Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Noah's Ark Finally Surfaces

Noah's Ark had lain hidden for nearly twenty years. But when it finally surfaced recently, we were there to witness it.

Noah's Ark.

No, we haven't been on holiday to Mount Ararat, this was on Mount Ephraim and David and I were in the now abandoned Kent & Sussex Hospital.

Some of you may remember the Children's Ward of the hospital which had lots of vibrant and cheerful animal tiles on the walls above the beds.

One of the animal tiles.

These tiles were originally installed to cheer up the children who were staying on the ward for long periods. As well as providing some colour and fun they were also believed to be a much more hygienic surface than regular wall coverings as they were easy to wipe clean. Although I would presume this was for entire walls of tiles and not small panels with edges that attract dirt but there you go.

One of the animal tiles.

The tiles, also called Carter's Tiles, cost around £9 for each scene and were paid for with funds raised by the Courier Newspaper's PeaNut Club. It has been said recently that it would take 10,000 times as much as they originally cost to remove them, but be rest assured that a caveat will be in place on the demolition of the building to save them.

One of the animal tiles.

They were made by WB Simpson of the Poole Pottery in Dorset who created tiles for pretty much any sector of industry you care to imagine. If you visit the website of the Virtual Museum of Poole Pottery you will see that the Tunbridge Wells tiles were also made for other hospitals around the UK. The pottery was so proud of these that they featured in their publicity campaign of 1935.

All of the tiles were actually painted over and then boarded over in 1965 but then rediscovered and restored during some building works in 1984. Unfortunately the Ark wasn't so lucky and had been covered over again so that a sink could be installed in front of it. Now the hospital was empty it was time to reveal the Ark again.

The reveal of the Ark begins.

We sat waiting patiently whilst one of the workmen sawed away, walloped with hammers, chipped with chisels and basically lost pints of sweat in brute force trying to remove the wooden covering.

Sawing away at the wooden covering.

Time for a bit of brute force.

But then finally, after ten minutes of waiting, the cover was removed and there it was. The colours were beautiful, being covered up had protected the colourful tiles from the sun and from the modern harsh cleaning materials. The colours were so vivid in the low sun streaming through the window.

The Ark is revealed.

Also, it being revealed meant that the rest of the animal tiles in the ward now made sense. You may notice if you look at one of the general photos of the ward that all the animals are in pairs and are walking towards the brightly-coloured Ark ready to board. Just like the Bible story.

The Ark in all it's glory, being seen for the first time in 20 years.

We were the first people to see the Ark for nearly 20 years and it was quite an experience and one I won't forget in quite some time.

Keep stopping by our Tunbridge Wells Project as we add more and more galleries to the abandoned Kent & Sussex Hospital album.

Tunbridge Toys

Today, the 18th of July, is, or would've been, the 200th birthday of legendary Vanity Fair author William Makepeace Thackeray.

Thackeray's illustrated view from Rock Villa.

Born in Calcutta, India in 1811, William moved back to England in 1817. During the summer of 1823 he stayed with his mother and step-father in a small cottage on Mount Ephraim which they had rented for the season. Many years later he revisited the scenes of this childhood holiday and together with his two daughters spent the months of August and September, 1860, at Rock Villa on London Road. Rock Villa now houses a famous local restaurant named in his honour.

William Makepeace Thackeray pictured during the Tunbridge Toys period.

Whilst here, Thackeray was the editor of the Cornhill Magazine, to which he contributed a series of essays called the Roundabout Papers. His stay at Rock Villa inspired him to pen the delightful “Tunbridge Toys” essay. Thackeray had some talent as an artist and illustrated many of his works, at the beginning of “Tunbridge Toys” there is a fabulous engraving of the inspiring view of Common and Belleville Cottage as seen from Rock Villa, it is pictured at the start of this post.

Tunbridge Toys really is a truly wonderful piece of work and really beautifully describes the view of the Common. It's enough to bring a lump to your throat.

An extract from Thackeray's Tunbridge Toys describes the view perfectly.

To celebrate Thackeray’s birthday download your free copy of Tunbridge Toys.

Do Well, Doubt Not

Do Well, Doubt Not. A line you will no doubt have seen around town on more than one occasion, but just how much do you know about our crest?

One of the old pre-borough crests on a Mount Ephraim post.

