TRING is the most westerly place of any importance in Herts. The station (L.&N.W.R.) is nearly 2 miles E. from the town, which is sheltered on the N.W. by the chalk hills, a fresh spur of which crops out 3 mile N.E. at Aldbury (_q.v._). The church (Perp.) stands near the centre of the town and is fortunate in having been restored under the direction of Mr. Bodley in 1882. It is an embattled, flint structure; the tower has a corner turret and is, like that at Hitchin, unusually massive. Note (1) the clustered columns of the nave, (2) the quaint corbels, (3) the large, imposing monument to Sir William Gore and his wife (d. 1707 and 1705 respectively); Sir William was Lord Mayor of London; (4) good Perp. windows in each aisle.
Tring was formerly a considerable centre of the straw-plait industry, which is still pursued to a less extent. The place is of great antiquity, _Treung_ hundred dating from the days of Alfred the Great. William I. gave it to Robert Earl of Ewe, and Stephen kindly bestowed it upon the monks of Faversham, "in perpetual Alms for the Health of the Souls of Maud his Queen and all faithful People". Edward II. granted to Tring market rights.
_Tring Park_ (property of Hon. N. C. Rothschild) is surrounded by perhaps the most exquisite woods--largely of beech--in the whole county. Much altered in modern times, it is said to have been designed by Wren, and to have been visited by Charles II. The park is well kept, and contains many living curiosities placed here by Lord Rothschild, a lover of natural history. The _Museum_, at the top of Akeman Street, containing a fine zoological collection, is the outcome of his lordship's energy and benevolence. The _Museum House_, to which it is attached, is a prettily designed structure of red brick, with gables.
_Tring, Little_, is a hamlet 1¼ mile N.W. from the town, and Tring Grove, a hamlet 1¼ mile N.E. The former is near the large reservoirs, upon which several of the rare birds mentioned in the Introduction (Section IV.) were observed.
_Trowley Bottom_ (3 miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet a little S. from Flamstead, in one of the most thoroughly rural districts in the county. The Roman _Watling Street_ (St. Albans-Dunstable road) is 1 mile N.E.