Shirley Wells (shezza51 @t gmail.com) of Billingham, Cleveland, writes:  I am looking for copies of any surviving pictures of Church Lane, Tring, and Stratford Place, Tring, as I lived in houses in the lanes from when I was 4 in 1955 to when I was 11.  They were happy times.  I came across a reference to Church Lane in HALS, which indicated it may have been called Chapwell Lane at one time.

I am also interested in the history of Church Lane, as when I lived in it it was said to be a row of Tudor cottages.  I remember we bought number 6 Church Lane from Percy Black's estate agents in Aylesbury for £200. The communal well for the properties was in our part of the triangular back green. It was all CPO'ed in about 1963. I believe it is now Frogmore St car park.

I remember there was an old man called William Grace who lived next door at No: 7 who in his youth had been the personal cobbler to Lord Rothschild.  he fought in the First World war and had many medals. Miss Wadds lived at No: 5.  She worked in the silk mill, and used to bring home corn dollies for the neighbours that someone at the mill had woven..

There are a large number of books of views of Tring, but the cottages between Frogmore Street and the Church were not frequently photographed.  All the books have plenty of good views of the main streets in the town - and other important features - and I have thumbed through them to find the ones with the best pictures.

The book that you will find most interesting is Tring Through Time, by Jill Fowler This was published in 2009 and should still be available. It has several views of Frogmore Street then and now, A picture of the back of some houses in Church Lane, with the Vestry Hall (see picture) as they were - and a view of the Vestry Hall with cars parked on what were the gardens. Other then and now pictures show Alma Place (now a car park) and a view from the Church Tower toward the bakers shop on Frogmore Street with the roofs of houses in Stratton Place.

Mike Bass and Jill Fowler also published Around Tring, followed by Around Tring - The Second Selection. These were republished as a single "two in one" volume in 2001 The combined volume contains four views of Frogmore Street and two of Church Lane (in part 2). Also in the second part there are a large number of school groups, with many of the children named, and while they may not include you they will undoubtedly include children from families you knew..

Barry Woodhouse's Tring: A Pictorial History includes two pictures of Church Lane (one shown on right) and I wonder if you can identify your house. David and Joan Hay's Tring & District in old picture postcards contains yet another view of Church Lane while Mike Bass and Jill Fowler's Tring and District in old picture postcards (Volume 2) has two pictures of Church Lane - but these are the same as those in  Tring through time.

I could find no pictures which showed Stratton Lane.

Until recently a shop in Tring sold high quality reproductions of old photographs and post cards of Tring framed or unframed). These were produced by Mike Bass (mike @t oldtring.co.uk) and if you want copies of old photographs of the Church Lane area you should contact him.