Hertfordshire
Windows and doors for Tring, fitted with the street in mind.
Terraced cottages, Georgian and early Victorian fronts, and the Rothschild-era houses around Park Street. We fit windows, doors, conservatories, roof lights and lanterns, porches and secondary glazing across Tring, guaranteed for ten years in writing.
Tring is a small market town set in a break in the Chiltern Hills, surrounded by the Chilterns National Landscape and, since 1973, spared most of its through traffic by the bypass. Dacorum's appraisal is refreshingly plain about the place: a modest town, with few large buildings and little imposing architecture, built for working people, artisans and tradesmen. That is exactly what makes the housing interesting. Behind an early-nineteenth-century street front you will often find an eighteenth-century brick range and a seventeenth-century timber-framed wing at the back.
Most of modern Tring lies north of that historic core, in later twentieth-century housing that reaches up towards the Icknield Way. We work in both halves of the town: flush sash and casement windows in timber-effect uPVC for the older streets, slim-frame aluminium and tilt-and-turn where the house calls for it, and doors, conservatories, roof lights and lanterns, porches and secondary glazing throughout. All of it double glazed and drawn to the opening.
Which Tring homes do we fit windows for?
Broadly three kinds, and the conservation area appraisal separates them cleanly.
First, the terraced cottages of the western streets — Henry Street, Charles Street, Albert Street, Queen Street, Chapel Street, Langdon Street and the west end of Upper High Street. This part of town grew fast in the nineteenth century, and the appraisal describes flat frontages where the windows and doors provide the only architectural features: openings with flat arches, set back, holding double-hung sliding sash windows. Henry Street is named as the best example of the predominant house style. A few of the grander examples have projecting ground-floor bays, and in most streets the original chimneys and chimney pots survive, which the council notes greatly enlivens the view.
Second, the older core around High Street, Akeman Street, Frogmore Street and Brook Street — where the layers are deepest. Late Georgian town-house fronts at 80–81 Akeman Street, late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century villas at 102 and 104 Upper High Street, and rendered or brick early-nineteenth-century elevations disguising much older work behind them.
Third, the Rothschild-era buildings. Nathaniel de Rothschild bought the Tring Park estate in 1872 and became the first Lord Rothschild of Tring; his son Walter was a serious building patron, working with the Tring architect William Huckvale. Their work concentrates on Park Street and Park Road and appears along the High Street: vernacular revival, with cross-wings and bay windows, steeply pitched and cat-slide roofs, gables, bargeboards, dormers, massive chimney stacks, hot red brick, tile-hanging, and white-painted casements with leaded lights.
What should you check before replacing windows in Tring?
Whether an Article 4 direction covers your address, because in Tring several already do. The Tring Conservation Area takes in the historic centre — High Street and Western Road to the north, Park Street and Park Road to the south, from Brook Street and Tring Park in the east to where Western Road and Park Road meet Aylesbury Road. Dacorum's 2019 appraisal records existing Article 4 directions withdrawing permitted development rights at 1–18, Hamilton House, Kosicote and Hope Cottages on King Street; at 94, 96, 102, 104, 106 and 108 High Street; and at Linwood and Farleigh on Park Road.
The same document's management proposals go further and recommend extra control, by means of an Article 4 direction, to limit the use of uPVC in any part of the conservation area. That is a recommendation in a council document rather than something we can tell you is in force — but it is a clear signal of how Dacorum thinks about the town, and a good reason to ask the council where things stand before choosing a material. Our range covers uPVC, aluminium and composite, and if uPVC is the wrong answer for your frontage we will say so. Secondary glazing is often the better route where an existing window should stay.
How far is Tring from our Hemel Hempstead base?
About twelve miles. Dacorum's own appraisal places Tring some twelve miles north-west of Hemel Hempstead and about six miles north-west of Berkhamsted, with the A41 running close to the south of the town. That is a straightforward run for us, and it puts Tring comfortably inside the area we cover properly rather than at the edge of it. We have no showroom by design — windows are chosen best in the light they will sit in, so we come to the house. Call 01442 600 101 and we will ring back within two business hours, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Questions, answered.
What windows suit a Victorian cottage on Henry Street or Charles Street?
Something that keeps the flat, recessed look the street already has. Those terraces were built with sash windows set back into flat-arched openings, and the appraisal treats that plain frontage as the character of the area. A flush sash in timber-effect uPVC closes level with the frame rather than standing proud of it, which is the closest match in profile. Sightlines and the glazing bar layout do most of the work.
Do I need permission to replace windows in the Tring Conservation Area?
Ask Dacorum Borough Council first, because Tring has several Article 4 directions already in place — on named properties in King Street, on part of the High Street, and on two houses in Park Road. An Article 4 direction removes permitted development rights for replacing windows and doors. The council's 2019 appraisal also recommends extending that control over uPVC across the conservation area, so it is worth confirming the current position.
Do you carry out home design visits in Tring?
Yes, at no charge. We come to the house, measure up and talk through what would actually suit it — a Rothschild-era house on Park Street is a very different conversation from a post-war house north of the historic centre. No hard sell. You get an itemised written quote afterwards, and an official survey before anything is manufactured.
What does the ten-year guarantee cover?
Your installation, in writing, for ten years — and Dukes honours it directly rather than passing it to a third-party insurer. The number on the guarantee is the one you rang to book the visit. Alex Dukes co-founded the company to do it that way, so if something needs putting right you are dealing with the people who fitted it.
Can secondary glazing work in a period Tring house?
Often it is the most sensible option. The existing window stays exactly as it is, keeping the frontage unchanged from the street, and a second layer goes in behind it. That suits houses in the conservation area where replacing the window outright would be the wrong move, and it is worth discussing on the streets closest to the A41. We will tell you honestly if replacement would serve you better.
Which other areas near Tring do you cover?
Wilstone, Long Marston, Aldbury, Dudswell, Northchurch, Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead, along with the wider area across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and North London. Tring sits at the western end of Dacorum, and covering it well is part of covering the borough properly — including the guarantee visits that come years after the installation.
Is there an offer on at the moment?
Yes. Right now there is £500 off your first installation of £5,000 or more — the full terms are on our special offer page.
Book a home visit.
Book a home visit and we'll talk through your project at your house — no call centre, no hard sell. We call back within two business hours, and you'll get an itemised written quote.