Tong (St. Bartholomew)

TONG (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Shiffnall, Shiffnall division of the hundred of Brimstree, S. division of the county of Salop, 3¼ miles (E. by S.) from Shiffnall; containing 566 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Birmingham to Chester, and comprises by admeasurement 3466 acres. The river Worf commences from the union of two brooks at the western extremity of the parish. Tong Castle, the seat of the family of Durant, a magnificent mansion remodelled in the last century, is crowned with numerous turrets, pinnacles, and eight lofty domes, producing a striking effect: it contains many valuable pictures and cabinets. There are several quarries of red and white stone for building. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Durant family: the stipend of the incumbent was originally £14 per annum, with board, &c, at the castle; but Lord Pierrepoint, who built the present handsome parsonage-house, endowed the benefice with £80 per annum. The glebe comprises two acres, valued at £6 a year. The church is in the decorated style, with a spire rising from the centre, and is a fine specimen of ancient monastic architecture. It originally belonged to the abbey of Shrewsbury, and was purchased in 1411 by Isabel, relict of Sir Fulk Pembridge, Knt., who, with others, rebuilt the edifice, and made it collegiate for a warden, four secular chaplains, a number of priests, and two clerks, with an hospital for thirteen poor persons; the revenue at the Dissolution, according to Dugdale, was £22. 8. 1. Within the choir are some splendid altar-tombs with statues of the Pembridges and Vernons, ancient lords of the manor; also a monument in memory of Sir Thomas Stanley, which formerly stood in the chancel, and the inscription upon which is said to have been written by Shakspeare. There are some bequests for the poor. Charles II. is stated to have found refuge in a farmhouse in the parish.