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Revision as of 14:29, 21 August 2008 by Sjc196 (talk | contribs) (→Governance)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) "Tunbridge Wells" redirects here. For other uses, see Tunbridge Wells (disambiguation). Human settlement in England| Royal Tunbridge Wells | |
|---|---|
| Population | 56,500 |
| OS grid reference | TQ585395 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TUNBRIDGE WELLS |
| Postcode district | TN1, TN2, TN4 |
| Dialling code | 01892 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent in England, on the northern edge of the Weald. In general usage the appellation "Royal" is dropped from its title. Its boundaries lie across the border of Kent with East Sussex. The town is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough.
The town came into being as a spa in Georgian times and had its heyday as such in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the popularity of sea-bathing took away much of its clientele. Today the town is a relatively affluent place, within commuting distance of London.
In 2006 Tunbridge Wells celebrated its 400th anniversary.
Name of the town
Edward Hasted, writing in 1797, makes the assertion that although the wells were originally named the "Queen's-Wells", they soon took on the name of Tunbridge Wells due to their proximity to the town of Tonbridge (then known as "Tunbridge"):
In compliment to doctor, Lewis Rowzee, in his treatise on them, calls these springs the Queen's-wells; but this name lasted but a small time, and they were soon afterwards universally known by that of Tunbridge-wells, which names they acquired from the company usually residing at Tunbridge town, when they came into these parts for the benefit of drinking the waters.
— Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Vol 3
The prefix "Royal" dates to 1909, when King Edward VII officially recognised the popularity of the town amongst royalty and the aristocracy by bestowing the town with its official "Royal" title. To this day, Royal Tunbridge Wells is one of only two towns in England to be granted this (the other being Royal Leamington Spa).
Geography
Tunbridge Wells is situated at the northern edge of the High Weald, a ridge of hard sandstone that runs across southern England from Hampshire along the borders of Surrey, West and East Sussex and Kent; the original centre of the settlement lies on the border between the latter two counties. The town is sited at the head of valley that runs south-east to Groombridge; the stream in the valley is one of the many tributaries of the River Medway, which runs through a much larger valley north of the High Weald. Along the valley sides are a great many Chalybeate springs, rich in iron, and it was one of these springs that eventually led to the establishment of the town.
Over the course of time it grew in size; buildings sprang up on either side of the valley, and later over the ridge at the head of it. The earliest of these buildings are to be found along the London Road (A264) to the north, on Mount Ephraim and in the Calverley area. The point where the former two meet is the Fiveways.
Nearby villages are now part of the built-up area of the town, so that now it incorporates Southborough and High Brooms to the north, Hawkenbury to the south, Rusthall (whose name resonates with the iron content of the rocks) and Langton Green to the west. The latter village, well into the 20th century, had a number of stone quarries from which the hard sandstone of the Wealden "Hastings beds" were taken, many to build the houses in Tunbridge Wells. The map extract shows part of the extent of the town as it was in 1946; most of the area shown, apart from the Commons (see Parks and Green Spaces below), is now occupied by buildings.
History
Prehistory
During the Iron Age people mined the iron-rich rocks in the Tunbridge Wells area. The most important archaeological site is the hill-fort at High Rocks, built to protect the miners. The area continued to be part of the Wealden iron industry, until its demise in the late eighteenth century.
Spa town
The area which is now Tunbridge Wells was part of the parish of Speldhurst for hundreds of years. The basis for the town of today, however, was in the seventeenth century. In 1606 came the discovery of one of the Chalybeate springs by Dudley, Lord North, a courtier to James I. Having drunk from the spring he became convinced that it had healing properties, and persuaded many of his rich friends in London to try it. As a result, two years later people had begun to flock to the spot, and wells were dug. In 1636 two houses were built to cater for the visitors, although there had been royal visitors even before then, notably Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I in 1629.
For the next fifty years, until 1678, little permanent building took place, although tradespeople, encouraged by the burgeoning tourist industry, had long before set up stalls around the spring. On that date a "chapel of ease", dedicated to King Charles the Martyr was built and two years later the town began to develop around it. Edward Hasted described the new town by saying that it consisted of four small districts, "named after the hills on which they stand, Mount Ephraim, Mount Pleasant and Mount Sion; the other is called the Wells..."
The 1680s saw a building boom in the town: carefully planned shops were built beside the 175 yards (160 m) long Pantiles promenade (then known as the Walks), and the road Mount Sion, on which lodging house keepers were to build, was laid out in small plots. Large houses began to be built on the various hills, particularly on Mount Ephraim. Careful attention was paid to the height and sewerage along the Pantiles, so that the fashionable visitors should not be discouraged. Tradesmen in the town dealt in the luxury goods demanded by their patrons, which would certainly have included Tunbridge ware, a kind of decoratively inlaid woodwork.
