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Your Hines
Being from these parts I send this letter at hazard.
Upon Thursday Last I came before Tong and have taken the Church, the College and the Castle. I beganne with the Church fourst and drive the rebells from thence into the college the nexte morning after I came, and finding that they were In a fright I sent a drume to the College to sum’on them, weropon they yielded presently, and that day marched away with ther Armes: Upon wich I sent to the Castle tosee if they would take the same quarter wiche at first they denyed. And shortly after ther Came one running away from the Castle that perseuaded me to send once more. And having sent I found that they were wavering, and having parlyed with them the next Morning the marched away. I heve pute a Garrison In the Castle wiche is a strong plase, and worth the keeping, but for the College it were better to demolish it, then to be at the Cherge of a garrison, for the are so farre asunder that they cannot relieve one another.
I am now quartered at Shiffnall and the villages thereabouts till I know your highnesses forde pleasure as being
Your most obedient servent
HENRY TILLIER
Shifnall 28 of April 1644
The above is taken from Four letters from Shropshire to Prince Rupert. Edited by J E Auden and printed in the Shropshire Historical Transacts
Tong Castle was owned by William Pierrepoint MP for Wenlock, a strong Parliamentarian. It was decided that a garrison would be placed in the castle, but the Local Royalists got there first and it was recorded by Symonds as a garrison for the King. This did not last as it was taken by Parliament in July 1643. It was a thorn in the side of the Royalist cause until Prince Rupert was made Captain General of all forces in Shropshire and the adjacent counties 6 January 1643. He then set about reducing the local Parliament garrisons and Tong was one of these. He did not achieve all he wanted to, as he went to the relief of Newark in March 1644 On his return he had not forgotten the castle and Tillier was sent to deal with it. The footnote in the papers gives the following for Tillier;
Henry Tillier had gone over to Ireland in 1641 as Lieutenant–Colonel and was sent back to England in command of a foot regiment of a 1,000 men. Which landed at Chester on February 10, 1643 – 4 and was forwarded at once to Shrewsbury arriving on the 23 rd. Of these men a picked body under their Colonel were dispatched to the relief of Newark, and their first exploit on their return was the taking of Tong. For his gallantry here and at Newark, Tillier was promoted Quartermaster – General, and afterwards Major General. General Tillier was at Marston Moor wheer of his “1000 foot greencoats most of them were lost” (Symonds) and himself taken prisoner. Exchanged in November 1644, he was at Bristol when it surrendered, and signed the Articles on September 10, 1645. Going abroad Tillier joined the French service and in 1647 was in command of two companies of English refugees. (no reference to this last quote)
Symonds in his diary notes that in his list of garrisons for May 1645 that “ Tong Castle first the king had it, and then the rebells gott it, then Prince Rupert tooke it, and put in a garrison who afterwards burnt it when he drew them out to the battails of York”
Tong today has little left of the Castle as the M54 was driven through it. Some archaeology was done before the road went through and this revealed a complicated sequence of building from the 12 th century up to the 18 th century. It was a ruin after the First World War and was demolished in 1954 on the grounds it was a dangerous structure. What is left and is worth the visit is the Church and area around it. It still bears the marks of the conflict but was spared the cleansing carried out by some Parliament troops (It was their local church)