Tring, Hertfordshire Genealogy

England   Hertfordshire   Hertfordshire Parishes

Parish History
TRING (St. Peter and St. Paul), a market-town and parish, in the union of Berkhampstead, hundred of Dacorum, county of Hertford, 30 miles (W. by N.) from Hertford, and 31 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing, with the hamlet of Wilstone, and the ehapelry of Long Marston, 4260 inhabitants, of whom 2772 are in the town. This place is of remote antiquity. The opinion that it is of Roman origin receives confirmation from the fact that the lkeneld-way from Dorchester to Colchester passed in its vicinity; and at the time of the division of the county by Alfred, it was considered of sufficient importance to give name to the hundred in which it was situated, being then called Treung. Antiquaries have attributed the derivation of its name to the form of the town, which they suppose to have been originally triangular. It consists principally of two streets, the larger crossed at the top by the other, and both containing good houses, generally of modern style. Contiguous to it is the elegant mansion of Tring Park (built by Charles II., for his favourite mistress, Eleanor Gwynn, and since modernised), with the hills rising in the back-ground, clothed with fine beech-trees. The general appearance of the town is exceedingly neat, the atmosphere salubrious, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. A silk-mill, worked partly by water and partly by steam, gives employment to upwards of 300 persons, and the manufacture of canvas and straw-plat is carried on. The Grand Junction canal passes within about a mile of the town; and in the parish are four large reservoirs, to supply water to that navigation. At Wilstone is one of the sources of the river Thames, and a station on the London and Birmingham railway is fixed at Tring, where the line attains its summit level, 332 feet above the Euston-square terminus. The market, granted by charter of Charles II. in 1681 to Henry Guy, Esq. (upon whom that monarch had, the year before, bestowed the manor), is held on Friday, for straw-plat, corn, meat, and pedlery; cattlefairs are held on Easter-Monday and Old Michaelmasday. The market-house, the property of the lord of the manor, is on the north side of the principal street. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £157; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of ChristChurch, Oxford: the tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1797. The church, situated near the market-house, is a handsome embattled structure in the ancient English style, with a large tower at the west end, surmounted by a low spire; the font is in the later English style, highly enriched. At Long Marston is a chapel of ease. There are places of worship for Baptists and Independents. Two allotments of land, containing together about 110 acres, let for £71 per annum, were awarded to the parish under the inclosure act, and the rent, with the produce of some small bequests, is appropriated to supplying the poor with coal, &amp;c. A Roman helmet was found in digging the Grand Junction canal, near Northcote Hill, between this town and Berkhampstead. Robert Hill, a remarkable self-taught linguist, was born here in 1699.

From: Lewis, Samuel A.,A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848)

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Hertfordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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Web sites
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