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From a portrait formerly belonging to John Mytton Esqre of Halston (Salop) and now in the possession of Mr George Griffiths.

Walker & Boutall Ph Sc.

All Rights Reserved.

A HISTORY

OF

TONG, SHROPSHIRE,

ITS

CHURCH, MANOR, PARISH, College,
EARLY OWNERS, AND CLERGY,

WITH

NOTES ON BOSCOBEL,

BY

GEORGE GRIFFITHS,

OF WESTON-UNDER-LIZARD.

ILLUSTRATED,

BY

Edmund H. New, GertrudE M. BRADLEY, AND
CHARLES W. S. DIXON.

Second Edition, with Additions.

NEWPORT, MARKET DRAYTON, AND STONE:
HORNE & BENNION, "ADVERTISER" OFFICES.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & CO., LTD.

MDCCCXCIV.

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"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting." Lady Mary Wortley Montague.

"The knights are dust,

Their swords are rust,

Their souls are with the saints we trust."

The Church was old and grey, with ivy clinging to the walls, and round the porch. It was a very quiet place, as such a place should be, save for the cawing of the rooks, who had built their nests among the branches of some tall old trees.

"Let us wair here," rejoined Nell, "the gate is open. We will sit in the church porch till you come back."

"A good place, too," said the schoolmaster, placing his portmanteau on the stone seat.

It was a very aged, ghostly place. The church had been built many hundreds of years ago, and had once had a convent or monastery attached; for arches in ruins, remains of oriel windows, and fragments of blackened walls were yet standing. They admired everything-the old, grey porch, the mullioned windows, the venerable gravestones dotting the green churchyard, the ancient tower, the very weathercock, the brown thatched roofs of cottage, barn, and homestead, peeping from among the trees; the stream that rippled by the distant watermill, the blue Welch mountains far away Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop,

Chis Work is Gratefully Inscribed and

Dedicated to

The Earl and Countess of Bradford,

on the

Fiftieth Anniversary of their Marriage,

April 30th, 1894,

By the Author.

vi.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION,

WITH ADDITIONS.

The thousand copies which comprised the first edition of my work on Tong, its Parish Church, and early history, having been exhausted, and the demand for the book by antiquarians and visitors alike continuing, I am persuaded to launch this second and enlarged edition with much confidence and hope of public approval.

The numerous illustrations and additional subjects will, I imagine, increase its general interest and usefulness.

These latter embrace :

The Hengist Tradition.

Some account of the Earl of Bradford's family and ancestry.
Notes upon the Restoration of the Church, Slabs found, the Stanley
Tomb, &c., and numerous revisions throughout.

An account of Tong College and its quaint rules.

A document recording the Perambulation of the Boundary of the Lordship or Manor and Parish of Tong in 1718, with local notes upon perambulations, millers, maypoles, the tithe pig, marlpits, Tong tournament, factory, and clockmakers, surnames, &c.

Memoranda of the Durant family.

Tong Church Registers, and a Proclamation found in the parish chest as to Gunpowder Plot.

Some account of the famous Ladies of Tong, viz.: Venetia Lady Digby, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Isabella Forester, Lady Stafford, and Dorothy Vernon.

Some account of Boscobel, which is just outside Tong parish, and particularly of the Royal Oak, the shelter of King Charles II; the faithful Penderels of Hubbal Grange in Tong. The Nunneries of White Ladies and Black Ladies, immediately on the outskirts.

Early Deeds of the Pemburges, Vernons, and Stanleys, forming a portion of this edition, are of interest to antiquarians, and will help, when time permits a fuller examination, to throw more light upon the ancient history of Tong.

I desire to record my grateful thanks to the Earl and Countess of Bradford for their kind and approving_letters written on the publication of the first edition. I must also mention the valuable help rendered me by Mr. Walter de Gray Birch, F.R.S.L,, of the British Museum, and by MS. Notes of the Rev. R. G. Lawrence, a former Vicar of Tong.

To others, whose names are mentioned throughout the work, I am desirous to express my obligations for their CRIFFITHS

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