Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Spooky Goings On

T'is the eve of All Hallows' Day, and the ghosts and ghoulies are preparing themselves for a night of fright, and probably most of the town's children too. But, do you want a real fright? Then get yourself out with one of our towns many ghosts. The 20-odd that live on the Pantiles will have enough to do with the tourists but there are a couple more in more quieter parts of town to give you a chill. Consider Woodbury Park Road where in the mid-1800's there was a orphange which was sadly raized to the ground with many of the children being burnt alive inside. Legend has it that one of the staff gathered the children together in a room and had them sing as the building burnt, since there was no hope for escape and to try to stop the children from panicking. Some evenings you can still hear their singing drifting on the air. In the same road, at number 21, there has been numerous sightings of a "grey lady" in victorian attire who appears, its thought she is the teacher that gathered the children together in chorus.

Not far away, many years ago, a man walking home along a narrow overgrown path from Broomhill Road heard the sound of horses' hooves and on turning around was astonished to see the headless figure of a rider in plated armour bearing down on him. It's been said that the figure could well have been that of one of Cromwell's cavalry soldiers, as they occupied the area during the Civil War. As to the reason why the horseman was headless, the answer can only be conjectural. Perhaps the soldier had been killed in a skirmish with a group of Royalists or, as has been suggested, his head was knocked off by an overhanging branch as he sped through the forest.

On the same road a couple were driving along and, approaching a bend too quickly, thought they had run over a figure on the verge. The figure was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until a local man revealed that some 70 years earlier a cottage had existed at the exact bend in the road where the phantom had been that the couple realised the similarities. The buildings had lain empty and derelict for many years before being demolished because "potential buyers were scared away by the ghost of a man who haunted the place". The owners of the place claimed that the "cottage is haunted by a man in a grey suit". The same figure seen by the couple was on the exact spot where the cottage had been. Proof that the building doesn't have to exist for the ghosts to still haunt.

Feeling brave? Don't believe the tales? Dare you take a walk at the witching hour? Let me know how you get on. Happy Halloween.

More Common

There is no finer time to be in the great outdoors than now and having sat in the roadworks on the A26 in Southborough for seemably hours on end and gazing out into the lovely surrounding countryside we decided that it would be the perfect time to walk across Southborough Common. Yes indeedy not the usual lovely Common on our doorstep but one of the countless other neighbouring green spaces that surrounds us this time, just for some variety.
Gorgeous reds and browns intermix with still-luscious greens giving us a visual feast for the eyes, the crinkle of crisp leaves underfoot scatters all the birds rendering our binoculars and long camera lenses rather redundant but producing a fantastic experience for the ears, and the previous evenings rainfall being soaked up in the days sunlight provided us with the wonderful scent of fresh air. A sensual banquet.
On our small circular trek we wandered past small cottages with stacks of wood by their doors and the smell of a warming fire puffing from the chimney, we saw and failed to identify countless species of fungi and toadstools, but it was still fun to get down low and look at them, we even stood and watched a fisherman dangling his tackle (excuse me) into Holden Pond and not caring that nothing was biting.
Best of all the trail is a circle so you convienently emerge right where you began, albeit with a bigger smile.
So next time you are sitting in the roadworks turn off into the Common car park have a walk and destress yourself, yes you'll get home half an hour later but you would've had a great experience and done your inner self the world of good. Trust me.

Freedom Army

2008 marks the centenary of the establishment of the Territorial Army and today saw our local unit, 579 Field Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Volunteers, given the Freedom of the Borough in celebration of this event. The unit is part of the UKs only Territorial Army Bomb Disposal Regiment which has seen members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. But thankfully not Tunbridge Wells. The Freedom bestowed by the Borough is the greatest honour that is given to military units by civic authorities and allows the troops to march through the streets with bayonets fixed, drums beating, band playing, and colours flying. This is exactly what they did on a glorious Saturday morning to the playing of the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment Band. What a great sight it was. Click on the picture below to be taken to a gallery of the images taken at this event.

Spotted

Many many thanks must go to one of our great readers who sent in this picture of themselves on the Spa Valley Railway.  Anne, pictured here, can be seen carrying one of our famous tote bags.  Thanks for the wonderful picture, Anne, enjoy your glory!

Reinventing Tunbridge Wells

Its not often that something nice falls through your letterbox, unless you are my wife and have been shopping of course. But on Tuesday the museum sent me an invitation to a guided walk based around the works of Decimus Burton, it was called Reinventing Tunbridge Wells. How could I resist? I walked to the museum straight away and booked my spot.
We all met in the foyer of the museum, mainly to shelter from the rain that was now falling. A good turn out too, 15 people, mostly locals but a few day visitors. It seems Decimus can still pull a crowd.
Ian Beavis introduced us to the life of Decimus as we sheltered from the rain, but after a while it was inevitable we would have to venture outside. The sun was fortuitously shining.
Standing outside the museum Ian told of the great majestic buildings that once stood on the site, directing everyone's attention to the great retaining wall that was still standing there and the mock antique priory building across the road. If you've seen the old pictures then you know why I had a lump in my throat. We then walked around to the last standing example of Calverley Terrace, one keen eared attendee noticing that indeed it wasn't a terrace but a semi.
We then all gazed upon the old Calverley Hotel as traffic thundered past, Ian descibing how the road was once but a quiet dusty track with just four houses, it was hard to imagine but we all tried.
Crossing the road gingerley in a group we stopped at Calverley Park Crescent, or as Decimus called it the "New Pantiles", Ian directing our attention to the grand central house originally intended to be a library. It was fascinating to hear, looking at the sandstone that made up the great walls, that Decimus was actually disappointed in the colour of the local stone although it has beautified with age.
With dark clouds looming we wandered under the arch of Victoria Gate to stand at the gates of Calverley Park Estate, which Ian said was once described as "like turning the pages of a great architectural text book". I like that. Interesting to note that we walked under the arch unhindered, where as the original Estate would've seen us stopped by security guards and issued with a visitors pass. Times haven't changed much it seems.
Without entering the Estate we moved out over to Lansdowne Road, rather disappointingly not getting a talk on the magnificent houses, but that would've taken a few hours I suppose. A very enjoyable few hours but perhaps another time. Here, in Lansdowne Road we had a talk on Phase Two of the great estate. Remarkably the first house you see in Lansdowne Road is the original intended colour for all the buildings, to you and I it looks like dull stone as the fashion these days sees that everyone paints their properties in bright colours.
Turning the Garden Road junction, we double back on ourselves into town again to walk along Calverley Street which was Decimus's version of housing that was for those subtely further down the social scale. You can still see a Decimus remnant here in the form of the National Victoria School, it's the pretty white building opposite the sporting gun shop. One surprising turn here was the fellow who piped up "I went to school there!" Small world eh?
We peeked down Garden Street at Decimus's housing for the working class, the Calverley Cottages, although you'd need to be a rather rich working class to live there today. Back out we walked onto the traffic of Calverley Road to get in the way of shoppers and look at Decimus's successful shopping parade called The Pavillion. Ian pointed out that where the NPI building stands today was Decimus's beautiful market place, but which was not a success in its time and after a brief stint as our first town hall was demolished. Very sad.
Looking down Camden Road, originally known as Calverley Quarry Lane, we learnt of the large quarry that existed and brought all of Decimus's buildings to life through its sand stone. No time to ponder though as we strolled as a group along Monson Road, passing the lovely Monson Colonnade and back to the museum to a round of applause for Ian. What a nice walk.