Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Oxfam Bookfest Walk

Sixteen of us gathered outside the museum on a gorgeously sunny Sunday morning. We were here to take a tour of town, a tour organised for the Oxfam Bookfest by a local blue badge tour guide, Catherine.

The tour group walks along York Road.

You may think that taking a tour of a town you live in would be pointless, after all you live here and know everything right? Boy you couldn’t be further wrong. This tour was specifically aimed at locals who wanted to know the deepest darkest secrets of the Wells.

Being a “New Town” tour, we were told that there would be no visiting the obvious hotspots and we’d be concentrating on our more recent history.

I’ll give you a brief rundown of the tour and some of the highlights as I really want you to go buy yourself a ticket and enjoy it for yourself.

Starting at the museum we had a brief talk about the civic buildings and what they had replaced. When shown some of the old images of Calverley Terrace the group collectively let out a lot of ooohs and there was some furious head shaking going on. Leaving Civic Way the tour walked towards the Opera House, it was supposed to take in the Adult Education Centre but as it is currently undergoing some restoration that was skipped and it was straight into the Opera House for a brief behind the scenes tour.

We all assembled in the fabulously named Crush Room Bar for another history talk. Everyone was then invited to take a walk out onto the balcony to take a look out over the new town. Living up to its name there literally was a crush to get out.

The group take it in turns being careful not to disturb the ghosts of the haunted box.

We then climbed to the dress circle to hear some more history about the performances that once were and the history of the building’s construction. There were a few gasps of disbelief to the fact that the butchers underneath used to be a Sainsburys (see comments before for more), amongst other fascinating tidbits.

If you book the tour you’ll be able to find out who once raided the opera house, who Bambi the Cat was, and what is missing from the ceiling. You’ll also be able to find out which of the boxes is haunted. Legend has it that three builders fell from the scaffolding when working on the ceiling and two of them died. As these two used to sit and have their lunch in same box every day they are said to now haunt it. Everyone naturally made a beeline for the box to see if they could feel anything. Can you smell their ham sarnies and tea in there?

The Original Me?

I was doing a bit of research into the mysterious columns that adorn the end of Lonsdale Gardens where it meets Mount Pleasant when I came across something rather strange that took me off onto another tangent, it was a photo of the columns from 1930 and more specifically the person who took it.

It was taken by David Johnson (1862-1945), who was a member of the Tunbridge Wells Amateur Photographic Association, and in particular the rather interesting Record Section. This section of the Association was set up in 1930 to record buildings before demolition or alteration, something that I do today (currently best illustrated by my Cinema Project).

The Association, housed at 14 Calverley Park Gardens, was set up in 1887 as a result of a lecture given by Ralph Winwood Robinson, son of the famous Henry Peach Robinson, who both set up the Association together with the patron Sir David Salomons. The Association was later renamed the Tunbridge Wells Photographic Society but alas doesn't seem to exist today (if anyone knows different then please leave me a comment).

David Johnson was born in London Road and lived as a child in what is possibly my favourite building in the entire town, York Villa on Mount Sion. He owned a photographic business on the High Street, which is now an elegant florist's shop. But perhaps the most interesting part of Mr Johnson's style of photography is his inclusion of long detailed historical notes on the back of the photographs which provide great information for historians.

Mr Johnson lived later on in life at 59 Mount Sion, which is of course the subject of one of his beautiful photographs, and strangely this image doesn't have his usual historical notes written on it but has the handwriting of another person: "Mr David James Johnson resided here until his death, June 16th 1945".

The more I read about Mr Johnson the more I come to realise that perhaps we are the same person. He loved to photograph the town, especially Mount Sion; he wanted to document the town for future generations; he made a point of writing about his images, although he wrote on the back of his whereas I write on this blog; and finally, he was a darned talented picture-maker :) OK, that last one is perhaps a tad subjective. All I need to do now is get hold of York Villa somehow.

His collection is now in the local museum, although not on display. But you can make an appointment to see the pictures if you want to. I know I am.

Snow in Tunbridge Wells

Christmas spirit is well and truly here in Royal Tunbridge Wells today, with the lovely drifts of white snow dropped onto us overnight. Here are just a few of the images I took out on my walk around town this morning, click here or any of the photos below to be taken to the rest of the gallery so you can see them nice and large. Enjoy!

Also, if these pictures have made you feel in the Christmas mood, then why not top it off with a trip to the panto? The wife and I were graciously invited to the press night of Trinity's Christmas Carol. Mostly in thanks for my production of their Christmas Card, which you must buy if you go there.

The panto was as you would expect, brilliant, much more of your traditional play rather than the modern trash with its musical numbers and audience participation. More one for the adults and older kids as it tries to stick as close to the feeling of the scary and dark original as possible. Please go and support Trinity and have some fun at the same time.

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.

Snow in Tunbridge Wells

Roads closed, transport cancelled, schools shut, shops unopened, offices empty. Good news at last then! So what better time then to get out and about in the lovely snow. Even at the early hours it seems a lot of people had beaten me to it, there were footprints of all species all over the Common and Pantiles. Click each picture for a larger version.

There are a few more snowy images and stories by clicking here.

Lots of footprints but not many people on The Pantiles.

Tyre tracks of brave drivers in the narrow lanes of Mount Sion.

Sledgers galore in Calverley Park.

The Common is beautiful in stark mono.

One wonders how this driver managed to get up/down Frog Lane, Mount Sion.

No climbers on Wellington Rocks today.

The riding lanes of the Common.

Click each picture for a larger version. There are a few more snowy images and stories by clicking here.