Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Inside King Charles the Martyr's Roof

You could be forgiven for thinking that these photographs are of some Hollywood fantasy film set. You'd be wrong. This is what lies above the magnificent ceiling of King Charles the Martyr Church.

Inside the roof of King Charles the Martyr.

David and I were invited along for our Tunbridge Wells Project by the Reverend, Robert Avery. He was really excited to share behind the scenes of the church and especially the wonderful world that lies above everybody's heads. Upon climbing the small staircase and into the roof, we were gobsmacked. It's really hard to describe the feeling of walking into the roofspace, all we could think of was it was like a Harry Potter set.

Countless ancient wooden beams aimed at your head at every turn, there were walkways, ladders, nooks, crannies, there was astonishment everywhere. You could see where all the additions had been made to the church over the years. You could even see the delicate handiwork of the craftsmen that created the plaster domes hundreds of years ago.

The ventilation ducting of King Charles the Martyr.

One thing that struck me was the wooden ducting that you can see in the photograph above. It turns out that this is an ancient form of air conditioning. If you go into the chapel and look up you will notice that in some of the domes are small roses, and inside these roses are holes. These holes lead into these wooden tubes and then out to the fresh air. There are small wooden slats to regulate the flow, although you'd have to climb into the roof to do it of course.

One of the ceiling roses, complete with vent hole.

Thank you very kindly to the Reverend and the kind folks who helped show us around this great church. To see the rest of the photographs of the mind-boggling roofspace, the vestry and much much more, then visit the Tunbridge Wells Project. Go now!

The Cherub and The Christmas Giveaway!

Before we get to the part that you've come here for, the fabulous Christmas giveaway, let's have a little fun festive post first. Oi, stop scrolling to the bottom!

I discovered this little nugget of a historical fact not from a text book or a lengthy session sitting in the museum but from a good old-fashioned walking tour.

I hope that over the Christmas period you might stop by King Charles the Martyr Church and leave a few pennies as this is one of our town's most treasured buildings. When you are there you take a walk around and have a closer look at the handsome chap in the photo at the top. What do you notice? That's right, this usually beautiful little cherub is sporting an enormous moustache. But why?

Well, pull up a mince pie and I shall tell you. Back in the late 1670s, John Wetherell was busy plastering away, covering the ceiling in magnificent domes and roundels, adorned with ornaments of fruit, cherubs' heads and palms. This was really top quality workmanship, the craftsmen he employed to help him had also worked for Sir Christopher Wren. But it seems that one of the apprentices he had hired was finding the whole thing a bit of a bore, so he waited until his master had gone for lunch and decided to have some fun. That rather mischievous lunch break prank resulted in two of the cherubs being comedically adapted. The thing is we aren't really sure if John Wetherell actually noticed either. Naughty apprentice. He's fired!

Anyway, I've shown you one of the cherubs in the photo above but you're going to either have to go yourself and try and find the other or partake on one of these local walking tours. I recommend the latter, especially as you can also learn about the unique pews, the Christopher Wren connection, and also the famous people who once worshipped at the church.

Whilst we're on the subject there is quite a good Tunbridge Wells Treasure Hunt on this weekend (until 20th December) with some great prizes. Details here.

Right, let's get to the bit you've all sat through that for, the tuppence in the pudding, the Christmas giveaway! To be entered to win this year's fabulous gift, which is not quite as good as Create DM's giveaway of an iPod Touch, hey where are you going?! Right, attention back to me, to be in with a chance of winning my great giveaway then just leave a comment and you'll be in the draw. What's the prize you ask? Well it's this rather tremendous fridge magnet featuring Jan Kip's engraving of King Charles the Martyr Church. You know you want it! Comment away!

Competition closed. Congratulations to Beverley Aston for winning the Christmas Giveaway.

King Charles on Tour

Yesterday we welcomed a friend from the Big Smoke down to Tunbridge Wells, mainly for the purposes of a little photography walk around town. I therefore broke out one of my repertoire of tours for visitors, and as we were pressed for time it was to be the speedy tour. Thus it went: Calverley Park, The Grove, Mount Sion, Eden Road, Chapel Place, King Charles the Martyr, The Pantiles, The Common, Mount Ephraim and home again. A nice big loop handily ending at Sankeys for a welcome pint.

The highlight of the day, apart from the unscheduled stop on The Pantiles for a cool glass of Chalybeate Water which was described as "like licking a lampost" and the refreshing cold beer to refresh the parts the Water didn't reach, was a visit to King Charles the Martyr Church. Here we were warmly welcomed by two cheerful ladies sat in front of a table festooned with pamphlets and guides. "Can we take some photos" we asked, to which their two faces lit up, "of course my dears, the more the merrier". So we did.

