TRH Team

The Tring Rural History stand at the 2023 LMPHS Village Show organised by the Horti seemed to have a good reception from those that visited it. Possibly because we were located right next to the beer tent! There were long term residents, those that had moved away and newcomers to the villages all taking an […]

In 1967 the Long Marston Show had a special opening feature that seems to have been achieved via special contact earlier in the year with a General Wilson

What I love about living in a village is its history: the landscape, the buildings and the people who made them.

Chapter 1: Foundation – How it all started

Joseph Williams, owner of the Pendley Manor, was a wealthy benefactor with a soft spot for Puttenham.

The Long Marston and Puttenham Village Show of 1986 was, as usual, a popular and well attended occasion, with the usual attractions of the Dog Show, Clay Pigeon Shoot, Children’s Fancy Dress and Pony Rides.

Christopher Urswick was appointed Rector of Puttenham in 1482, through the influence of Margaret Beaufort, mother of the future king, Henry VII.

I was delighted to be the instigator of Pat Carty’s visit to Long Marston on 21st April. Though all I did was pass on his email address following the articles about Pat that we produced for our website.

The first Long Marston and Puttenham Village Show was held in August 1936. The dominant theme for this first event was the vegetables and flowers competitions with 46 different categories plus 2 more for children.

After receiving valuable new material from Long Marston School, we are now able to share a personal experience of that fateful day from a different perspective. All previous accounts of the bombing of the school have been from the children; this recently discovered account is from Margaret Savage, wife of the Headmaster.

Just when you think that one book about the second world war could never be matched, another one comes along.

Pat Carty, author of the book the ‘Secret Squadrons of the Eighth’ has agreed to come and do another talk of the history of ‘Cheddington Airfield’ on Friday 21st April at 7pm.

In August 1944, the 36th Bomb Squadron was formed and came to Cheddington/Marsworth Airfield.

One problem of running a website of local history is generating new content and new interest when, by definition, all material is in the past.

This poem was written by John Mullis after a fire blitz in London. John was a wartime evacuee to Long Marston who later came to live in the area and published a book of 50 of his poems in 1970.

In 1953 Chapel Farmhouse and the orchard in front of it had were sold by the Gregory family to Dorothea Measom. On her death in 1956, the property was inherited by Herbert Samuel Stevens living in Chelsea, known as Jan Stevens, and reported to have been a close friend of Dorothea.

This fourth episode of school life during World War II is also based on the edition of SCOOP produced in the Spring of 1942, about 15 months after the bombing which so changed the running of the school and the lives of the pupils.

This third episode of school life during World War II is based on the edition of SCOOP produced in the Spring of 1942, about 15 months after the bombing which so changed the running of the school and the lives of the pupils.

It will be clear from a number of our articles and interviews that Gordon Savage, Headmaster of Long Marston School from 1934 to 1944, was a leading character in the village of Long Marston.

This article continues the analysis of the SCOOP school magazines, produced by Long Marston School students during World War II.

Source; 13 year old Leslie Jones’s contribution to The Long Marston School Magazine SCOOP, 1940 edition.

Our focus during the initial development of our website Tringruralhistory.co.uk, was on the 20th Century, in particular World War II and its aftermath.

In 2021 we were privileged to interview three residents of Long Marston who were alive when a bomb dropped on Long Marston school in January 1941.

1970s and 1980s