Tong College - Chapter 6

If you have visited many of the great medieval cathedrals you will often find a monastic style building alongside it. As well as serving the church, the chaplains served the local community too. Tong, Shropshire was one of the relatively few collegiate churches that was established in the fifteenth century.

“The massive increase in sudden deaths led to a great desire to pray for the dead. The Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 led to the establishment of Battlefield College, with 8 clergy to pray for the souls of those, who died in that massive slaughter. There were different sorts of Colleges. Some provided singers for cathedrals; some were attached to hospitals; some included academic institutions; and others (like Tong) were Chantries. Part of this was a reaction against Monasteries. They had developed vast wealth, and people became suspicious of their increasing power. So the rich became more inclined to endow their own Colleges and Chantries, to pray for the dead and to provide some local education.”

Tong College, a victim of Henry VIII's dissolution in 1546, provided Tong with education, pastoral and heath care as well as a source of employment. Chapter 6 documents the busy lives of the chaplains at the college.

“Payment was made for work done. The Parochial Chaplain and the Schoolmaster received additional payments. Those, who failed to attend services, were fined halfpence a time. The College building must have been quite big; meals were eaten in a common refectory. All talk had to be in a subdued tone. The door was locked at night, and the Warden kept the key. A Steward or Cellarer was appointed to deal with provisions. There are rules for entertaining visitors: 'The brothers are to abstain, as far as they can, from the introduction of strangers that the ground of distraction may be cut away as much as can be done honourably.'”

The college was supported financially by endowments of land, these were not just local (Lapley and Wheaton Aston) but also in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The college clearly prospered:

“The accounts for 1437 and 1440 reveal that the College was employing five farm servants. By this time, it was providing enough corn, meat, and dairy products to meet all the requirements of the community. In 1438, the College was able to sell surplus rye and wool. In 1432, they had 92 sheep and 30 stones of wool were sold. By 1441, the amount of wool went up to 39 stones. There was a vineyard situated to the south east of the College.

A group of five or six clergy at Tong would not have been unusual at this time. In 1500, the population of England was 2 million, and there were 23,500 clergy. Every resident in Tong would have been, in some way, connected to the Castle and the College. So here was a compact, and selfsufficient community. ”

On the dissolution of Tong College in 1546 the building and its lands passed to Richard Vernon and James Woolriche before passing on to William Pierrepoint with the rest of the Tong Estate.

The College served as almshouses for a while before it was demolished by George Durant as part of his landscaping in 1765. Alan Wharton excavated the college in 1981. It lies in the field to the south of the Church just clipped by the A41 bypass of Tong village.

Plan of Tong College drawn in 1911
Ground plan of the college drawn in 1911 based on parch marks in the field to the south of the Church.

For more about Tong please buy the book. The profits from the sale of the book will go towards maintaining Tong Church.

For information about the excavation carried out on the Tong College site, please visit our Excavation pages.