One's gaze can't help but drift upwards in a building like this, and there you'll see the fine ceiling domes by the master plasterers of Christopher Wren, namely John Wetherell and Henry Doogood. From there your attention is pulled towards the stained glass window at the back and you find yourself involuntarily walking towards it for a closer look.

We crept politely around all the fixtures and fittings, the lovely silence only marred every minute or so with the kerchunk of a camera shutter filling the air as we shot nearly every square inch of the place.

The details within the Church are so plentiful it's very easy to see your afternoon slip by in a flash. Just see how the light playing on the glass creates an image of warm colourful water on the old wooden boards in the picture below. Beautiful isn't it.

You can't really get it from this image, but the sound of the boards as you climb the stairs to the gallery above is strangely comforting. From up here back in a packed Sunday morning service in the summer of 1835 you may have caught the gaze of a young Princess Victoria, then a girl of sixteen, seated with her mother, sitting in the gallery opposite. A large brass plaque now attached to the panelling commemorates her visits.

Climbing the steps down again usually takes a lot longer than going up as you take your time to gaze at all the artwork that lines the small flight of steps. There are many fine beautiful historic documents here and they just beg to be photographed. Even if you can't quite read the writings of all of them.

There is time to peer outside through the coloured glass to the world beyond. Through the hazy delicately imperfect panes the view could almost be hundreds of years old if not for the speed of the passing shapes indicating modern traffic. Chapel Place looks crooked and skewed in a world of strange colour and passers by wobble past and make you reach out to touch the glass.

We reach into our pockets and post pieces of silver through the golden slot in the wall, our time here was fleeting but worth a couple of pounds in loose change. Goodbye ladies, enjoy the wonderful peace and quiet when we're gone. I can't wait for the next friend to come visit so I can go back again.

There are a few more pictures here for you to enjoy of our small photowalk around the church and beyond.

Can You Hear Running Water?

Have you ever stood in three places at once? Did you know it was even possible? Well it is, and this marvellous feat is possible right here in Tunbridge Wells.

Set into the pathway outside King Charles the Martyr Church is a special marker stone with an almost encrypted message. The lines on the stone tell you the boundaries between Kent & Sussex; the Speldhurst, Frant and Tonbridge Parishes; and the Rusthall and South Frith Manors.

The lines also signal the route of a long lost waterway, Grom Brook, that followed these boundaries. There is a theory that the water for our spring comes from this water source. You can see the brook in Jan Kips engraving of the Pantiles of 1719. You can also see the sharp turn that the brook took right outside the church as well as some characters crossing one of a couple of bridges in the picture. The stream is still there but now runs underneath the Home Farm Estate.

This watery divide means that part of The Pantiles is actually in Sussex, well at least it was up until the end of the 19th century that is, when the official boundary of the brook was transferred further south to the Tunbridge Wells Cemetery just beyond Forest Road.

So next time you take a walk down to The Pantiles and cross over this marker, get down and put your ear to the ground, can you hear running water?

Steady On Old Chapel

It was my birthday last week and my wife bought me a fantastic present, she bought me a copy of Jan Kip's Engraving of 1719, which if you live in our beautiful town will probably know is one of the most famous and replicated drawings. After many minutes just sitting and trying to soak in all the delicate details, my eye kept being drawn to the chapel in the picture, so there was an excuse to go and visit King Charles the Martyr church.

I was greeted with the usual friendly hello and had the ubiquitous leaflet pushed into my hand. The helpful guide told me that they were saving money so most of the lights were turned off, but before I could reply he had run off to find the light switch and make sure my visit was fully illuminated. If you haven't been before, the Martyr is a fantastic historic building, in fact it was the first permanent building in Tunbridge Wells, albeit in a slightly smaller incantation. What strikes me first when I walk in is the East Window, a design based on a Norwegian painting called Easter Morning, a beautiful coloured glass window some 20 feet high which is strangely missable from the outside.

The church has changed many times over the centuries but a few early features still remain, my favourite being the panelled galleries above the main congregation which many years ago were mainly for servants and trades people, and could be reached only from outside, effectively separating the social strata in church, look closely and you can see the stairway on Kip's Engraving.

What you can't see on the 1719 engraving though is the clock, even though the turret is there, this is because it was installed in 1759, and the sundial on the side was then added on 1771 to regulate it, funny how they used a four thousand year old device to make sure the new-fangled clock kept time isn't it?

Did You Know: Have a look at some of the benches and you will spot odd looking brasswork at the ends, these are umbrella racks which more interestingly were placed by Jonas Hanway, the man we have to thank for introducing the umbrella to England.

The church is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the wells discovery this year by holding a series of concerts, so now there is no excuse not to pay them a visit. Oh, and take some change for the offertory, electricity is getting more expensive you know.