The town was granted its first coat of arms on the 19th of July 1889 which included the motto "Do Well Doubt Not" but that arms was changed on the 1st of April 1974 when the Tunbridge Wells District Council brought together the communities of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Southborough, Cranbrook and some other surrounding rural villages of Tonbridge into a new Borough. A new coat of arms was needed, and thanks to Somerset Herald they were ready in April 1976 and they are the ones you see all around you in town today.

But just how many are there around us? Can you spot them all?

I managed to find one on the Education building in Monson Road, lots on many of the old lampposts around town (pictured), the railway bridge on Mount Pleasant had a couple, the mayor's car had one, the town's welcome signs had them, and as expected there are several inside the town hall. Did I miss any?

A selection of crests around town, some new some old.

So, what exactly does the coat of arms mean? Well, the white horse represents the rural areas of Tonbridge and his friend the Demoiselle Crane represents Cranbrook, and they are each sitting proudly atop our famous sandstone rocks. The ram's head on top was taken from the existing Southborough arms and the well head that the ram is sitting on is from the old Tunbridge Wells arms.

The shield they are all surrounding is divided up into two colours, green and gold. The green pile represents the countryside and the pile itself indicates the geological fault giving rise to our local springs. The gold colour stands for town and is covered in hop bine and apple blossom which symbolise the kentish countryside in our rural areas. Finally right in the centre of the shield is the well known symbol of water denoting our famous health-giving wells and a saxon crown celebrating the designating of royal status in 1909.

But just who gave us the famous motto? Well, my loyal readers, someone out there must know, do you?

Monument to Progress: George Whitefield

Monuments are unfortunately few and far between here in Tunbridge Wells, but sitting tucked away on Mount Ephraim by the entrance to the Kent & Sussex Hospital is a small unassuming stone structure dedicated to one George Whitefield (notice the spelling error in the photograph, well that's how it's pronounced anyway so maybe the stonemason just worked off of a spoken version of the name). The monument is one of our smallest listed buildings and has recently been restored to its former glory.
Who was George Whitefield and why is this monument here?

George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a preacher, evangelist and one of the founders of Methodism, he was known as the most charismatic open-air preacher of his day, with audiences as large as 30,000 gathering to see him. He travelled across the UK and the US preaching the word with a forthrightness of manner that won him many fans but harsh criticism, but why if he only seemed to preach here in The Wells on very few occasions is there a permanent reminder of him? Well the monument is actually both for him and for the wonderful Emmanuel Church (formerly Lady Huntingdon's Chapel) that once stood at this spot.

The church was built here in the grounds of the old Culverden House, which was then leased by Lady Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. She had the chapel constructed because her chaplain, Whitefield, was barred from regular churches for his non-conformist views and Lady Huntingdon being so dismayed with the official churches used her substantial wealth to support the new Methodist movement.

Her new church was a quaint but considerable structure of wooden weatherboard and tiles and was opened in 1769 with a sermon by Whitefield himself. The wooden building lasted until 1870 when it was replaced by a proper stone building with a landmark spire soaring 140ft into the Tunbridge Wells skyline. It could be seen from far and wide, but alas cannot be seen any more.

The church finally closed in 1969 and was sadly, some would say criminally, demolished in 1974 to allow better access to the hospital. During the demolition 57 bodies were exhumed from the churchyard and re-buried Woodbury Park cemetery.

All that is now left is a smart stone block topped with a ball-finial. Look out for it next time you are passing, or why not take a walk that way specifically for a look.

Sunrise on a New Panorama

There I was so excited about the release of another local book by our Civic Society that I was up and about before the bookshop had opened, in fact I was up before the sun had even come up.
I decided to not waste time sitting around so left the house quietly and took a walk to photograph the sunrise.

Sunrise over Royal Tunbridge Wells. Is there anything more beautiful? Click for larger.

There was also another reason why I wanted to take a photograph this morning, and it was to do with the new book. You see, the latest publication from the Civic Society is called "Historic Panoramas of Royal Tunbridge Wells", and I wanted to create my own panorama in celebration.

After getting the book and enjoying a great read, it turns out that I took my panorama from a very popular spot, as more than half of the historic images inside are taken from the top of Mount Ephraim.

The book is another beauty from the Society with lots of details about some of the most famous images of our town. What's especially great is that I own a few of them and it really helps to identify certain points of interest in them.
Click here to buy the book and see for yourself.

And here without further ado, here is my celebratory panorama, click on it for the full large wide-screen experience.

Panorama of Mount Ephraim. Click for larger.