Tewkesbury Cross
The Cross is point where the 3 main road, High St, Barton St and Church St meet. Although originally it would have been marked by a preaching cross, today it is the site of the War Memorial.
Cross House
Cross House Nos. 107–8 Church Street (Cross House), restored c. 1860 by the builder Thomas Collins, the then owner and occupier, comprises at least two dwellings gabled towards the street and probably a third gabled towards Tolsey Lane. The ground floor of No. 107 retains early 16th-century moulded ceiling beams and joists. The ornate timber screen in the passage may be reset from elsewhere. No. 108 may have had a side-entry plan which has been obscured by alterations in the 17th century, when the tall third story and attics were added, and in the 19th.
Tolsey Lane
Now part pedestrianised, and a bit of a backwater, Tolsey Lane was originally the main road to Gloucester, before the High Street was laid out, probably in the thirteenth century. The” tolsey” was the market toll house, and the precursor to the Town Hall. The Tolsey was opposite the entrance to the lane, when the area of the Cross was a larger open area used as a market.The lane’s alternative name, Guest Lane, is a remembrance of Giles Geest, who was a wealthy citizen in the sixteenth century. In his will he gave twenty-one cottages to the town, the rents to be used to benefit the poor.
Smart Clock
The Smart Clock.
Wilkes Alley
The original Wilkes’ Alley was one of Tewkesbury’s most populous. It was unusual in having houses on both sides. They were all demolished to create a supermarket on the High Street and a block of flats on Back of Avon. The alley was diverted across the concrete parking are a which was created to another alley, of unknown name, which runs along the neighbouring burgage plot.The Wilkes family ran an ironmongers business in the front house right through the nineteenth century. One of the few surviving buildings is their store and workshop, now a dry cleaners.
Smiths' Lane
One of the major walks from the High St to the river, Smiths Lane has never been an alley, though it was once much narrower and full of life. The Abbey Brewery was established here, one of several in Tewkesbury, with its tower a landmark on the High Street. When it closed it became a garage, but this and all the cottages behind it towards the river, were demolished to build a supermarket. On the opposite side were cottages from the Britannia to the river, with Sweet’s Court in the middle. Look down the lane to see the bridge over the Mill Avon and the Severn Ham meadow beyond. Smith’s Lane has recently been repaved in Staffordshire Blue brick, once the sign of a public alley, now used for its attractive finish and long life. The recesses in the wall of Poundland interest Project Alleycat, as a potential outdoor art gallery.
Clarks' Alley
Like most alleys it is named after the occupants of the front house. Miss Clark ran a dame school there in 1849, when alley names were fixed by the council, and signs erected. Clarks Alley is unusual in having raised brick strips in the walkway. Some say to enable horses to climb, others say to stop barrels rolling away. The walls are still chalky from many decades of being coated with limewash, initially as a means of preventing the spread of cholera, but also a way of throwing light through shaded cottage windows. The four cottages which used to be here have been demolished and replaced with Tudor House Hotel extensions. New cottages have been built on the other side; where front doors of the past opened into Bray’s Court, the next alley.
