Tring Park
Tring Park is a large
country house near
Tring,
Hertfordshire.
The early history of the site is not clear, although a house was in
Royalist hands in the times of
Charles I. When
Charles II came to the throne in the
English Restoration in 1660, he gave the house to his
Groom of the Bedchamber,
Henry Guy. Guy built a new house to a design by
Christopher Wren. Guy was sent to the
Tower of London soon after
William and Mary came to the thone in the
Glorious Revolution in 1688.
The house passed through various hands until it was rented by
Nathan Mayer Rothschild in the 1830s. It was purchased by Baron
Lionel de Rothschild for
£230,000 in May 1872, with 4,000
acres (16
km²), to serve as his principal country residence. Rothschild extended the house significantly to occupy his guests.
George Devey is believed to have worked on the "improvements" at Tring Park between 1874 and 1878, turning the Wren house into a
dix-huitième French chateau complete with
mansard roof.
Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum was built in the grounds in 1889 by
Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild to house his private collection of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. It was first opened to the public in 1892 and is now part of the
Natural History Museum.
Rothschild Bank moved to the house at the beginning of the
Second World War in 1939. The Arts Educational School moved to the house in 1945, and bought the
freehold in 1970.
In 1975 the A41 Tring Bypass was opened, splitting the park in two. The house, now known as Tring Mansion, remains the home of
The Arts Educational School, Tring Park"Tring Park" now usually refers to that part of the original estate south of the A41. It is public open space, owned by
Dacorum Borough Council and managed by the
Woodland Trust. Half of the 300 acres is undulating grassland, grazed by cattle. To the east and south and the park includes the wooded chiltern escarpment in which there are former carriage rides. One of these, the King's Ride, forms part of the
Ridgeway_National_Trail. In this part of the park are two monuments: an obelisk known locally as Nell Gwyn's monument, and a summer house.
image:Tring park south.jpg|Tring Park looking southimage:Tring park Kings Ride.jpg|Kings Rideimage:Tring park obelisk.jpg|The obelisk image:Tring park summerhouse.jpg|The summer house*
Rothschild properties in Buckinghamshire*
History of the Mansion, from
The Arts Educational School, Tring Park
