Three New Local Books from the Tring Local History Museum

The Story of Wilstone - by John Painter

The Rothschilds of Tring
by Tim Amsden

In November I brought two newly published books The Story of Wilstone by John Painter and Three Tring Industries by Wendy Austin at Tring's Local History Museum, and a small but informative booklet about The Rothschilds of Tring by Tim Amsden. I had intended to review them before Christmas. The web pages and sample illustrations are ready but the review texts will have to follow next year.

Three Tring Industries by Wendy Austin

Tring at War - 16th January, 1915

Military

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 16th January, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive

Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index 

Tring This week's news included two reports from local soldiers fighting overseas. Arnold Ward, M.P. for West Hertfordshire, was with the Hertfordshire Yeomanry in Egypt. Sergeant E C Whiskin, of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, described the Christmas Truce. News of the troops billeted was limited. Soldiers in the Northumberland Fusiliers were given a lecture on the history of their Regiment, and Private David Long was prosecuted for stealing money at the Half Moon Public House at Wilstone. The Aylesbury Motor Car Company was planning to provide a service between Aylesbury, Tring , Halton and Wendover - and it seems likely that most of their customers would be connected with the troops in the area, and the camp being erected at Halton. The big local news was the death of Mr John Batchelor of Hastoe Villa, together with his funeral, where the chief mourners are listed. There was also references at the Council meeting to the contribution of Dr James Brown made to the town (Death & Funeral reported earlier)  The council also considered Housing Inspection, the Hospital, A pond in Grove Park, Tenders for Tar, andvarious reports from council officers. Other items involve Fulks' Winter Clearance Sale and J. Gander and F. W. Bright's fox terriers wining classes at the National Dog Show.

100 years ago this week - A German Spy in Tring?? and other News stories

A lot of news this week - with War related news turning up all over the place. 

Military

There was a scare about a suspect German Spy. On the war front there were additional names for the Roll of Honour for Tring and Wigginton, and some casualties such as Private Edwin Dell who was wounded and in hospital while Harold Gurney was suffering from frost-bite in the feet. The men of the 21st Division (the 62nd & 63rd Brigades billeted in Tring) were taking it in turn to take leave while Lieut. G. Macdonald Brown was unstinting in his praise of the behaviour of the Herts Regiment men at the front. Recruitment to the Volunteer Training Corps was reported as being slow. 

William Brown was advertising furnished houses near Tring and Halton - which could have been in demand where married officers wanted their families nearby during training. The Urban District Council met and in addition to routine items about a polluted pond in Grove Park, the Brook Street Sewer and a new School Manager, there were military references when discussing the Isolation Hospital and the refuse collection.

Old News

Of course everyone was preparing for Christmas, with many adverts, and I reproduce a typical one by Jacklin, a news agent, and another tuned to the war theme with the headline "War on Pain." People (including the Belgium refugees and the soldiers billeted in the town) had enjoyed Miss Darnell singing at the Gem Cinema as well as watching the films. The hare coursing season had just begun and after a good day (not so good for 14 hares) the party relaxed in the dining room of the Royal Hotel, at Tring Station - and a collection raised £1 4s for the War Fund.

On more routine matters the paper reported on the death of the Oddfellow, Thomas Dudley (55) who worked in the Tring Park building department. There were Diocesan reports of the village schools atLong Marston and Wilstone, and records of the milk production of the Shorthorn and Jersey herds at Tring Park.

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Sheep reveal Medieval Ridge & Furrow Field at Wilstone

Medieval Field with sheep at Wilstone, near Tring

Many old medieval ridge and furrow fields have been ploughed until they are virtually level but there are still minor differences which reveal them. In this case the grass growing on the former ridges is obviously of a better quality than than in the wetter furrows - and the sheep can tell the difference!

This picture is taken from the embankment of Wilstone Reservoir and the former ridges, which run from left to right across the field are parallel with those that survive in the reservoir.

Other Pictures of Ridge and Furrow fields near Tring

Short Weights in the Tring & Hemel Areas

Old News

Was your ancestor caught overcharging customers by using defective weights or scales. In 1860 many traders in West Hertfordshire were fined. For instance William Collins, of The Crown at Long Marston had an unjust weighting machine, William Latchford, a beer retailer & fishmonger of Hemel Hempstead has 9 light weights, and James Austin of Boxmoor was a grocer &coal dealer who gave short measure. You now have an additional reason for buying beer from the suspiciously named Peter Evilthrift.

See the full list of convicted shopkeepers on the fiddle!

Views of Wilstone and Wilstone Reservoir, near Tring

Tring

A week ago I attended a most interesting meeting at Wilstone Village Hall in aid of St Cross, Wistone.  John Painter has taken up the reins, dropped by the local historian, Dick Gomm, who died in 2009, aged 93. Not only has John digitised Dick extensive collection of pictures of Wilstone but added many others, and had also recorded every early map he could find. Unfortunately they are currently not available online but is is always nice to meet an enthusiastic local historian who is systematically recording the past.

As I had some photographs of the Wilstone reservoir that were not in his archive, I have now produced higher resolution images of my Wilstone post cards - passing him copies where appropriate.

Wilstone Reservoir from the South.

This picture shows the reservoir from by the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal and the rough ground in the foreground could be the line of Miswell Lane, an ancient trackway that led from Long Marston through the current village of Wilstone, passing through what is now part of Tring to end up on what was Tring Common, on top of the Chiltern Hills. If this analysis is correct this part of the track is now lost under the former Tring Town rubbish tip, which was in use in the first half of the 20th century.

