Monument Type(s):

• PARK (Late 18th century to Mid 19th century - 1765 AD to 1855 AD)

Summary

Between the rebuilding of Tong Castle as a gothick building in 1765 and the death of its owner George Durant in 1780 the formal landscape was replaced by an open one, Castle Wood was planted , and new pools and a lake were created. Later George Durant II adorned the grounds with eccentric structures.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events: None recorded

Description

Very little remained in 1994 of either Tong Castle or the landscape and buildings with which it was embellished in the later 18th and 19th centuries, the latter one of the most numerous and eccentric collections in the county. The following account draws extensively upon, and without further reference to, D.H. Robinson, The Wandering Worfe (1980),50-65; A.M.C. Jeffery, 'The Durants of Tong Castle' (TS., copy in Shrops. R.O. 4717), although it does differ in some respects in its dating of particular features and buildings. The key map' sources are Shrops. R.O. 3581/1 (estate map 1759); Shrops. A.O. 5233/1 (estate map 1796); Shrops. R.O. 1781/21466 (map in sale particulars. of 1855, a copy of which is in Shrews. Local Studies Libr., MS. 3167). ->

-> In the Middle Ages there was a small stone castle at Tong, which had a park by 1273. In 1577 Tong park (also mapped in 1695) lay east of the castle (P. Stamper, A Survey of Historic Parks and gardens in Shropshire (1980), 101). By 1725, however, the castle was uninhabited and the park inclosed (T.S.A.S. II (1879), . 258). ->

-> About 1764 the Tong estate was sold by the grandson of the first Earl of Kingston. Presumably as a preparation to that sale Tong was mapped. The castle then lay east of a long pond, the later Church Pool, which curved around it like a letter C'. East of the castle was a formal layout. 'From east of the castle an avenue ran east- south-east for almost a mile, at its mid-point crossing the road leading north into Tong village. A second avenue, abutting the first at its west end, ran east as far as the road; a tree-lined ride departed north-east a third of the way along its length, ending at ponds south of Tong college. South-east of the castle and west of the later Castle Wood was a wilderness, with eight paths radiating from a central clearing. ->

-> The purchaser of Tong c. 1764 was George Durant, who amassed a personal fortune in the West Indies and then while serving as Paymaster to the forces in the Cuban expedition of 1762, and perhaps specifically at the sack of Havannah - that presumably being the event commemorated by the name of the hamlet Tong Havannah, in the northern part of the parish. That new fortune allowed Durant to commission 'Capability' Brown (who was working in 1765 at Weston Park) to suggest improvements at Tong, in 1765 he making several trips there and supplying Durant with 'various plans and elevations' relating to the rebuilding of the castle (D. Stroud, Capability Brown (1975), 148). ->

-> As so often, how much of the design of the castle as rebuilt, and how many of the landscape improvements, are directly attributable to the designer himself (in this case his plans and specifications do not survive), is unclear (although Hussey argued in 1946 that the hand of Brown can be seen clearly: Country Life. 27 Sept. 1946, p. 581). That notwithstanding, work done at Tong between 1764 and Durant's death included…
The almost complete rebuilding of Tong castle in stone in the gothick style. The removal of the formal landscape - the avenues and wilderness - and its replacement by an open landscape.
The planting of Castle Wood The extension eastwards of Church Pool up to the road leading north to Tong through the damming of Kilsall Brook and the creation of the South Pool.
About 1775 the creation of new pools north of the north end of Church Pool: Castle Hill Pool, with the more extensive Norton Mere to its north. Castle Hill Pool was supplied from the south-east end of Norton Mere. From the south-west end an artificial channel called 'the Cut' carried water on a looping course for a mile to supply a large new sheet of water, Lodge Lake (drained 1949), which extended between Vauxhall Farm (nb. Again the ironic name, presumably referring to the London pleasure gardens) and Tong Lodge. That pool was the setting for a great Aquatic Tournament in 1839 (presumably prompted by the Eglinton Tournament), reputedly attended by 3,000 people.
The construction of Convent Lodge (Listed Grade II: 0380/6/37) (the name may be later, temp. George Durant II) at the main, east, entrance.
The construction in the 1770s, opposite the Convent Lodge entrance, of the neo-Palladian New Buildings Farm (Listed Grade II: 0380/7/6) and walled kitchen gardens for Tong Castle. ->

