TONBRIDGE is an ancient town and large parish, 27 miles from London by railway, via Sevenoaks, and 30 by road, 14 west-south-west from Maidstone, 5 north from Tunbridge Wells, 6 south-east from Sevenoaks, 40 from Canterbury, 48 from Dover and 33 from Hastings. The parish included Tonbridge town, Southbotough and part of the town of Tunbridge Wells. Tonbridge gives its name to the hundred, and is the head of a union, petty sessional division and county court district, in the South-Western division of the county, lathe of Aylesford, partly in Washlingstone hundred, rural deanery of Tonbridge, archdeaconry of Maidstone and diocese of Canterbury.

By an Order of the County Council, issued in December, 1894, in pursuance of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict. c. 73), the ancient parish of Tonbridge has been divided into three, viz.; Tonbridge, Tonbridge Rural and Tunbridge Wells. The Local Government Board Order confirming the division was dated October 15, 1894.

The town was formerly governed by a Local Board of Health but under the “Local Government Act, 1894,” is now controlled by an Urban District Council of 18 members; it is lighted with gas by a Company and supplied with water from works, the property of the Tonbridge Water Co. the supply being obtained from underground springs; there are two reservoirs, one at Bloodshot and the other at the works.

The town is seated in a valley on the banks of the Medway, over which is an iron bridge of three arches, erected on the old foundations of a previous stone bridge and opened in September, 1888. The river itself, by means of two Acts of Parliament, respectively obtained in 1664 and 1739, was made navigable for barges of 60 tons. The South Eastern and Chatham railway from London through Sevenoaks here joins the old line from Redhill to Folkestone, and shortens the distance by 13 miles between London and Tonbridge, which is also the junction of the Tunbridge Wells and Hastings branch railway.

Tonbridge owed much of its consequence in former days to its castle, built by Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford, in the reign of Henry I.; this fortress, after having sustained several sieges, was dismantled during the civil wars, and is now mostly in ruins, but the fine tower gateway still remains in a very perfect condition. The Urban District Council (1902) purchased the castle and grounds, in all about 13 ½ acres, and have dedicated the property to recreative and other public purposes as a memorial of the reign of Her late Majesty Queen, Victoria, and ample space is afforded for cricket, bowls, tennis and other games. The residential portions of the building were erected towards the end of the 18th century. These now comprise the council chamber (a finely-proportioned room containing several portraits and other pictures), and offices for the clerk, surveyor and other municipal officers. A room also has been set apart for a museum. The sheltered promenade on the banks of the Medway is approached by an ornamental gateway from High street, near the Great Bridge; and to the north of this walk is a considerable stretch of ancient masonry, which formed part of the domestic portions of the old castle buildings. The grounds are open to the public without payment, but a small fee is charged to visitors wishing to ascend the tower and inspect the dungeons. Here was a priory of Austin or Black Canons, founded in the reign of Henry I. by Richard de Clare, first Earl of Hertford. In 1295, Tonbridge sent two members to Parliament, and it formerly conferred the title of Viscount on the Burke or De Burgh family, barons Somerhill and Earls of St. Albans, but these titles expired in 1659.

The church of SS. Peter and Paul is of stone in the Early English and later styles, with some Norman remains, and has a tower, containing a clock and 8 bells; there are a number of monuments and a memorial window; the church was restored and enlarged in 1879, at a total cost of upwards of £15,000, and affords 1,200 sittings. The register dates from the year 1549, The living is a vicarage, net income £379, with residence, in the gift of John F. W. Deacon esq. of Putney Heath London S.W. and held since 1894 by the Rev. Charles Gardiner Baskerville M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge, and surrogate.

St. Saviour’s Church, Dry Hill Park, erected in 1876 as a chapel of ease, is of red brick in the Early English style and has a turret, containing one bell; there are 350 sittings, 40 being free; the Rev. William Marcus Falloon B.A. of Queens’ College, Cambridge, is curate in charge.

St. Stephen’s ecclesiastical parish was formed April 5Th 1853; the church, built and consecrated in 1852, is of stone in the Early English style, and has a tower, with spire, containing a clock and 3 bells; there are 820 sittings, about 500 being free. The register dates from the year 1852. The living is a vicarage, net income £295, with residence, in the gift of the trustees of St. Peter’s, Southborough, and held since 1901 by the Rev. David Macklin Braby Chapman M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1901 was 8,197.

Corpus Christi Catholic Church is in the Waterloo road.

There is a Baptist chapel, in High street, erected in 1868, with 450 sittings, another in the Melton road, a Congregational chapel, built in 1751, seating 600, and Free Methodist and Wesleyan chapels.

The Cemetery, covering 10 acres, and situated half a mile north of the town, on an eminence, contains two mortuary chapels and is under the control of a Joint Burial Committee of eight members.

