Tin Tabernacle, Tring Station

Image: © Photographer unknown Taken: 19 Nov 2009

Corrugated iron was developed by 1829 and the process of coating the iron with zinc (galvanizing) was patented in 1837, thus greatly increasing the life of corrugated iron sheets. Manufacturers began producing it for the construction of prefabricated buildings, since the material was light, strong and easy to cut into sheets, and by the late 19th century a number of manufacturers offered mass-produced corrugated iron buildings in kit form - such as churches, chapels and school houses - and these could be bought from a catalogue. A kit would comprise a prefabricated timber frame, usually erected on a brick foundation. The roof and walls were clad on the outside with corrugated sheets and on the inside with good quality tongue and groove boarding, usually with a sheet of felt between the wood and iron. The original "Iron Room" at the hamlet of Tring Station, shown here, was replaced in 1902 by a new building Image given to local people by J. G. Williams, owner of the nearby Pendley Estate: Image;Image; Image; Image; Image; Image; Image; Image; Image; Image; Image In 1917, Tring Station's original tin tabernacle was removed to the village of Puttenham, where it still exists Image clad in its corrugated iron splendour, but (sadly) with a much less elaborate support at its gable-end.

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