Why visit Tring
Townapedia lists 29 museums and landmarks, 23 parks and trails, 64 places to eat, 6 places to stay and 15 attractions in and around town.
Highlights include Court Theatre, British Rail Midland Region London Rugby Line Bridge Number 114 (Parkhill Bridge), Tring Local History Museum and Natural History Museum at Tring.
Weather in Tring
Forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Full forecast
About Tring
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 30 miles (50 km) from Central London. Tring is linked to London by the Roman road of Akeman Street, the modern A41 road, the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast Main Line to London Euston. Settlements in Tring date back to prehistoric times and it was mentioned in the Domesday Book; the town received its market charter in 1315.
From the Wikipedia article Tring (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Travel tips from other travellers: Tring on Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Things to do15
Court Theatre
Cinema and theater · 1.0 mi
Theatre in the former stables of Pendley Manor in the UK
Station Road, Tring
British Rail Midland Region London Rugby Line Bridge Number 114 (Parkhill Bridge)
Bridge · 1.5 mi
Bridge in Tring, Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Wendover Woods
Scenic view · 2.7 mi
Highest Point of the Chiltern Hills
British Rail Midland Region London Rugby Line Bridge Number 113
Bridge · 1.5 mi
Bridge in Aldbury, Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England, UK
British Rail Midland Region London Rugby Line Bridge Number 115 (Folly Bridge)
Bridge · 1.7 mi
Road bridge in Tring, Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England, UK
3 more on the map.
Museums and landmarks29
Tring Local History Museum
Museum
Brook Street, Tring
Mar-Oct: Fr-Sa 10:00-16:00; Nov-Feb: Fr-Sa 10:00-15:30
Natural History Museum at Tring
Museum
Museum under the control of the Natural History Museum in the UK
Akeman Street, Tring
Bridgewater Monument
Monument and historic site · 2.9 mi
Grade II* scheduled monument in England
Inns of Court War Memorial
Monument and historic site · 5.1 mi
War memorial in Hertfordshire, England, UK
Trenchard Museum
Museum · 2.9 mi
Military Museum in Buckinghamshire, England
Dacorum Heritage
Museum · 4.7 mi
Museum in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Northchurch Roman villa
Monument and historic site · 3.2 mi
Roman villa in the UK
17 more on the map.
Parks, trails and playgrounds23
College Lake Nature Reserve
Hiking and trails · 1.8 mi
Nature reserve in Marsworth, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Upper Icknield Way, Tring
09:30-17:00
Aston Hill Mountain Bike Area
Park · 2.6 mi
Bike Park in Buckinghamshire
Millhoppers Pasture
Hiking and trails · 2.7 mi
This ancient pasture has a stream-fed pond and ancient, pollarded Black Poplars. It is a rare piece of unimproved grassland surviving in...
11 more on the map.
Restaurants and cafes64
Church Farm Cafe
Cafe · Burger, Sandwich, Cake, Pancake, Coffee Shop, Breakfast, Brunch, Cycle, Grvl, Tea, Ice Cream, Fries, Juice, Salad · 2.3 mi
Station Road, Tring
Mo-Su 08:00-16:00
Tarboush
Restaurant · Lebanese
50 High Street, Tring
Mo-Th 11:00-22:00; Fr-Sa 11:00-23:00; Su 11:00-21:00
52 more on the map.
History
There is evidence of prehistoric settlement with Iron Age barrows and defensive embankments adjacent to The Ridgeway, and also later Saxon burials. The town straddles the Roman road called Akeman Street, running through as the High Street.
Tring was the dominant settlement in the area, being the primary settlement in the Hundred of Tring at the time of the Domesday Book (1086). Tring had a large population and paid a large amount of tax relative to most settlements listed in that survey. Landholdings included the manor of Treunga, assigned to Count Eustace II of Boulogne by William the Conqueror.
In 1315, the town was granted a market charter by Edward II. This charter gave Faversham Abbey the right to hold weekly markets on Tuesdays, and a ten-day fair starting on 29 June, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. It also prevented the creation of any rival markets within a day's travel of the town. The tower of the Church of St Peter and St Paul was built between 1360 and 1400.
