A SHORT HISTORY OF DUNDALE
by Shelley Savage
The part of Tring known as Dundale is on the northern edge of the town, bounded by Dundale Road and the B488, the Icknield Way.  John Oliver, a map-maker, drew one of the earliest maps of Hertfordshire and that c.1695 shows the hamlet of Tring, very simply, with a church and three roads.  North of the village is the word “DUNSDELL”.  A map of 1725 by John Warburton shows “DUN DELL”.

In their book “The Landscape of Place Names”, Margaret Gelling and Ann Cole write: “DUN is a hill or upland expanse, or, an uninhabited hill adjacent to a settlement.  DAEL means ‘pit’ or ‘hollow’ and its related word DELL is found referring to very small ‘valleys’, and for natural or artificial hollows.”

Miswell Farm, about 2 kilometres to the east, was once a moated property with a spring that fed the ‘moat’, now a substantial lake.  This and ‘Dundell’ are on the spring line.  Both were exploited in 19th Century by a man who was important in our local history, William Kay, who, in 1824, built a silk mill in Brook Street.  Although the town was already supplied with water this enterprise needed a great deal more. To augment his supplies he drew water from the lake at Miswell and had a tunnel dug from below its surface leading to the hollow at Dundale.  The work was carried out manually by men with pickaxes.  One may assume that he made a substantial bund to dam the water at Dundale.  Then another deep tunnel was dug from the Dundale lake through to the silk mill.  The two lakes, at Miswell and Dundale, were called ‘balancing ponds’, so that the water in both should be maintained at the same level, and this is what happens today.  Since the developments at Dundale in 2001, British Waterways has the responsibility for maintaining the water supply because it feeds the summit of the Grand Union Canal along its connection with the Wendover Arm.
The Rothschilds and Dundale Wood

William Kay’s Estate in Tring was extensive, covering about 3000 acres.  Among its properties was Tring Park, which was let to the Rothschild family in the 1830s and sold to Nathan Rothschild in 1872.  The latter became closely involved with the life of the town and when the Silk Mill closed in 1898, he purchased it from Kay,the lake at Dundale being part of the property.

The site was soon developed as a ‘pleasure garden’.  Dundale Lodge, completed in 1891 (now demolished), was on the northern edge of the land.  It was designed by Tring architect William Huckvale in the traditional local Rothschild style.  This house was designed to allow entertainment for boating and fishing parties on the lake, and a little later a boathouse was built on its edge.  The site was planted with trees along the border of the property and around the lake, many of which remain in place.  An orchard of mixed fruit trees was established, as well as lawns and shrubbery.  The lake was stocked with brown trout, and there were game birds.  Subsequently an avenue was built to connect the pleasure garden with the Tring Park Mansion.
Some details of the pleasure garden are furnished in the auctioneer’s prospectus when it was put up for sale in 1938.  The “picturesque property known as Dundale” comprised a Chalet Style House of brick, half-timbered and rough cast with tiled roof, the accommodation being: a large Garden Room with a cloakroom, a WC and a separate entrance, plus a Sitting Room, a Living Room , a Scullery, fuel barns, washhouse and WC and a Veranda along the whole length of the Garden Front.  The Grounds included “Lawns, Shrubberies Ornamental Water, Valuable Orchard and extensive kitchen Gardens and the area of the whole is about 11.259 acres.”
Dundale Lodge
The schedule for Dundale Cottage and Land was £1,500.00.  The slightly curious, separated ‘large Garden Room’ may be explained by the local rumours of important figures (perhaps from the London aristocracy and royalty who frequented Tring Park at that time) using it for clandestine meetings, where they were provisioned from Tring Park house.

It has been noted that Nathaniel Rothschild (Natty) assembled a fine worldwide collection of conifers at Tring, some planted at Dundale.

The Second World War

The Home Guard was active in Tring in the early years of the war.  Noting that the Icknield Way was a major route, a number of young men constructed large, circular concrete road blocks with iron pipes through the centre.  These were positioned within the wood, adjacent to their defence post, behind the chestnut paling boundary.  The plan was that if the enemy approached in light tanks, the Home Guard would roll the blocks along the ground into the middle of the road, and attack the enemy.

In about 1950 the land was bought by Joseph Eggleton, a local man who loved nature and the song of birds.  He called it his wildlife garden.  He left the area as it was for his own private enjoyment, and that is how an area that had been carefully managed with tree plantings, ornamental shrubs and a garden, left unmanaged for decades, became a secondary wood.

The 21st Century

The site was identified and adopted as a Wildlife Site in Dacorum’s Local Plan, a local designation which triggers protection policies, and a Tree Preservation Order covers the whole site.

In 2001, it was bought by a development company which carried out an ecological survey, and plans were put forward for development of a relatively small section of the land, with the remainder being given to the local authority as a wildlife site.  This was accepted, with restoration of the lake and some basic management of the wood, plus an endowment for its continued care.  The eastern section is fenced off from the public.

Current woodland management means that trees which are culled, or die, are lefl in situ to decay and provide a rich habitat.  Among the wildlife were signs of muntjac deer, and an abundance of grey squirrels.  It may be possible that the Edible Dormouse (the common name for the Glis Glis) was responsible for damage to the swamp cypresses.  A number of badger setts were noted, and bats were known to use the site for foraging.  The ivy clinging abundantly to the trees provides an especially good micro-climate for bats.  Twenty-seven species of birds were recorded during the breeding bird surveys, with over 50 species recorded at the site over a period.  A good number of common frog, common toad and smooth newt were found.

Considerable work has been carried out on the site during and since the development.  There is a path around the lake and public access to the area is from Nathaniel Walk and the Icknield Way.  The lake still has large fish in it, sometimes visible.  The trees especially worth noting are the fine Swamp Cypresses alongside the lake, and the tall Black Pines which can be seen from Tring Park House.
The part of Tring known as Dundale is on the northern edge of the town, bounded by Dundale Road and the B488, the Icknield Way.  John Oliver, a map-maker, drew one of the earliest maps of Hertfordshire and that c.1695 shows the hamlet of Tring, very simply, with a church and three roads.  North of the village is the word “DUNSDELL”.  A map of 1725 by John Warburton shows “DUN DELL”.

In their book “The Landscape of Place Names”, Margaret Gelling and Ann Cole write: “DUN is a hill or upland expanse, or, an uninhabited hill adjacent to a settlement.  DAEL means ‘pit’ or ‘hollow’ and its related word DELL is found referring to very small ‘valleys’, and for natural or artificial hollows.”

Miswell Farm, about 2 kilometres to the east, was once a moated property with a spring that fed the ‘moat’, now a substantial lake.  This and ‘Dundell’ are on the spring line.  Both were exploited in 19th Century by a man who was important in our local history, William Kay, who, in 1824, built a silk mill in Brook Street.  Although the town was already supplied with water this enterprise needed a great deal more. To augment his supplies he drew water from the lake at Miswell and had a tunnel dug from below its surface leading to the hollow at Dundale.  The work was carried out manually by men with pickaxes.  One may assume that he made a substantial bund to dam the water at Dundale.  Then another deep tunnel was dug from the Dundale lake through to the silk mill.  The two lakes, at Miswell and Dundale, were called ‘balancing ponds’, so that the water in both should be maintained at the same level, and this is what happens today.  Since the developments at Dundale in 2001, British Waterways has the responsibility for maintaining the water supply because it feeds the summit of the Grand Union Canal along its connection with the Wendover Arm.