People have lived, farmed and traded in the Hertfordshire town of Tring for thousands of years. The Icknield Way, which hugs the Chiltern scarp, is reckoned to be the oldest road in Europe, while the Bulbourne Valley provided an obvious route for the Romans heading out west from St Albans. It was inevitable that a settlement would develop here on the well-drained soil, with springs and good sites for wind and water mills.
In 1799, the Grand Junction Canal brought profound changes to this peaceful agricultural place. Coal, bricks and slates came in, while flour and farm produce were loaded for distant markets. Industry arrived in 1823 with the construction of a silk mill and the building of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1835 meant that Tring was within an hour’s journey of London. When the Rothschild family added Tring Park to their local estates in 1872, the banker and statesman Nathaniel, later the first Baron Rothschild, set about rebuilding the farms and building new cottages to replace decaying properties in the town.
In this book, Paul Rabbitts highlights fifty of Tring’s buildings and landmarks – old and new – to explore its fascinating history. The structures included range from churches to cottages, court to clock house, museums to mills, and mansion to market house. Each has its story to tell and reveals the town's development through the centuries.
Illustrated throughout, this accessible and engaging perspective will be of interest to residents, local historians and visitors.