Read more of the history
Until 1440, there was a small village east of Tring called Pendley (or Penley, Pendele, or Pentlai). The landowner Sir Robert Whittingham received a grant of free warren from King Henry VI. He enclosed 200 acres (about 80 hectares) and tore down the buildings on the land, returning the estate to pasture, and built a manor house, Pendley Manor. This house was variously inhabited by the Verney, Anderson and Harcourt families until the mid-19th century.
Tring Park Mansion was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was built in 1682 for the owner Henry Guy, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Charles II. John Washington, the son of the Reverend Lawrence Washington and Amphyllis Twigden, was born and brought up in Tring. In 1656 he left Tring to go on a trading voyage to Virginia, but after a shipwreck on the Potomac River he remained in Virginia, married and started a family which eventually included his great-grandson, George Washington, the first President of the United States.
The town's prosperity was greatly improved at the start of the 19th century by the construction nearby of the Grand Junction Canal, and soon afterwards in 1835 the London and Birmingham Railway. Industries which benefited included flour milling, brewing, silk weaving, lace-making and straw plaiting.
In 1835, the medieval Pendley Manor was destroyed by fire. A local landowner, Joseph Grout Williams, commissioned a new manor house to be built in Jacobean Revival style and this building still stands today on Station Road.
In 1836, Thomas Butcher, a wholesale seed and corn merchant, and his son also called Thomas, established a private bank, Thomas Butcher & Son, in Tring High Street. The business was subsequently run by the next generation of the family, Frederick and George, and was also known locally as Tring Old Bank. By 1900 it had branches in Aylesbury, Chesham and Berkhamsted. From this time, it became the subject of successive bank consolidations, eventually becoming a branch of the National Westminster Bank, the last to be represented in the town.
In the late 19th century, the estate became the home of the Rothschild family, whose influence on the town was considerable. The site for Tring Market House was presented by to the town by Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild. His son, Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, built a private zoological museum in Tring. This housed what may have been the world's largest collection of animal taxidermy at the time of its founding. It has been part of the Natural History Museum, London since 1937; in April 2007, the museum changed its 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. In 1902, the 2nd Lord Rothschild also released the edible dormouse (Glis glis) into Tring Park; he used to ride around the town in a carriage drawn by zebras. In the town centre of Tring, there is a pavement maze in the shape of a zebra's head in order to remember the link that Tring has to the Rothschild family.
The former livestock market place is now the home of a weekly Friday market and a fortnightly Saturday farmers' market. Some of the former livestock pens have been retained. The old livestock market office is now the home of the Tring Local History Museum, which opened in September 2010.
From the History section of Tring on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
More about Tring
Geography
Tring is in west Hertfordshire, adjacent to the Buckinghamshire border, at a low point in the Chiltern Hills known as the 'Tring Gap'. This has been used as a crossing point since ancient times, being at the junction of the Icknield Way and under the Romans Akeman Street, the major Roman road linking London to Cirencester. It is transected east and west by the ancient earthwork called Grim's Dyke. It is located at the summit level of the Grand Union Canal and both the canal and railway pass through in deep cuttings. Tring railway cutting is 2.5 mi (4.0 km) long and an average of 39 ft (12 m) 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 identified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1987. Nearby, within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that almost surrounds the town, is the Ashridge Estate, part of the National Trust and home to Ashridge Business School.
The civil parish includes the hamlets of Little Tring, New Mill and Bulbourne to the north of Tring and Hastoe to the south.
Economy
Pendley Manor, a hotel, conference and arts centre, is situated about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the town, near the railway station. Tring Brewery has been operating in the town since 1992.
Tring is home to the Tring Book Festival; a two-week festival held in November. Tring is part of the Dacorum Local Food Initiative.
Education
Tring School is a state secondary school and sixth form 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. It has had Academy status since September 2012.
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts (formerly known as the Arts Educational School, Tring Park) is an independent specialist performing arts and academic school. It is located in Tring Mansion and has 300 pupils.
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.
