A Description of Tring from 1890 Kelly's Directory

 

TRING is a market town and parish situated on the road to Aylesbury and on the Buckinghamshire border of the county, 7 miles southeast from Aylesbury and 4 north-west from Berkhamsted, in the Western division of the county, in Dacorum hundred and petty sessional division, Berkhamsted union, Aylesbury county court district, and in the rural deanery of Berkhamsted and archdeaconry and diocese of St. Albans; the town is of ancient origin and stands on a site in close proximity to Icknield Street. near which Roman remains have been found. The London and North Western  Railway station (31¾miles from London) is a mile and three quarters from the town (in the parish of Aldbury) and the  Grand Junction canal passes near; A Local Board of Health established in February, 1859; consisting of 9 members, and the town is lighted with gas, by a company, from the  1st of October to the 1st of April.


Tring Church circa 1830
Alderman

 

The church of SS. Peter and Paul is an ancient building of stone and flint in the Perpendicular style  with features of an earlier date, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and ,a massive embattled western tower containing 8 bells, dating. from 1624 to 1882; the interior was thoroughly restored in 1862 and the church partially rebuilt during the years 1880 and 1881, a new clock, chiming the quarters being at the same time placed in the tower; the restoration, which was finished in March, 1882, cost about £3,500, furnished by voluntary contributions. The register dates from 1566. The living is a vicarage. gross yearly value £393, with residence, in the gift of T.G. Williams, esq. of Pendley Manor, and held since 1881 by the Rev. William Quennell M.A. of Worcester College; Oxford.

Long Marston, formerly a part of this parish, was formed. into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1871. Here is a Baptist chapel, with 450 sittings; a particular Baptist chapel seating 1000, and a Primitive Methodist chapel with 100 sittings.

The Market House, situated in the High. street, was erected in 1750 and is a building of wood with a tiled roof and iron railing in front. A market is held on Friday, which in the earlier part of the day is attended by . hundreds: of women from the neighbouring villages, who obtain their living by making straw plait and meet here the buyers from Luton and other parts; the corn market is also held here at 2 p.m. throughout the year; the fair on Easter Monday and Old Michaelmas Day is still held. The business of the town consists chiefly in canvas weaving, straw plaiting, silk throwing and weaving and brewing.


Victoria Hall - from Tring Town by Jill Fowler

 

The Victoria Hall in Akeman street, erected in 1886, on the site of the former assembly room, built in 1825, is a building of red brick with stone dressings, in the Italian Renaissance style; from designs by Mr. William Huckvale, architect, of Tring, and contains on the ground floor a spacious entrance hall, reading room, library and committee room and on first floor an assembly room 36 ft. by 70 ft with a platform and seating 500 persons; there is also an audit room: the reading room and library are occupied by the Tring District Working Men's Conservative club, which has 100 members.

There is a Mechanics' Institute, founded in 1855, with a library of 800 volumes, reading and other rooms; there are now (1890) 60 members; librarian, Alfred Fincher, The Dorcas Society and Lying-in Institution, established about 1830, is managed. by committees of ladies, in the ,town and holds meetings for the teaching of needlework; a trained lady nurse was appointed to the Lying-in Institution in 1884, to attend to the poor in illness ,at a cost of about £160 a year, contributed by voluntary subscriptions: there are also a coal c1ub, and a district visiting society, both supported by contributions. The Tring Poor's Land, formerly, consisting of 107A.3R.7P of land and 3 houses, but now sold and the proceeds invested Consols, -produces an annual income of upwards of £180, and is distributed in coal at Christmas. The other charities, now consolidated with an income, of about £140 are administered under a new scheme from. the Charity Commissioners; dated 1884, which allows the application of its funds in several channels for the benefit of the poor and mainly for the encouragement of thrift and independence.

Tring Park, the property and residence of Lord Rothschild is pleasantly situated amid lovely woodland scenery with: undulating slopes richly timbered on all sides. Lord Rothschild is Lord of the manor of Tring, and Joseph Grout Williams esq. J.P. of the manor of Pendley. The principal Landowners are Lord Rothschild, Joseph Grout Williams J.P; of Pendley Manor, James Grange esq . and the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford.

The soil, which rests on the lower chalk formation, varies considerably. The area is 7,625 acres of land land 221 water; rateable value, £23,401; the popu1ation in 1881 was 5,357, including Long Marston and Wilstone, while that of the town only is 4,354.

Parish Clerk, Thomas Tompkins


Pumping Station, Little Tring, circa 1905

 

LITTLE TRING and TRING GROVE are hamlets. At Little Tring, 1 mile from Tring, are the Grand Junction Canal Water Works and reservoir; the later is 405 feet above the sea, being a trifle higher than the summit of St Paul's, London; there are 55 locks on the canal between Northchurch and the Thames.

WILSTONE is a small hamlet and chapelry of Tring, from which it is 2 miles north-west and 6½ east from Aylesbury. The village is pleasantly situated in a valley under the hills, on the Aylesbury canal. The Church of St Cross, built and opened in 1877, but not yet consecrated, is an edifice of flint and brick, in Early English style, consisting at present of a nave only, seating about 200 persons; the Rev John Frederick W. Trumper B.A. of St John's College, Cambridge, is curate in charge. Straw plaiting is the principal employment of the females here. The area is 690 acres; the population of Wilstone, with Little Tring and Tring Ford, in 1881 was 563.

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