The ‘Golden’ Chapel, built in 1510 by Henry Vernon who was the guardian-tutor of Prince Arthur, the son of Henry Vll and older brother of Henry Vlll. It has a magnificent fan-vaulted ceiling earning the Church the reputation of being the ‘Westminster Abbey of the Midlands’, now the only surviving example of medieval fan-vaulting in Shropshire. 

In 1892, when the Church had its last major restoration, an unbroken pre-reformation stone altar top with consecration crosses still visible was discovered in the chapel; some of the original painted rood (or wall painting) can still be seen but almost all the gilding for which the chapel got its name has long gone.

The Church contains one of the country’s finest collections of medieval tombs and effigies, dating between 1410 – 1632, that trace the history of Tong Castle and its Church. Documented in detail in William Dugdale’s ‘Visitation of Shropshire’ in 1663, people still come from far and wide to visit and especially to photograph the effigies. Most are carved in alabaster and are fairly complete, giving amongst other things a unique progressive history of medieval armour from the 15th to 17th centuries. The tombs honour important people connected to Tong, including Sir Richard Vernon (1451) who was Speaker of the House of Commons, Treasurer of Calais and Knight Constable of England. Humphrey Vernon (one of the three sons of Sir Henry Vernon buried in the church) and his wife Alice are commemorated on an alabaster slab (c.1531) with incised effigies still visible set on a (later) stone plinth. The most recent tomb is of Sir Edward Stanley (d.1576), and it has been convincingly argued by Helen Moorwood in her book ‘Shakespeare’s Stanley Epitaphs’ that the epitaphs at either end of the double-decker tomb are by William Shakespeare, a family friend.

The East and West Windows

The East window was designed by Charles Kempe (1902), in Pre-Raphaelite style, recently restored in 2014. He also designed the West window, using pieces of 15^th century glass that were rescued from the depredations of the Civil War, including a depiction of Edmund King & Martyr (restored 2010).

Tong bells are of high significance

The Great Bell of Tong, a bourdon bell weighing 2 ½ tons and the ninth biggest in the country (the biggest swung bell in Shropshire), was originally cast in 1518 and subsequently recast following damage during the Civil War. 

Earliest is the ‘Sanctus’ bell, given to the Church by Sir William Vernon in 1467; the other six bells date between 1593 -1810. 

The bells have to be rung from floor level which means there is a very long draft so they can only be rung by experienced people.

Several artefacts which belong to Tong:

• The Tong Cup, possibly a sacramental vessel or Standing Cup dating to the early 17th century or earlier (now housed in Lichfield Cathedral), alternatively now argued to be a non-sacred ‘salt’;
• a Prayer Book which may have belonged to Catherine of Aragon as it bears her emblem of a pomegranate, which along with more than 550 volumes were part of the original Parochial Library and stored in the vestry (the books are now in Shropshire County Archives);
• a finely embroidered velvet Pulpit Fall given to the Church in 1635 (recently undergone major conservation by the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court), has been rehung inside a new secure display case where it can be properly seen by the public for the first time in living memory.
• a silver ewer lent to the Victoria and Albert Museum . Hallmark London 1606.
• the twentieth century sculpture of St. Bartholomew executed by Pat Austin, talented wife of Shropshire Rose Grower David Austin.
• the Benefactions board in the north aisle.
• a brass in the floor of the Golden Chapel of Arthur Vernon, son of Sir Henry and Lady Alice

Other significant features:

• Stone piscina and sedilia in the sanctuary dating back to the original 1410 Church building
• Brass dated 1510 in memory of Sir Ranulf Elcock, the cellarer of the College also Skeffington family (1525 – 1550)
• Octagonal stone carved font is plain but original 15th century
• Octagonal wooden Jacobean pulpit (1629)
• A 12lb stone cannon ball and recently unearthed musket ball from the Civil War.
• Tong Castle Relief c. 1765-80, part of the Capability Brown design for Tong Castle, once embedded into the walls of the main entrance, and now one of two surviving relics of the castle on the church site, the other being the small child’s stone coffin, used as a planter outside the Golden Chapel.
• Royal Coat of Arms dated 1814, an early example of Coade stone, commissioned by George Jellicoe owner of Tong Castle to mark the end of the Napoleonic Wars
• Durant memorials dated 1863 to 1891
• Victorian pews designed as copies of the 15th century originals – part of the Victorian restoration
• The small two-manual organ built by J.W. Walker in 1877 has been restored by the current firm of that name in 2019. It has been awarded a Grade 2 certificate.