Tring

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Tring
Tring shown within Hertfordshire
Population	11,835
OS grid reference	SP924117
District	Dacorum
Shire county	Hertfordshire
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	TRING
Postcode district	HP23
Dialling code	01442
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
European Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	South West Hertfordshire
List of places: UK • England • Hertfordshire

Coordinates: 51°47′46″N 0°39′33″W / 51.7962, -0.6592

Tring is a small market town in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated 30 miles (50km) north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a commuter town in the London commuter belt.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Sport
4 Local economy
5 Education
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Geography

Tring is positioned at a low point in the Chiltern Hills which has been utilised by communications links since ancient times as a point of easy crossing. It is located at the summit level of the Grand Union Canal and there has been extensive excavation of cuttings for both the canal and railway as they pass through the vicinity.

Tring railway cutting is 2.5 miles long and an average of 40 feet deep and is celebrated in a series of coloured lithographs by John Cooke Bourne showing its construction in the 1830s.

The four Tring reservoirs – Wilstone, Tringford, Startops End, and Marsworth – were built to supply water for the canal. These have been a national nature reserve since 1955, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1987.

Nearby, within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beautythat almost surrounds the town, is the Ashridge Estate, part of the National Trust and home to Ashridge Business School.

Tring railway station is about two miles from the town. The town's bypass from 1973 until 1987 was the A41(M) motorway.

Population 13,000

[edit] History

The Manor of Tring is described in the Domesday survey of 1086. In 1682 the Mansion designed by Christopher Wren was built for the owner Colonel Guy. A later tenant was Lawrence Washington, great-grandfather of George Washington, first President of the USA. In the late 19th century the estate became the home of the Rothschild family, whose influence on the town was considerable.

Nathan Mayer, Rothschild's son Lionel Walter Rothschild (2nd Lord Rothschild) built a private zoological museum in Tring which, as The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, has been part of the Natural History Museum since 1937. In April 2007 the museum changed it's name to the Natural History Museum at Tring in order to make people more aware of the museum's link to London's Natural History Museum.

The 2nd Lord Rothschild also released the edible dormouse (Glis glis) into Tring Park. He is remembered for riding around the town in a zebra-drawn carriage, and the town's symbol has been the head of a zebra ever since.

Gerald Massey – poet, literary critic, Egyptologist and Spiritualist – was born nearby at Gamnel Wharf, New Mill, on the Wendover Branch of the Grand Union Canal.

The former livestock market in Tring, redeveloped in 2005, was believed to be the last remaining example of its type in the UK. It is now the home of weekly Friday Market and monthly Saturday farmers Market. Some of the former livestock pens were retained.

View over Tring, looking North

Tring Park

[edit] Sport

Tring Sports Centre is in the grounds of Tring School.

Tring is the former home town of Premiership referee and 2003 FA Cup Final referee Graham Barber, now retired in Spain. It is also home to the retired FA and World Cup referee Graham Poll.

Tring is home to two football clubs, Tring Athletic and Tring Corinthians, both of which play in the Spartan South Midlands Football League, and to a youth football club, Tring Tornadoes, which field sides for boys and girls up to 16.It is also home to a rugby club, Tring Rugby Union Football Club, which won promotion to London Division One in 2008, and Tring Park Cricket Club, in the Home Counties Premier League.

[edit] Local economy

There is a Tesco on London Road a Co-op on Silk Mill Way and a Marks & Spencer food store in Dolphin Square that opened on 9 October 2007.

Tring brewery has been operating in Tring since 1992.

Heygates Mill is a flour mill. Originally it was a windmill and the company was run by William Mead. The windmill was demolished in 1910 to make way for a wheat storage silo. In those days, Mead lived on site, in a house next to the yard, and owned half the area taken by the mill of today. The remaining space was occupied by boat-builders, Bushell Brothers, who built narrow-boats.

The Heygate family took over Mead’s business in 1945, and today mills 100,000 tons of wheat a year, resulting in 76,000 tons of flour. This is mainly bakers' flour, but there is also a commitment to wholemeal digestive for biscuits, bulk outlets, and a large output of 1.5kg bags from the pre-packed flour plant.

As in the days of Tring windmill, only two men operate the system - but in those days they milled half a ton per hour, and now, with a computerised installation, more than 12 tons an hour are produced.

Heygate’s Tring mill has 80 employees, and 16 trucks delivering throughout the south of England.

[edit] Education

Tring School is a state secondary school with approximately 1,500 pupils (ages 11-18). It is located on Mortimer Hill on the east side of the town. It is now designated a Specialist Humanities College with History, Geography and English as its lead subjects.

The Arts Educational School is an independent specialist performing arts and academic school. It is located in Tring Mansion, Tring Park.

Tring has four state junior schools, Bishop Wood CE Junior School, Dundale Primary and Nursery School, Goldfield Infants and Nursery School and Grove Road Primary School.