Tong Castlewas advertised for sale in the pages of Country Life on March 8, 1913. The pictures show a fantastical-looking Gothic structure set within the ubiquitous landscaping of one Capability Brown.
The early Tudor brick castle of Tong built by Sir Harry Vernon as seen in this 1731 engraving. It was replaced in about 1765 with a Georgian-Gothic mansion.
Knowing Britain could be on the cusp of war, the Earl of Bradford had previously offered the pile to the War Office for the internment of prisoners-of-war, but his generosity was declined on the grounds of the lack of modern sanitary arrangements. Subsequently unable to sell the distinctly old-fashioned construction, and finding himself with too many houses, the decision was taken by the Earl to remove the copper and lead from the roof, sell the contents and leave Nature to take its course. Apparently, the grounds were kept in fair condition until late in the War, when the newly-formed Air Ministry decided it was sanitary enough for them to requisition it... and the rest, as they say, is history.
The creeper-encrusted facade of Tony before it fell to ruin.
Capability Brown's landscape and the east side of the castle, photographed in 1946.
Unusually for Country Life, the ruins of Tong were photographed for an article by Christopher Hussey in 1946. By then, windows were missing, walls were leaning and cartouches were crumbling, but the curious creation of one George Durant was still beloved by Hussey even in its ruinous state. Of particular note was Durant’s humour. He excelled at epigraphy, and as he aged, his epitaphs became more facetious. A favourite was his Egyptian-style fowl house, emblazoned with encaustic bricks bearing phrases such as ‘Live and Let Live’, ‘Scratch Before You Peck’, and ‘Teach Your Granny’.
Sadly, neither whimsical humour, nor the admiration of Country Life’s architectural editor could save this romantic wreck. It was raised to the ground in 1954. Minimal walls and curiosities remain and they are now, somewhat ironically, listed by Historic England. They lie, however, divided by the terribly unromantic M54.
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