page_title: St Bartholomew's Church, Tong
section_title: Little Nell's grave
hierarchical_section_title: St Bartholomew's Church, Tong / Exterior and grounds / Little Nell's grave
caption_attribution_description: English: The reputed grave of Little Nell in St Bartholomew's parish churchyard, Tong, Shropshire
context_page_description: The Collegiate Church of St Bartholomew, Tong is a 15th-century church in the village of Tong, Shropshire, England, notable for its architecture and fittings, including its fan vaulting in a side chapel, rare in Shropshire, and its numerous tombs. It was built on the site of a former parish church and was constructed as a collegiate church and chantry on the initiative of Isabel Lingen, who acquired the advowson from Shrewsbury Abbey and additional endowments through royal support. Patronage remained with the lords of the manor of Tong, who resided at nearby Tong Castle, a short distance to the south-west, and the tombs and memorials mostly represent these families, particularly the Vernons of Haddon Hall, who held the lordship for more than a century. Later patrons, mostly of landed gentry origin, added further memorials, including the Stanley Monument which is inscribed with epitaphs specially written by William Shakespeare.
  The church was the site of a minor skirmish during the English Civil War and also hosts the grave of Little Nell from Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, despite the character being entirely fictitious.
context_section_description: The churchyard has a grave in it that has a little metal plate attached to it which reads "The reputed grave of Little Nell". This stems from the character of Little Nell in Charles Dickens' novel, The Old Curiosity Shop. In the novel, both Little Nell and her grandfather are made destitute, and move to an unidentified West Midlands village to become beggars. At the end of the book, Nell dies and her grandfather sits by her grave waiting for her return (he is afflicted with a mental illness and so refuses to admit that she is, in fact, dead).
  Around 1910, the verger at the time, George Bowden, created a false entry in the parish register to state that a Nell Gwyn was buried in the churchyard. The giveaway was that he used Post Office ink rather than the normal ink used in the register. He also created a grave which has moved around in the last 100 years as real people were interred in the church grounds. Despite being a fake and also that Nell is a fictitious character, the grave has attracted many visitors including some from as far afield as America.
  Tong has been identified as the setting for Nell's death because Dickens' grandmother was the housekeeper at Tong Castle and whilst he was staying at nearby Albrighton to visit her, he is said to have penned the closing lines in the novel. Dickens himself confirmed this to the clergy in the church of Tong after publication of The Old Curiosity Shop, with Dickens also describing the church as "..a very aged, ghostly place".
caption: Reputed grave of Little Nell in St Bartholomew's churchyard
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