Shakespeare in Staffs

Shakespeare and Staffordshire... are there any connections?  Erm, not really.  Write-ups about Stafford point out that the actors company that Shakespeare was a member of came to the town, but that's about it.

Howver, it's claimed that the two inscriptions on this massive tomb in Tong Church (which is on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border) might have been written by the Man. One of them reads:
Ask who lyes heare but do not weep,
He is not dead he dooth but sleep
This stoney register, is for his bones
His fame is more perpetual than theise stones
And his own goodness with himself being gon
Shall lyve when earthlie monument is none

...whose rhythm sounds a little trite for Shakespeare, but then, after all, this is a dedication, not a piece of thoughtful poetry.  However nothing is proven. 
For an interesting refelection on this debate, see The Shakespeare Blog

Lady of the roses

This entombed lady, and the chaplet / wreath of roses about her head, is nearly always the first item to draw the attention of the visitor coming to St Bartholomew Church in Tong. Tong is on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border. 

The story behind the roses is charming.
In medieval times, a local family had to place roses on the statue of the Blessed Virgin in the Lady Chapel at Tong Church once a year (on Midsummer Day). This act was part of a solemn agreement.
When, however, statues to the saints were removed from churches during the Reformation, the locals were not to be thwarted.  Instead they placed the roses on this tomb - which was next to the former Lady Chapel.

In a very English way, the tradition lasts to this day, though the roses are now more likely to be artificial (which is why they last so long, and can be seen on most days!).

By the way, the lady who lies in this tomb is Lady Isabel Pembrugge, who died in the mid 15th century.

This post has been featured on Taphophile Tragics (the cemetery-enthusiasts' website)   

Skeleton in the window

The skeleton grins fiendishly out of this window at the walker who passes by this house in the village of Tong.

I had a theory that the owners were so fed up of people looking in the window (Tong is a very pretty village, and attracts tourists) that they placed the skeleton there to frighten them from doing it.
...but it draws attention to the window too, of course. So, that theory is not as solid as it might be.

Anyway, a resident told me it was doctors who live in this house - and maybe that explains the skeleton, which may be a sort of medical tool. Maybe.

The grave of, er, Little Nell...

But… Little Nell is a fictional character, from Charles Dickens’ novel 'The Old Curiosity Shop’ – I hear you cry – so how can there be a grave for her?!!   And you are quite right.

In the nineteenth century, an unscrupulous verger at Tong Church set up a rough grave with a few stones, and showed it, for a fee, to gullible tourists saying that this really was the little heroine’s last resting place.  The verger even faked a burial registry!
(Dickens had apparently revealed by this point that Tong had been the original for the village in which Nell dies in the book).

Of course, this deceit couldn’t go on, so the church authorities stepped in to stop it.
But the villagers wanted to keep the legend going, so the authorities didn’t actually ban the idea, they just insisted the word ‘reputed’ be put in…  
A very English compromise.

This post has been featured on Taphophile Tragics (the cemetery-enthusiasts' website)