'ello 'ello 'ello, What's All This Then?

Lady Justice watches over the Station in this detail from the frieze above the entrance.

It came as a great surprise last week to be followed by the local Police. No, I don’t mean literally, I mean virtually. To welcome the local bobbies to the new online world of social media I dropped them a line and said hello with a cheeky request for a tour of the Police Station, not expecting to get one of course. So you can imagine my great surprise and joy as half an hour later I get a message saying “sure, come along for a guided tour”.

So, armed with a couple of friends and their kiddies we joined up with the Chief Inspector and District Commander, Martin Wilson for a look around.

It’s an intriguing building on the inside as it is trimmed with much of the same architectural details as the familiar Assembly Hall. It’s also an interesting building in its context as it is Grade II Listed for its configuration rather than its construction - one of the few civic buildings in the country to be built together in one structure with a Town Hall, a Theatre, a Library, an Art Gallery and a Museum. There were plans for a Fire Station too but that remained on Grove Hill Road where the old Police Station used to be too. One of the main reasons for moving the Police Station up from Grove Hill Road was a prisoner escaping by smashing through one of the thin brick walls.

We had a chat with Martin about local policing whilst the kids got to play at dressing up games and handcuffing each other, they had great fun trying on the stab-proof vests and oversized helmets, a far cry from the stiff uniforms of the old Force.

Back when the picture above was taken, bobbies wore a navy blue uniform with a swallow-tailed coat with a raised leather collar to protect against garrotting. The ensemble was topped off with a high stovepipe hat until 1865 after which the standard Custodian helmet was introduced. There were mixed feelings about the loss of the stovepipe hat since they were so sturdy they could be used as a seat to have a rest and they formed a useful step to look over high fences or into windows.

Tunbridge Wells Police, late 1880s.

As much as the old uniforms weighed the men down with their heavy materials I bet they didn’t weigh as much as the equipment today’s coppers have to carry, the poor kids couldn’t move under the weight of it all.

Although our town has been around since 1606, we didn’t actually have a Police Force until nearly 250 years later. This is because as we weren’t a Borough until 1889 we weren’t actually obliged to have one. Like today, this being such a safe part of the country, there wasn’t actually a lot of crime to police back in those early days, however, there was concern that other misdemeanours were commonplace; the wanton mischief included smashing windows, defacing and destroying of fences, continual noise and disturbance by drunkards leaving public houses. So, to combat this, the Tunbridge Wells Improvement Act was passed in 1835 and the Tunbridge Wells Police Force was formed, consisting of a Superintendent and five constables.

Stairs leading from the cells below to the dock.

All these petty criminals would’ve been tucked away for the night in one of the many cells on the ground floor that today have been converted into equipment locker rooms and have had all their heavy steel doors removed for safety reasons. You can still feel it is a place you really wouldn’t to spend very long though, what with the small window and high ceiling accentuating the tiny dimensions of the room. The barred doors in the corridor still remain though, we had great fun pretending to be locked in behind these on the tour.

The next stop on our tour was the courtroom, right above the cells, where the prisoners would be brought up to for sentencing. Alas, not used today but all the details remain, even the judges gavel. We each took it in turns to stand in the dock and bang the gavel, the kids especially enjoying the banging part.

Guilty! The regret is plain to see on the face of this miscreant.

Back in the 1840s, when the force was in its infancy, to fully train the new policemen in their duties, a sergeant was sent down from London to give his valuable advice. One of Sergeant Sillwood’s recommendations was to stop calling the hour during the night. This was the practice of an officer walking around town and shouting the time at the top of his voice. Sergeant Sillwood correctly surmising that criminals would hear the Policeman shouting and commit crime somewhere else. Based on his advice the local force issued a Police Instruction Book, which you can see at our local museum today.

In fact, why not pop along to the local museum and have a look at the Police exhibits, there are some great examples of truncheons and badges.

Our vehicle fleet of 1942. Today there are too many cars to store in this old yard.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the tour and it showed us all just how friendly and approachable the local Police really are and how safe Tunbridge Well is because of them.

Remember, don't have nightmares, do sleep well.