-> George Durant died in 1780 and was succeeded by his four-year-old son George Durant II (d. 1844). The latter (on whose behalf an attempt was made to sell the castle in 1786: Sale Catalogue, copy in Shrews. Local Studies Libr., class mark NT 06 vf) later adorned both the grounds of Tong and farms on the outlying parts of his estate with numerous structures of a picturesque, whimsical or eccentric nature, many of them carrying equally odd or humorous inscriptions. Those in the grounds of Tong Castle included (the key sources for what follows being G. Griffiths, A History of Tong (2nd edn., 18*4); G. Boden, The History of Tong Church. College and Castle (3rd edn., [1931]) ->

-> On the South Lawn of the castle an iron weeping willow tree was constructed containing secret water pipes. When the seat at its base was sat upon water gushed from its leaves soaking the unsuspecting (?) victim.
Durant also had built a wooden, windowless hut, whose interior was painted black and adorned with luminous demons. Children were locked in this as a punishment.
In 1821 elaborate gates, gate piers and flanking walls were built at the Convent Lodge entrance, the walls incorporating carved panels ('an almost Hindu weight of luxuriant ornament': Hussey, op. cit.) and incorporating an octagonal stone gazebo in the form of a gothick pulpit very similar to that of the Shrewsbury Abbey refectory. The wall and gates were largely removed in 1978 after vandals had destroyed the gazebo, although some carved panels still survive in situ (Listed Grade II: 0380/6/29).
A similar pulpit gazebo was built at Tong Norton. That was demolished c. 1870 (Shrops. R.O. 3848/Misc/19, p. 128).
South of Convent Lodge a small stone Hermitage was built (Shrews. Local Studies Libr., J. H. Smith watercolour 338). Its gable end stood as late as 1971.
In a shrubbery near the lodge was an inscribed white stone pedestal surmounted with a ball.
Near the entrance gates was an inscribed stone pillar surmounted by an urn. In 1931 that was said to have been moved to one of the Earl of Bradford's woods.
An archway of inscribed whale jaw bones, 16 ft. high, was raised over the drive from the lodge to the castle.
Also along the drive was a second elaborate gate surmounted by 'Aeolian harps' inscribed with lines from Sir Walter Scott's 'Lady of the Lake'.
The lodge adjoined, and the drive ran alongside, a wooded dingle or gorge.
In 'a rock below the castle', perhaps at the east end of the Dell adjoining the west side of the castle, was an inscribed dropping well.
The East Drive, or Village Carriage Drive, to the castle departed from the public road south-east of Tong church. The majority of the gate structure (Listed Grade II: 0380/6/29) may again be of c. 1821, although the iron stanchions with the Durant crest which today form part of the gates previously ran along a road near the castle's tennis courts.
A third drive lead north to the Rosary, or Shifnal, lodge, probably built 1820- 30, a gothick essay in light and dark brick (picture in Country Life 27 Sept. 1946, p.581).
In the park west of Tong church a brick pigeon house was built (photo in Shrews. Local Studies Libr., Tong photo box). That was demolished in 1914.
On an island in Norton Mere a four-sided pyramidal privy in sandstone, 12 ft. high with each side 5 ft. long at its base. Over the door (here given as an example of Durant's wit) was inscribed PARVA SED APTA, 'small but convenient'. On the south side was inscribed SO LIT AR. It served Belle Isle Cottage on the island. Map evidence suggests (although this should be checked) that this structure is no longer extant.
About 1820, to celebrate the reduction in alimony payable to his divorced wife (mother of fourteen of his children), Durant erected an octagonal three-storey cottage on Knoll Hill, east of Norton Mere. Immediately on Durant's death that was blown up by his surviving children. ->

-> What are not catalogued here are the many other such structures built in villages and on farms on the Tong estate. Some still survive, such as the 'Egyptian aviary' at Vauxhall Farm, and the pyramidal pigsty and gothick cow house at Bishop's Wood (Staffs.). ->

-> On the death of George II in 1844 the estate passed to his grandson George Charles Selwyn. In 1855 he sold the castle and the surrounding portion of the estate to the earl of Bradford. Tong remains a part of the Bradford Estate today. ->

-> The castle became increasingly derelict in the later 19th century, and its façade was finally blown up in 1954. In the later 1970s the site was bisected by the new M54 motorway, which passed straight across the site of the castle. What survives of the castle is Listed Grade II (0380/6/40). <2>

The previous park [PRN 08522] was presumably enlarged at the time of the rebuilding of the castle in 1765, and it may have been at that time that serpentine pools were created around the western edge of the park. Certainly they were present by 1808. <3>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2007 (general shots). <4>

Sources

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