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.
Turnford (1¼ mile S.W. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Cheshunt parish, on the New River. Broxbourne Bury Park is 1 mile N.
Two Waters owes its name to its position at the junction of two small rivers—the Gade and the Bulbourne. It is in Hemel Hempstead parish, and about 1 mile E. from Boxmoor Station.
Tyttenhanger. (See [Tittenhanger].)
Upwick Green (4 miles N.W. from Bishop’s Stortford) is a hamlet on the Essex border. Hadham Hall (see [Little Hadham]) is 1 mile S.
VERULAM. Of the old Roman municipium (Verulamium) there now remains above ground little more than some large fragments of crumbling wall in the valley of the Ver, immediately S.W. from St. Albans. Passing under the old Gatehouse and crossing the bridge at the Silk Mill the visitor, instead of turning right and following the course of the Ver, should keep straight on and pass the small gate into Verulam Woods. On his right as he follows the broad footpath will be the outer E. wall of the Roman city; on his left what appears a long gorge, overgrown by bushes and trees of many species, was once the fosse. Note the great thickness and solidity of the walls, and the tile-like bricks, similar to those in the Abbey tower, mingled with flints. Presently both wall and fosse turn sharply W. and may be followed in that direction for a considerable distance. The walls may also be traced at other spots farther W., particularly a large mass known as Gorhambury Block, believed to mark the boundary of the municipium in that direction.
It has been mentioned in the Introduction ([Section IX.]) that the only Roman theatre known to have existed in England stood in this neighbourhood. Its remains were discovered rather more than seventy years ago in a field immediately W. from St. Michael’s Church; nothing is now to be seen, for the excavations have been again covered. The discovery included that of the stage, somewhat narrow, the auditorium, with many rows of seats, and portions of the frescoed walls. Many coins were found among the ruins.
Mention must be made of the fact that the Roman Verulamium was the scene of the awful massacre in the time of Boadicea, when the Queen of the Iceni, with a great number of followers, slew alike the British and Roman inhabitants and partially destroyed the city (A.D. 61). An account of this is in the Annals of Tacitus. The place was subsequently rebuilt and occupied by the Saxons, who called it Watlingceaster, or Werlamceaster.