This  story takes us to one of the other parishes in our benefice – to Tong, though the main character was born and died within the Shifnal parish.

Recently, members of the Shifnal Local History Group have been assisting in the sorting and listing of the records of Tong Church.  This task has reminded us of, or introduced us to, a church and village rich in architectural and cultural history, whose importance stretches far beyond the parish boundaries with its associations with Shakespeare, Dickens, Mrs Fitzherbert and many influential patrons.

The story centres on Tong Castle, the home from 1764 of the Durant family.  George Durant, 1731-80, made a fortune through his role as paymaster for an expeditionary force to the West Indies and purchased the old castle with the proceeds.  He rebuilt the castle in the gothic style and took advice from Capability Brown on designing the park land, which included damning the natural streams to form lakes and pools, such as Church Pool, in the picture above, which linked the castle to the church.

George Durant was succeeded by his son, another George, who was only 4 when his father died.  Although highly educated and with great natural qualities, he is remembered for his many ‘illicit amours’ which produced 34 illegitimate children.  When young George was 19 years old, one of the castle maids, Mary Lee, was found drowned in the ornamental South Pool under circumstances that led to suspicion of foul play.  The young master made all his family, household and retainers come one by one to look at and touch the body, but the murderer was not detected by this trial by ordeal.

Both the parish registers, 1^st April 1796, and the coroner’s inquest reported that Mary Lee was a lunatic and had committed suicide.  George Durant married and had 14 children with his first wife, whom he divorced, and 6 more children with his second wife.  At his death in 1844, there was rejoicing in Tong with shouts of ‘The old man is finally dead’.  Mary Lee was forgotten.

In the early 1860s, a man approached the Rev. Henry Cunliffe, vicar of Shifnal, and Uvedale Corbett, a magistrate living at Aston Hall.  He claimed that the death of Mary Lee was not a case of suicide but murder, and that he was the murderer.  His name was Richard Jenks: he had been born in 1775 at the Lizard Forge.  His parents were William, a gardener, and Martha Jenks.  In the baptismal records of their other children, they were recorded as living at Lizard Common.  At the time of his confession Richard Jenks was living in Broadway, Shifnal, with his wife, Mary.  He told the vicar and the magistrate that the murder was a pre-arranged affair, to save trouble for young Mr. Durant.  Mary went to the pool to fill a small kettle, and Jenks pushed her in.  He would have been a young man of 21 in 1796, almost the same age as George Durant.

George Durant organised a party at Vauxhall farm, near where Richard Jenks was living, on the evening of the murder.  It was noted that Jenks arrived late but the alibi held.  On the day of the ordeal, George Durant sent him to deliver a pair of swans to Lichfield.   Jenks escaped suspicion and continued serving his Durant master.  Again, according to Shifnal baptismal records, Richard Jenks, and his wife Mary, were living at Lizard Forge at the time of the birth of their daughter, another Mary, in 1821.  Richard is listed as being a servant.  On the death of George Durant in 1844, his heirs were more interested in other properties in the South of England and abroad.  The castle became empty, and was eventually put up for sale in 1855, being bought by the Duke of Bradford.  Richard Jenks and his wife moved to Shifnal in 1853.  He became more anxious and towards the end of his life, he seemed to be in constant fear.  If he saw a young woman coming, he would hasten into his house saying ‘Make the door; she’s coming for me’.  He died, aged 87, after making the confession in March 1862.

This story can be found in ‘History of Tong’ by J. E. Auden, vicar of Tong, 1896-1913, and the map is taken from ‘The wandering Worfe’  by D.H. Robinson. Both books are available for loan from Shifnal Library.  If you want to learn more about the history of our town and the surrounding parishes, visit the Local History Exhibition, Friday 2 – 4pm and Saturday 10am – 12 noon.