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?

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?

Before the Town Hall

It's no secret that the Council are considering abandoning the current town hall site and relocating to smaller premises, which does actually make me both happy and sad. I'm happy that the current building will become something new and hopefully open to the public. I'm crossing my fingers for a giant extension of the museum and art gallery. Are you reading Mr Mayor?

I'm sad also but perhaps not for the reasons you might be thinking. It actually makes me feel sorrow for the building that once stood on the site, before the town hall existed, and ask myself if there really was a need to destroy it for the current building.

The original buildings were designed and built by the great Decimus Burton between 1827 and 1841 and I think you'll agree from the picture below that they are magnificent to behold. The Terrace consisted of four detached double villas, and a Parade of twelve houses, all faced with stone. There were pleasure grounds before each range of houses, private gardens behind, and stables and a mews beyond them. Luckily two still survive to this day, number nine and ten just tucked away next to the police station. Go have a look at them and wonder what a whole line of them would look like.

You can perhaps sympathise a bit more with my woe when you see the next photographs of workmen demolishing the row of buildings around 1938, not even a hundred years later.

Demolition in progress.

Loading up all the stone into wagons.

Decimus' great terrace is razed to the ground.

Back to the open ground of pre-1827.

The Terrace was a row of very grand houses and were palatial homes of the very wealthy people of the day, the 1881 Census showing a doctor, a retired Captain, clergyman and the rest filled with rich owners living off of dividends.

When the Terrace was built in 1827 many local residents weren't pleased with it, with several complaining to the local newspaper about the huge imposing stone walls. The residents may have had a point at the time, because even though Calverley Terrace looks beautiful to us today from these old images, when you consider what was there before Decimus put pencil to paper, it is quite a difference. For before Decimus arrived there was a lonely house sitting in a huge meadow sitting atop Mount Pleasant (see map below). The building was called Lanthorn House and was owned by some rather special people over the years, including the Reverend Gordon, rector of Speldhurst and Thomas Beeching the banker who eventually sold it to the planners for the Terrace.

Click the image above to see a larger version.

There is today a small nod to the past to the great Lanthorn House by way of a small mews lane called Lanthorne Mews. Look out for it when you next walk to the theatre.

I'll leave you with a quote I discovered "Had the town not demolished the stylish houses and villas of this town planner, Tunbridge Wells would be the tourist attraction of the South East."

Civic Pride

It's a building we all probably see every day. It's a building that I'm sure we've all been to, be it for you own pleasure in the theatre or museum, or for Her Majesty's pleasure at the Police Station. It's a building that brings a hint of sadness when you see what was there before. It's a building that stands grandly watching over Mount Pleasant. More importantly it's a building that is soon to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

I'm talking about the Civic Centre, one of the last few remaining in England in fact. Covering the ground that now houses the Civic Centre used to be the wonderful Decimus Burton-designed Calverley Parade. Unfortunately the Parade's future was almost always destined to be a Civic Centre as planning was in place from as early as 1895, and although it was enjoyed for many more years after that, sadly demolition began in 1931. With much political to-ing and fro-ing it wasn't until 1939 that the demolition was finally finished and construction began. Interestingly, numbers 9 and 10 Calverley Parade, which still exist, escaped the destruction and were originally earmarked to become a Fire Station.

Built at a cost of just over £180,000 the centre was prasied by all as a wonder of modern design, and to be honest still does look quite modern in its surroundings. The centre actually opened in stages, with the theatre ready for use in 1939 and the Town Hall completed in 1941 and as it was built during the war it was remarked how sturdy the construction was and how certain parts "would make a fine air-raid shelter". Scary times.

To this this day the centre it is still giving pleasure to the town and now that the Council is thinking of relocating out of the central section it does beg the question what will go in there in their place? I'm hoping the museum and art gallery get a huge expansion.

On Yer Bike

I wondered several months ago about the lack of exciting new street furniture that could actually sit within the historic skyline of our town and also the need to fulfil that need especially in light of our fourth centenary celebrations.

So, there I was walking past the Town Hall and before me was exactly what I was after. A gift from the kind people of our twin town of Wiesbaden. These rather sleek looking bicycle sculptures are actually bicycle racks and are fixtures of both our towns. Pretty and useful too. And as I stood for a couple of minutes admiring them and taking a few snaps, two people stopped me to say how much they liked them too. A great addition to the street scene, why can't all civil architecture be this attractive. What do you think of them?