Rural Relaxation & Medieval Fields

     A couple of days ago the sun came out, after days of heavy rain, and I went to Long Marston to look at the effects of flooding. Not surprisingly Watery Lane was justifying its name - basically it was a small river, with water from side to side, steadily flowing north, for a distance of several hundred yards, and several inches deep. What I had come to see was the large field between Astrope Lane and the old Long Marston Church Tower. On previous walks I had noted the low ridges which suggested that it was a former medieval ridge and furrow field, but in the summer, with the grass long, it was almost impossible to photograph in a way that showed the layout.

     As the above picture shows, the plan was immediately revealed and would have been really striking from the air. A whole series of long pools filled the furrows, with the ridges standing proud.

    This is not far from the former medieval fields I have photographed under Wilstone and Startops Reservoirs. In past years, in my walks along the local canals in nearby Buckinghamshire, I have photographed evidence of medieval fields near Wendover (feint but visible in suitable light), at Bierton (very well preserved, and bisected by the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal) and at Buckland (a tiny corner of the field north of the later canal survives, but the rest south of the canal is ploughed out). (If anyone is interested I can post pictures of these.)

What is an Arbele Tree?

When you are working with any old documents you will come across words whose meaning you don't know - and they may be archaic or dialect words. In looking at Folio 41 of William Brown's Account Book I found the above entry in the account for Joseph Grout of Tring Park.

The entry is clear. In 1851 Harris (possibly Joseph Harris, builder, of Berkhamsted) cut down a number of arbele trees, and a few months later cut down two more. While the exact location is not stated William Brown handled other transactions for Joseph Grout relating to a farm at Wilstone occupied by William Greening.

So what is an "arbele" tree. It is clearly not an Ash, which is mentioned on the same page, and an 1850 newspaper advert also rules out beech, elm, sycamore and fir. I turned to my collection of modern printed dictionaries and none of them included it. My Webster's Dictionary (1860 edition) does not have it - the nearest word being "arbalist" which was an old word for a cross-bow. Perhaps arbele wood was used to make the shaft of a cross-bow I thought - but I am sure Harris did not want to make crossbows. The original printed Oxford English Dictionary didn't have it either - but its coverage of agricultural and other technical terms has many missing words. However the online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition:

The white poplar tree, Populus alba. Formerly also the grey poplar, Populus X canescens (obs.)

  This is where you must be careful not to jump to conclusions "just because the dictionary tells you." The quotations used to support this definition are in most cases unclear about which species of poplar tree is being mentioned. If we visit the area of William Greening's farm there are black poplars everywhere. They were obviously deliberately planted in the hedge rows (because there are only male trees they could not be self seeded) and the oldest trees might well be a couple of hundred years old. All the older ones have been pollarded. All the evidence suggests that they were considered as a commercial crop. There is one problem. They are black poplars, not white poplars.

See The Black Poplars of the Wilstone Area for the evidence for arbele being used to describe black poplars - at least in the Vale of Aylesbury area.

Please let me know if you find other places where the word has been used.

Where was the last witch killed in Hertfordshire

Ruth Osbourne was believe by local people to be a witch and in 1751 was ducked in a pond to test her powers - and drowned! Rosie is currently investigating the story and while there are many accounts of the incident, and the subsequent trial of those guilty of murdering her, none of the accounts are very specific as to the location of the pond.

By looking at old maps it would seem that the most likely pond was on a stream in what was then the hamlet of Wilstone Green. For full details see Ruth Osbourne, witch, of Tring, 1751.

A Topiary Runner carries the Olympic Torch through Wilstone

For a larger image see Geograph.

I came out of the Half Moon pub at Wilstone the other day and rubbed my eyes in disbelief. I doubt that the creeper was originally grown specifically for this purpose - but it has been trimmed into the shape of a runner carrying an olympic torch - and even a gold medal has been added!

A Rural Graveyard at Wilstone, near Tring

Cold Comfort for the Residents

If you drive along the Lower Icknield Way from Aston Clinton towards Marsworth and Pitstone you pass a field with a high hedge and a lych gate. If you stop to investigate you will find a small 20th century cemetery completely surrounded by fields.

This is the cemetery of St Cross, at the nearby village of Wilstone, and if you visit the church you will find it has a small churchyard - without a gravestone in sight. 

The reason is in the soil. The Vale of Aylesbury is very flat and the natural drainage is poor. If you dug a suitably deep grave at the church it would immediately fill with water! However a mile away, as you approach the Chiltern Hills, the ground rises slightly and the drainage is better.

I have posted a number of modern photographs of the cemetery on Geograph.

Medieval Field System exposed in Wilstone Reservoir

This summer the water level in Wilstone Reservoirs, near Tring, Hertfordshire, has been exceptionally low, in part because of the amount of water extracted to top up the Grand Union Canal. These strip markings on the dried out reservoir bed are the remains of one on Wilstone's ridge and furrow communal fields.

 Partly to keep fit, and partly to escape from the computer, I regularly take rural walks in and around the Tring area of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In the last week or so I have made two visits to Wilstone Reservoir and have taken the following photographs to record the very low water levels, and what they reveal. As the reservoir was build in three stages, in 1802, 18360 and 1839 I have recorded the views accordingly.