Tring Park is a public open space in
Tring
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...
, owned by
Dacorum Borough Council
The Borough of Dacorum is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England that includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley. The district, which was formed in 1974, had a population of 137,799 in 2001. Its ...
and managed by the
Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...
.
It is part of the
Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
. Half of the is undulating grassland, grazed by cattle. Part of the park, together with the nearby Oddy Hill, is the biological "Oddy Hill and Tring Park"
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI).
The park formerly belonged to
Tring Park Mansion
Tring Park Mansion or Mansion House, Tring Park, is a large country house in Tring, Hertfordshire. The house, as "Tring Park", was used, and from 1872 owned, by members of the Rothschild family from 1838 to 1945.
The mansion and its immediate g ...
, built in 1682 by
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
and altered externally in the nineteenth century. In the early eighteenth century
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman (1690–1738) was an English garden designer who helped pioneer the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres an ...
was employed to lay out the grounds, with a summerhouse and other buildings designed by
James Gibbs
James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...
. The park is
Grade II
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
listed by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
in the
.
The two areas of the SSSI are grassland on chalk scarp which have a diverse flora including rare species. Much of the parkland is managed by grazing, but ungrazed scrub on sloping areas provides habitat for invertebrates and breeding birds.
[
In the wooded Chiltern escarpment are former carriage rides. One of these, King Charles Ride or the King's Ride, forms part of the ]Ridgeway National Trail
The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside
The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk r ...
. In 2013 work started to restore King Charles Ride by replanting a circle of lime trees at the 'rond point' and improving the vista over the park and town. In the northeast corner are two Grade II listed monuments: an obelisk known locally as Nell Gwynne's monument, and the summerhouse with a grand four-column temple-style portico.
File:Tring park Kings Ride.jpg, King Charles Ride
File:Tring park obelisk.jpg, The Obelisk
File:Tring park summerhouse.jpg, The Summerhouse
See also
*
References
{{Coord, 51.7837, -0.6561 , type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire
Tring