Writing in 1697, Celia Fiennes described a walk on the Pantiles:
They have made the wells very commodious by the many good building all about it and two or three miles around which are lodgings for the company that drink the waters. All the people buy their own provisions at the market, which is just by the wells and is furnished with great plenty of all sorts of fish and foul. The walk which is between high trees on the market side which are shops full of all sorts of toys, silver, china, milliners and all sorts of curious wooden ware besides which there are two large coffee houses for tea, chocolate etc and two rooms for the lottery and hazard board (i.e. for gambling).
— Celia Fiennes
Decline of the spa
During the eighteenth century fashions in leisure changed and sea-bathing became more popular than visiting the spas, which resulted in fewer visitors coming to the town. Nevertheless, the era of the tolls roads gave Tunbridge Wells better communications: a spur road from the London to Hastings road came into being in the 1760s. At the time Decimus Burton was architect of both St Leonards-on-Sea new town on the Sussex coast and in particular the estate at Calverley Park in Tunbridge Wells; so the fact that the well-to-do lived in both places may have had some reason for that.
During the eighteenth century the growth of the town continued, as did its patronage by the wealthy leisured classes, although the initial enthusiasm had abated. The road plan of the town had been agreed. The Grove (see Parks and Green Spaces below) was donated to the town in 1703. Richard (Beau) Nash appointed himself as master of ceremonies for all the entertainments that the town had to offer.
19th Century growth
By the early nineteenth century Tunbridge Wells began to experience growth as a place for the well-to-do to make their homes. A new estate on Mount Pleasant, the building of the parish church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the provision of town facilities such as a water company and a dispensary meant that, by the 1830s, the town had a population of about 6,000.
In 1845 a new form of communication came to the town: the South Eastern Railway built a short branch from its main line at Tonbridge to serve Tunbridge Wells. This was later extended (see Communications below). Roads for a time began to fall into disrepair, and it was not until the era of the motor car and the invention of tarmacadam that they became more popular as a means of travel. Even in 2008 there is still much disquiet about the state of the road system to the town.
Following on from its earlier popularity with the leisured classes, the town in the 19th century attracted the Victorian businessman, and construction began on the large villas in the northern part of the old town centre. Other suburbs, for the tradespeople of the town, continued its growth. Commuters on the now main-line Hastings Line railway moved into the town, and new estates were built to house them. It was during this time that William Makepeace Thackeray lived in the town (his house still stands - it is now a restaurant).
Today
Tunbridge Wells today, having far outgrown its origins, presents itself as a combination of regional centre, tourist attraction, light industrial and commercial centre and commuter town.
Demography
In 2006 the town of Tunbridge Wells was estimated to have a population of approximately 56,500. The wider borough of Tunbridge Wells is home to considerably more people - some 104,000 in 2001, up from around 99,500 in 1991.
The population of Tunbridge Wells is predominantly caucasian in its ethnic origin. 97.5% of residents of the district described themselves as "white" in the 2001 census; 0.6% described themselves as "asian" or "British asian", 0.9% as "black" or "black British", 0.7% as "Chinese" or "other ethnic group" and 0.9% as "mixed".
The 2001 census recorded that 75.0% of residents of the district identified themselves as Christian; 0.3% identified themselves as Buddhist, 0.2% as Hindu, 0.3% as Jewish, 0.6% as Muslim, 0.04% as Sikh and 0.3% as Other. 16.0% identified themselves as having no religion and 7.4% did not state a religion.
Economy
As of 2002 there were around 50,000 people employed in the borough of Tunbridge Wells. The largest sector of the local economy is comprised of hotels, restaurants and retail (the centrally located Royal Victoria Place, opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1992, is a major shopping centre), which accounts for around 30% of all jobs; the finance and business sector makes up just under a quarter of jobs, as does the public administration, education and health sector.
The prominence of the hotel and restaurant sector indicates that a significant proportion of the Tunbridge Wells economy is derived from tourism, and many of the hotels are historically significant: the Swan Hotel in the Pantiles was an old coaching inn, as was The Compasses pub, whilst The Spa was an 18th century mansion. The Hotel du Vin, formerly the Calverley Hotel, is on Decimus Burton's Calverley estate.
The largest single employer in the town is the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, at the Kent and Sussex and Pembury Hospitals, which employs around 2,500 people; the largest single commercial employer is EDF Energy, which employs around 800.
Tunbridge Wells enjoys a relatively low unemployment rate of around 1.0%. (in 2004 the UK national rate was 2.3%)
Governance
The Member of Parliament for the constituency of Tunbridge Wells, which includes the entire Borough, is the Conservative Greg Clark. He was elected in 2005 with a majority of 9,988.
The constituency has been Conservative since its inception in 1974 for the 1974 General Election. The two previous MPs were Sir Patrick Mayhew (1974-1997) and the former Asda chairman Archie Norman (1997-2005).