Tring has a youth club – The Tring Youth Project – for those between 11 and 18 at the Temperance Hall in Christchurch Road.
Tring also has a theatre youth group, Court Youth Theatre, which is connected to the Court Theatre, Pendley Manor. This has three sections to it: juniors, intermediates and seniors.
There is also an Air Training Corps squadron in Tring (2457 Squadron) on New Road.
From the Wikipedia article Tring, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable people from Tring
Thomas William BowlerBritish landscape painter (1812-1869)Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Harriet MeadBritish sculptorPhoto: Drsteveb, CC BY-SA 3.0- John WashingtonEnglish planter, soldier, politician, and the great-grandfather of George Washington
- Graham BarberBritish football referee
- Phil BarberEnglish professional footballer (born 1965)
- Tommy WhiteFootballer (1881-?)
- Geoffrey ReeveBritish film director
- Julian JamesEnglish footballer (born 1970)
- Cholmeley Austen-LeighEnglish barrister, cricketer and writer (1829-1899)
- Arthur Butcher(1863-1955)
- David OgdenBritish conductor
- Charles Austen-LeighBritish cricketer
Born in Tring, according to Wikidata (CC0). Each name links to its Wikipedia article.
Where to stay6
Churches and places of worship27
Halton: St Michael & All Angels
Church · Anglican · 3.3 mi
Church View, Aylesbury
Shopping15
Gas and EV charging2
Schools, colleges and libraries15
Long Marston VA Church of England Primary and Nursery School
School · Anglican · 3.1 mi
Station Road, Tring
St Bartholomew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
School · Anglican · 1.1 mi
Commonfield, Tring
Healthcare3
Map of Tring
199 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Getting there and nearby towns
London Luton Airport (LTN) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 14 miles away.
- Luton 12 mi northeast, about 19 min by car
- High Wycombe 12 mi south, about 19 min by car
- Watford 15 mi southeast, about 24 min by car
- Milton Keynes 18 mi north, about 28 min by car
- Slough 20 mi south, about 32 min by car
- Harrow 20 mi southeast, about 33 min by car
- Windsor 22 mi south, about 35 min by car
- West Drayton 22 mi south, about 35 min by car
- Bedford 25 mi north, about 40 min by car
- London 30 mi southeast, about 49 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Towns near Tring
.jpg){kind=link}
Keep exploring
Local news
Headlines from INDB.
Reviews, tips and questions
Loading what members have shared...
Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- Mapillary (see each image): photos
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website, landmarks and historic places
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- GOC Tring & Wendover Woods 143 The Robin Hood pub, Tring (34722561300), Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, CC BY-SA 2.0
- West-Coast-Main-Line-20060629-003, Gary Houston, CC0
- Rothschild Museum Tring, Rob Farrow . Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0
- UK Ashridge Bridgewater monument, Pointillist, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Inns of Court War Memorial, Berkhamsted, August 2026 01, No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dancersend 14, Dudley Miles, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tring park south, D Royal, Public domain
- St Mary the Virgin, Ivinghoe, Cnbrb, CC BY-SA 4.0
- St Peter's Parish Church, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, MichaelMaggs, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Interior of St Peter and St Paul, Tring, September 2019 01, No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Cholesbury Camp, Paul Downey, CC BY 2.0
- Haltonhouse-northface, Unknown author, Public domain
- Wendover Woods, The original uploader was StephenDawson at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 2.0
- St. John the Baptist's Church, Aldbury 06, Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0
- St. Martha's Church, Tring, William Duling, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Church of St Michael and All Angels, Halton, March 2022 01, No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tring LHM1, Tmol42, GFDL
- Tring Park Cricket Club Ground, London Road, Tring, Hertfordshire, Mertbiol, CC0
- College Lake 8, Dudley Miles, CC BY-SA 4.0
- HS2 Wendover Dean Viaduct, construction Feb 2026, 42 Walkers, CC BY 4.0
- Pitstone Windmill, Steve Johnson from High Wycombe, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Street-level photo, adam2, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, alexanderar, CC BY-SA 4.0
Page built November 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us or suggest a place.