Aldbury

"About two miles and a half E.N.E. from Tring, in the same hundred (Dacorum), is the village of Aldbury, pleasantly situated, in the parish of its name, at the foot of the Chiltern hills, the summits of which are covered with thick plantations. Near the village is a lofty stone monument to the noble father of inland navigation, the Duke of Bridgewater. The church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is an ancient edifice, containing some interesting monumental brasses, and an altar tomb of an armed knight and his lady: the benefice is a rectory, in the patronage of the trustees of the late Earl of Bridgewater; the present incumbent is the Rev. James Galloway. Population of the parish, 457." [From Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of Herts, Pigot & Co., London, 1839] "ALDBURY (1 1/2 mile E. from Tring Station) is a village on the Buckinghamshire border, nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge Park (q.v). It is the "Clinton Magna" of Bessie Costrell, and the author of that story, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, lives at Stocks, a few minutes' walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which is topped by the "Aldbury Monument," a granite column about ,100 feet high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the wellknown title "the father of inland navigation". As a village of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm; close by stand the stocks and whipping-post, recently in excellent preservation. The Church of St. John the Baptist is E.E. ; it was restored in 1867. Visitors should notice the old sundial on a pedestal in the churchyard; and the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor the manor of Aldberrie was held by one Alwin, the king's thane. The ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater monument takes the visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches towards the village in the valley beneath."