Tunbridge Wells local elections, which are again for the entire Borough council, show a pattern since 1973 of Conservative party dominance, apart from two years in the later 1990s when the Liberal Democrats held the upper hand. At the local election in 2007 the Conservatives held 41 seats and the Liberal Democrats seven (though in the nine wards within the town, only one was won by a Liberal candidate - St John's, to the north of the town centre), but the elections held in May 2008 gave the Conservatives an even greater lead with 44 seats, leaving the Liberal Democrats with only four.
Communications
Road
Tunbridge Wells is at the hub of a series of roads, the primary ones being the A26, which runs from Maidstone to Newhaven; the A264, which runs from Five Oaks to Pembury (via Crawley and East Grinstead); and the A267, which runs south from Tunbridge Wells to Hailsham. The A21 passes to the east of the town, following the route of its turnpike ancestor, from Lewisham to Hastings.
Bus services are operated chiefly by Arriva Southern Counties, providing both local rural services as well as express services to locations such as Bromley and Maidstone. Eastbourne and Brighton on the south coast are accessible on services run by Eastbourne Buses and Brighton & Hove, and Metrobus operates hourly services to Crawley.
Rail
Tunbridge Wells town historically had three railway stations: two of these are still in use by National Rail services. Tunbridge Wells station is, as its former name of Tunbridge Wells Central suggests, centrally located within the town at the end of the High Street, whilst High Brooms station is situated in High Brooms, to the north of the town. Both stations are located on the double-tracked electrified Hastings Line; services are operated by the Southeastern train operating company.
Tunbridge Wells West station was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1866 as the terminus of its competing line to Tunbridge Wells, but closed in 1985 along with that line. The station building is now a restaurant, and a Sainsbury supermarket occupies the former goods yard. In the 1990s, however, part of the line was reopened by the Tunbridge Wells & Eridge Railway Preservation Society (TWERPS), which now - as the Spa Valley Railway - operates a steam heritage railway that runs from Tunbridge Wells to Eridge; the West station serves as its eastern terminus. The tunnelled link line between the West and erstwhile Central stations, opened in 1876, remains closed.
Education
- For list of all schools in Tunbridge Wells, see List of schools in Kent
Kent County Council is one of fifteen local authorities in the UK that still provides selective education through the eleven plus exam, and Tunbridge Wells has three selective-entry secondary schools: The Skinners' School, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys. Tunbridge Wells is a centre for educational excellence (2006), with 75.7% of 15 year olds achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C. These are the fifth best results in the country.
Tunbridge Wells does not have a university of its own, but the Salomons Campus of Canterbury Christ Church University is located in the town and provides postgraduate programmes.
Crime
The statistics for crime in Tunbridge Wells show that in 2005/6 there were far fewer crimes than the national average occurring in the area:
| Offence | Locally | Nationally |
|---|---|---|
| Robbery | 0.61 | 1.85 |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 2.98 | 4.04 |
| Theft from a motor vehicle | 6.47 | 9.59 |
| Sexual offences | 0.81 | 1.17 |
| Violence against a person | 10.68 | 19.97 |
| Burglary | 3.94 | 5.67 |
Society, Culture and Leisure
Landmarks
The Pantiles is the landmark most readily associated with Tunbridge Wells.
In the centre of town at the end of Lime Hill Road is the Millennium Clock, which was designed by a local sculptor for the Millennium celebrations. It was refurbished in 2007.
Twinning
Tunbridge Wells is twinned with:
In 1960, through an advertisement in the national press, contact was made between former paratroopers in Wiesbaden, and four English ex-servicemen in Tunbridge Wells. Through this contact the friendship that now exists between the two towns sprang up, leading in 1989 to the official twinning link. Also through this the Tunbridge Wells Twinning and Friendship Association (TWTFA) was formed.
Arts
The arts are well represented. The Assembly Halls and the Trinity Theatre (formerly the Holy Trinity Church) both provide a venue for live comedy, drama, film and music. Music is often played in the bandstand on the Pantiles during the summer period.
Sport
Tunbridge Wells has a number of sports clubs. The football team, Tunbridge Wells FC, play in the Kent League Premier Division, and their home ground is the Culverden Stadium. Tunbridge Wells RFC play their home games at St Mark's, and they play London 2 South Rugby at RFU level 6. Tunbridge Wells Hockey Club plays at the Nevill Ground and competes in the Kent/Sussex Regional (men) and East Premier (women) divisions. The Monson Swimming Club competes in swimming, diving and water polo and is based at the Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre.
The Tunbridge Wells Harriers running club organises the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon, an open race that takes place every February.
Parks and green spaces
Tunbridge Wells contains many green spaces, ranging from woodland to maintained grounds and parks.
Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons
The most substantial areas of woodland are the Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons, which comprise 250 acres (0.39 sq mi; 1.0 km) of wood and heathland and are situated only a short walking distance from Tunbridge Wells town centre. Open areas of the common are popular picnic spots, and there is a maintained cricket ground situated next to Wellington Rocks. Their important nature has led to the formation of a Friends group.
Calverley Grounds
Located in the town centre opposite the train station, Calverley Grounds is a historic park with ornamental gardens and a bandstand. The park originally belonged to Mount Pleasant House - which was converted into a hotel (now the Hotel du Vin) in 1837 - until 1920 when the Borough Council eventually secured the purchase of the park. The facilities include a cafe, three tennis courts, a basketball court and three croquet courts.
Dunorlan Park
The largest maintained green space in the town, Dunorlan Park was once a private garden belonging to a now demolished grand mansion owned by the Yorkshire-born millionaire Henry Reed. The gardens were designed by the renowned Victorian gardener Robert Marnock, though over the years they became overgrown, making it hard to distingiush the full scope of Marnock's design. In 1996 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to restore the park in line with the original designs, and in 2003/4 Dunorlan underwent a £2.8 million restoration. Dunorlan is now listed as Grade II on English Heritage's National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
A well-loved part of the original designs is another opening of the Chalybeate spring. Marnock included the Chalybeate spring in his garden design and it was left completely unaltered; it is one of the most popular features of the park.
Smaller parks and grounds
- St John's park is located near both Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and The Skinners' School and is frequently used as a meeting place for the students before, after and during school. The grounds contain many sporting facilities for the public including three tennis courts, a basketball court and a bowls green. The park underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2007.
- The Grove lies further south of the town centre, located in the Mount Sion village area of the town, accessible via the High Street. The green space contains a children's play area.
- Grosvenor recreation ground is close to the town centre and is the town's oldest public park. The park has its own lake and children's play area. The Hilbert recreation ground adjoins Grosvenor and has extensive open grass spaces. Within the grounds there is an area for wheeled sports and four football pitches. Some parts have been designated as a local nature reserve by the Kent High Weald Project; these include Hilbert Woods and the adjoining grass areas.
Perception of the town
"Disgusted"
In Britain, Tunbridge Wells has gained a certain notoriety as being a bastion of the middle classes and a typical example of "Middle England". This is probably attributable to the locution "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells", deriving from the 1950s newspaper letters of complaint.
This perception is not without basis: in 2006 Tunbridge Wells was listed as the third best place in the UK to live in a Channel 4 television programme, based on factors such as crime, education, employment, environment and lifestyle.
Sport
Tunbridge Wells came into the cricketing spotlight during the 1983 Cricket World Cup, when Kapil Dev scored 175 not out off 138 balls for India against Zimbabwe at the Nevill Ground on July 6, 1983. This is one of the records for the highest score in a one-day international.
In literature and film
I am used to Tunbridge Wells, where we are all hopelessly behind the times.
— Miss Bartlett, A Room With A View by E. M. Forster
References to Tunbridge Wells occur in literature as diverse as Arthur Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear, Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines, Evelyn Waugh's Men At Arms, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest and Zadie Smith's White Teeth.
David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia closes with Mr. Dryden answering King Feisal: "Me, your Highness? On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in Tunbridge Wells", and in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service Tracy Di Vicenzo says to Bond that she "looks forward to living as Mr and Mrs James Bond of Acacia Avenue, Tunbridge Wells". Less well known is H. G. Wells' sending up of "Tumbridge Wells" in his 1925 book Christina Alberta's Father.
Tunbridge Wells people
Main article: List of people from Tunbridge WellsReferences
- ^ Edward Hasted "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Vol 3" in British History Online
- A History of Langton Green
- Seventeenth-century Kent: a Social and Economic History C.W.Chalklin 1965 Longmans Green and Co
- "A Brief History of Tunbridge Wells" Tim Lambert, undated
- Lambert, ibid
- 2006 Population estimate, Tunbridge Wells)
- 1991-2001 population comparison, Tunbridge Wells borough
- Tunbridge Wells demographic statistics
- Tunbridge Wells religious statistics
- Tunbridge Wells economic report
- Tunbridge Wells major employers
- Tunbridge Wells economic performance
- Claimant Count, NOMIS, 2004
- TWBC Webpage of local MPs
- BBC 2005 General Election results
- Election results by ward
- Composition of TWBC as of May 2008
- History of the Spa Valley Railway
- "Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2008", KCC, p4
- Channel 4's Best and Worst Places to Live
- 2005/6 Crime figures
- TWTFA
- Parks and green spaces in Tunbridge Wells
- Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons
- Calverley Grounds
- Dunorlan Park
- Tunbridge Wells: The spiritual home of Middle England
- Channel 4's "Best and Worst Places to Live 2006"
External links
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
- Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Forum
- The Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society
- VisitTunbridgeWells.com
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