The Free Public Library and Technical institute, in High street, erected in 1900, by the Urban Council, is a fine edifice of red brick with stone dressings. The Free Library, originally opened at 83 High street, in 1882, now occupies nearly the whole of the ground floor of the new building, and has upwards of 6,000 volumes: it is also well supplied with daily and weekly papers and periodicals. The Technical institute for students of both sexes, occupies the first, second and top floors, and comprises workshops, a lecture hall, 50 by 24 feet, chemical laboratory, science and cookery rooms, an elementary art room, antique, modelling and wood carving rooms, headmaster’s room and caretaker’s quarters.

The “Chequers” inn, an old timber-framed and gabled house, has a swinging sign, curiously suspended from a long beam projecting over the road and supported on a wooden standard rising from the pavement.

The Public Hall, in the High street, erected in 1874, will hold 800 persons, and is used for concerts and meetings. The Central Hall is also in High street..

The 1st Volunteer Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) have their head quarters in the Public Hall, and K Company 1st Sussex Royal Engineers (Volunteers) have their head quarters in High street.

Petley’s and Deakin’s Almshouses, in Pembury road, were founded and endowed by Mr. George Petley, of this place, in 1704, and Thomas Deakins, in 1707, for 12 persons of either sex, being inhabitants of Tonbridge, each inmate receiving about two guineas yearly. The almshouses in the churchyard are for 12 poor persons, and were originally erected by a bequest of John Brightling, blacksmith of this town, in 1648, and rebuilt in 1847; none of the inmates receive any pension from the charity; the endowed charities for distribution in kind amount to £44 yearly, derived from rents, &c. left by various persons.

The traffic of the town, carried on by means of the railways and the river Medway, is considerable; there are gunpowder mills on the banks of the river, corn mills, and a substantial trade is maintained in wool stapling. A cattle market, well supplied with fat and store stock, is held on Tuesdays, and a cattle fair is held in the last week in October.

About half a mile from the town, on the Wells road, is a chalybeate spring, possessing all the properties of the waters of Tunbridge Wells.

Dry Hill Park and Quarry Hill are fashionable suburbs. The neighbourhood is picturesque and thickly wooded. Somerhill Park is the seat of Osmond Elim d’Avigdor-Goldsmid esq. B.A, LL.B.; the mansion, which dates from 1611, is a building of stone, in the Elizabethan style, and stands in an undulating park of about 400 acres, adorned with forest trees, and containing a lake extending over 8 acres; the public are at all times permitted free access to the park; the gardens are large and well cultivated.

The area of Tonbridge civil parish and Urban District is 1,356 acres; rateable value, £70,091; the population in 1901 was 12,736. The population attached to the parish church in 1901 was 5,185.

The area of Tonbridge Rural parish is 5,470 acres of land and 41 of water; rateable value, £18,469; the population in 1901 was 1,318.

By Local Government Board Order, 18,152, dated March 25, 1886, Upper Hayesden and another detached part of Tonbridge parish was transferred to Bidborough.

Tonbridge School

This school was founded under a charter of King Edward VI. in 1533 by Sir Andrew Judd, alderman and Lord Mayor of London, and the management is vested in the Master and Wardens of, the Skinners Company, the revenue being derived from estates in London and amounting to about £5,000 yearly. It is now conducted under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, dated July, 1880, and has classical, modern, scientific and engineering departments. The buildings, with the old chapel and headmaster's house, are of white stone, and comprise two large school-rooms, laboratories (physical, chemical and physiological), metal and wood workshops, and separate class-rooms for each form, library and a dining hall on the ground floor, with dormitories above; the grounds used for recreation cover an area of considerably more than 15 acres, with a racquet court, fives courts, gymnasium, covered drill shed &c. Other buildings were erected in 1877, and again in 1893—4. There is a chapel, erected in 1901—2, and consecrated on St. Augustine’s Day, May 26, 1902, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are now (1902) 380 boys. Foundation scholarships consist in the remission of the school tuition fee, and are tenable for two years, on the expiration of which the holders are conditionally re-eligible to similar scholarships for a further period of two years. The Judd scholarship, of £40 is tenable for four years. Two house scholarships are given by the house, masters in rotation. Five exhibitions are awarded annually to boys about to leave school at the July examination, viz.: three of £80 for four years and one of £60 for four years, tenable at any university or recognized place of higher education approved by the governors; and one Smythe exhibition of £30 for four years, tenable at any college of either university. The scholars of Tonbridge school are also eligible to the following: a scholarship of £100 yearly, founded by Sir Thomas White kt. at) St. John’s College, Oxford, awarded by the Master and Fellows of St. John’s; an exhibition of £29 6s. 6d. yearly, founded by Mr. Henry Fisher, at Brasenose College, Oxford, in the gift of the governors of Tonbridge School, and an exhibition of £2 13s. 4d. yearly, founded by Mr. Thomas Lampard, in the gift of the churchwardens of Tonbridge Governors, The Master, Wardens and Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Skinners; Head Master, Rev. Charles. Coverdale Tancock D.D. of Exeter College, Oxford: assistant masters, H. Hilary M.A., Rev. A. Lucas M.A., Rev. J. A. Babington M.A., A. Earl M.A. barrister-at-law, H. R Stokoe M.A., G. A. Floyd B.A., E. C. Goldberg M.A. H. J. J. Watson M.A., H. O. Whitby M.A., W. J. N-Griffith B.A., R. L. Aston B.A., Rev. C. W. Woods M.A., M. A. Buckmaster A.R.C.A., C. H. Crofts M.A., W. E Marriott M.A., W. H. Anstie B.A., H. C. Stewart B.A., M. S. David B.A., A. C. Clapin M.A., J. A. H. Johnston M.A., W. M. Gordon B.A., D. A. Macnaughton M.A. Camb., C. Seargent Ph.D.Marburg, B.Sc.London. W. A. Hoffmann B.A.; H. M. Digby, registrar and librarian; Eyre levers B.A., M.D. and Isaac Newton M.R.C.S.Eng. medical officers. The headmaster and certain assistant masters receive boarders, viz.: Rev. C. C. Tancock D.D. headmaster, School house; H. R. Stokoe M.A. Park house; Rev. A. Lucas M.A. Parkside; H. O. Whitby esq. M.A. Judd house; A. G. Earl M.A. Ferox hall; H. J. J. Watson M.A. Manor house and E. C. Goldberg M. A. Hill side.

