Church of St Bartholomew

Details

SJ 70 NE
6/27

TONG CP
NEWPORT ROAD (south side)
Church of St Bartholomew

26/05/55

GV
I
Parish Church. Circa 1260, largely re-built c.1410, for Elizabeth de Pembruge, south chapel of c.1515, and whole restored 1889-92 by Ewan Christian. Ashlar with lead roofs. Three bay nave, four bay aisles extending eastwards to form transepts, central tower and spire, south transeptal chapel, three bay chancel, and north vestry. Moulded cill string, continuous hoodmould, buttresses with set-backs and pinnacles above, parapet string, and battlemented parapet, except to aisles.

Tower: three stages; square second stage with corner pinnacles, and chamfered corners to octagonal bell stage. String course, parapet string, battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles, and short spire with pinnacled gabled lucarnes, and finial with weathervane. Two-light second stage windows to north and south with hoodmoulds; two-light louvred bell-chamber openings on cardinal faces with hoodmoulds.

Nave and aisles: four-light west window with panelled tracery, west doorway beneath with boarded doors, two-light west aisle windows; south side; four bays; two-light windows with quatre-foil tracery, three-light east window with panelled tracery; two bay chapel projecting to right with two-light four-centred arched windows; south doorway in second bay from left with moulded arch and two C15 boarded doors; south porch with moulded arch and two-light side windows; north side: four bays; two-light windows, three-light east window with panelled tracery, blocked door in second bay from west.

Chancel: three bays, three-light south windows with panelled tracery, four-centred moulded-arched doorway beneath centre window with square head, and carved spandrels; two three-light north windows, gabled vestry to north east with two-light north and east windows; large five-light east window with transom and panelled tracery; north east angle buttresses with two ogee-arched niches; one with C20 figure.

INTERIOR: three bay nave arcades with octagonal piers, moulded bases and capitals, double chamfered arches dying into responds, and hoodmoulds to south; double chamfered arches at east end of aisles and crossing, five bay C15 nave roof with carved corbels supporting cambered ties, moulded beams, and carved bosses; C15 lean-to aisle roofs; five-bay C15 chancel roof; four-centred moulded-arched vestry doorway with square head, and trefoiled panelled door with quatrefoil bottom panels, and three circular holes; three bay sedilia with cusped trefoiled arches; piscina with cinquefoil arch; evidence of former niches flanking east window; south (Vernon) chapel: moulded ogee-arched doorway with finial and four-centred boarded door, fan vault with shafts and carved pendants, altar slab, piscina, aumbry, and inscription and remains of painted crucifixion on east wall.

Fittings: parish chest dated 1625, carved coat of arms of 1814 in north aisle; C15 octagonal stone font with large stepped base, and carved trefoiled sides with shields; octagonal wooden pulpit dated 1629 with two tiers of arched panels, turned stem, and stairs with turned balusters; C15 north and south aisle screens of five bays with traceried lower panels, ogee lights with open panelled tracery, carved figures, and cresting; C15 chancel screen of nine bays with traceried lower panels, ogee lights with open panelled tracery, carved friezes and cresting; C15 chancel stalls with three-light traceried back panels, carved frieze, cresting, carved misericords, and desks with traceried panels and ends, and carved poppy-heads; 1899 sanctuary panelling; C19 reredos from Oberammergau; copy of parish map by Evelyn Knight of 1759 in north transept; c1600 vestment in vestry.

Stained glass: C15 in west window, with figures; east window of 1900 by Kempe. Exceptional series of monuments including: panel from a tomb chest on north wall with carved angel holding shield; C13 incised slab to priest in north transept; Sir Fulke and Lady Elizabeth de Pembruge (founders of the college) of 1408-47, alabaster chest tomb with two recumbant effigies and sides with single and double tiers of alternating arches; Sir Richard Vernon and wife of 1451, alabaster chest tomb with two recumbent effigies and sides with alternating saints and angels in canopied niches; Sir William Vernon and wife of 1467, chest tomb with two brasses and sides with carved quatrefoil panels; Ralph Elcott of 1510, brass of priest in south aisle wall; Sir Harry Vernon of 1515, chest tomb between south transept and Vernon chapel in panelled elliptical arch with canopied niches, chest tomb with two effigies, and sides with alternating angels and shields; Arthur Vernon, M. A. Cantab, of 1517, brass on floor of Vernon chapel, and canopied niche in the west wall with demi figure holding pen; Richard Vernon and wife of 1517, alabaster chest tomb with two effigies and sides with alternating angels and bedesmen; Humphrey Vernon and wife of 1542, incised slab on plain chest tomb; Mrs. Wylde of 1624, kneeling figure on west wall of chancel; Sir Edward Stanley of 1632 and his parents Sir Thomas Stanley (1576) and Margaret Vernon, two tier table tomb with effigy of Edward below and black columns supporting top tier with effigies of parents and obelisks at corners; Elizabeth Pierrepont of 1696, relief portrait in medallion on north wall of chancel; George Durant of 1780, tablet at crossing with mourning woman below urn, probably by John Bacon.

St. Bartholomew's Church was largely re-built after the founding of a chantry college here in 1410 by Elizabeth de Pembruge; none of the collegiate buildings survive but the remains of almshouses still stand to the west (qv).

Listing NGR: SJ7956507384

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

255307

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, (1908), 42-54
Griffith, G, History of Tong and Boscobel, (1894)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958), 301-304

End of official list entry

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