to the Abbey of 

 Tewkesbury. [Seyer's History of Bristol.] 



It is not possible to point out the site of the Abbey of Cran- 

 borne with certainty ; the priory that succeeded it probably stood 

 on part of its site. The priory stood on the south side of the 

 church, on land that now forms part of the vicarage garden. It 

 was pulled down in A.D. 1703, having been until then inhabited 

 as a dwelling-house. [The Church Register.] Large stones, as 

 of a foundation, have been dug up in the adjoining churchyard. 



The parish church shows remains of Norman work, notably in 

 the north porch, which may possibly be a relic of the abbey ; but 

 there is also evidence of the church having been rebuilt in the 

 early English era, which may be referred to A.D. 1250. [Dugdale's 

 Monasticon.] This date corresponds with the time when Gilbert 

 de Clare, second Earl of Clare, Gloucester, and Hertford, was a 

 minor in the wardship of King Henry III. He died in 1262; 

 his body was buried at Tewkesbury, his heart at Tunbridge, and 

 his bowels at Canterbury, in obedience to custom. This powerful 

 Baron may have rebuilt our church and placed therein the 

 honorary and costly memorial to the memory of his great ancestor, 

 FitzHamon. 



We will now pause and look back upon the centuries that are 



