Tong Church

Yes there is a village called Tong and it has a church. Or to name it correctly,The Collegiate Church of St Bartholomew, Tong, built in 1409

It is is one of those fantastic wow finds of the whole year. We were just driving along from the Old Hall at Moseley to Lilleshall Abbey ruins and it just appeared sitting there on a little hill. What drew our attention was it's impressive looks from the outside with battlement style high walls with buttreses and a low roof, a central square tower that changes shape to octagonal above the roofline and the octagonal tower is topped off by a squat spire.

It is inside that the marvel hits you, it's like a mini cathedral with Gothic tombs and a magnificent two and a half ton great bell. The revelations just keep leaping out at us everywhere we looked. One of the tombs was Sir Henry Vernon (died1515) who was the guardian of Prince Arthur when he was learning the art of Kingship at Ludlow about 35 miles away. Another tomb has an authenticated poem written by Shakespeare
" ask who lies here but do not weep, he is not dead he doth but sleep......"

There is another tomb in the golden chapel added in 1510 undamaged by Cromwells troops, still with the original painting on the stonework, yet another has a brass plate showing the first time an Elephant was enscribed in England. The engraver had never seen one and refused to believe the description of an animal that could be so large, so he made one dog sized to go at the masters feet.

One last tomb, or more precise the grave of Little Nell, from Charles Dickens Old Curiosity shop, is in the graveyard. Charles Dickens' Grandmother was house keeper at the local castle and it is said that the Character of little Nell is based on his wife's sister who died when she was 17. The Old Curiosity shop was in the village, but did little Nell really exist?.

The verger took us up to the bell tower to look at the great bell and also showed us some of fine detailed carvings around the choir and a little secret that I willbe following up at Kings College Cambridge in a few weeks.

Outside the Church, on the north side the wall peppered with musket and cannonball shots particularly around one window, relics from the civil war, which it whay it's surprising that the interior of the chapels are in such good condition.

A truly surprising visit and one to be repeated I think when we are next in that part of the country.


www.tudorhistorytours.com