A Preparatory school, Yardley Park, in connection with Tonbridge school, but having a separate organization, was instituted in 1898 by Arthur L. Bickmore M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford.

Sir Andrew Judd's Commercial School; Governors, The Worshipful Company of Skinners, London. Scholarships in the form of exemption from tuition fees to the extent of £6 per year, and tenable for two years, are offered yearly. One or more exhibitions of £30 per year, tenable, at Tonbridge or some higher school, are awarded each year to boys who have been educated at the Commercial school for not less than two years. Head Master, W. J. D. Bryant, formerly lecturer in St. John’s College, Battersea, & Sub-inspector of Schools, late Assistant master in Tonbridge Grammar. School; Assistant Masters, T. E. Grice, E. W. Handcock, C. E, E. Shill and G. Nunn; Teacher of Music, G. J. Kimmins A.C.O.; Teacher of Drawing and Shorthand, H. A. Grindrod; Carpentry instructor, F. Russell.

Petty Sessions are held at the Police Station every tuesday at 10.30 a.m.The following parishes are included in the Tonbridge Petty Sessional division:-Bidborough, Brenchley, Capel, Chiddingstone, Cowden, Edenbridge, Hadlow, Hever, Hildenborough, Leigh, Penshurst, Shipbourne, Southbotough & Tonbridge (Urban).

TONBRIDGE UNION

Board day, alternate fridays at 11 a.m. at the Workhouse, near Pembury.

The Union comprises the 13 following parishes-viz.: Ashurst, Bidborough, Brenchley, Capel, Hadlow, Hildenborough, Horsmonden, Pembury, Southborough, Speldhurst, Tonbridge Rural, Tonbridge Urban & Tunbridge Wells. The population of the union in 1901 was 66,803; area, 47,680 acres; rateable value in 1902, £471,201.

The Workhouse, a large structure of brick erected at various periods, is available for 575 inmates; there is a detached hospital erected in 1856.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

SS. Peter & Paul’s Church, Rev. Charles G. Baskerville M.A. vicar; Rev. Reginald Henry Consterdine M.A. Rev. William Marcus Falloon B.A. & Rev. Arthur A. Gray B.A. curates; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; wed. 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; fri 5 p.m.

St. Saviour’s Church, Rev. William Marcus Falloon B.A. curate in charge; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; thurs. 11.30 a.m.

St. Stephen’s, Rev. David Macklin Braby Chapman M.A. vicar; Rev. Richard Henry Talbot, curate; 11 a.m. & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; wed. 7.30 p.m.

Mission Church, Haysden & Mission Room, Priory road, clergy of St. Stephen’s 3 p.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Corpus Christi Catholic Chapel, Waterloo road, Rev. C. M. Stapley, priest; mass, 9.30 a.m.

Baptist, High street, Rev. James Henry Blake, 11 am. & 6.30 p.m.; man. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist, Pembury road; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; tues. & thurs. 7 p.m.

Congregational, Rev. David Fowler Stewart M.A., A.T.S.; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

United Methodist Free Church, Priory street, Rev. Henry T. Chapman; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; tues. 7.15 p.m.

Wesleyan, East street, Rev. Westmote S. Smith; 11 am. & 6.30 p.m.; thurs. 7.15 p.m.

Salvation Army (Citadel), Lyons crescent; 7 & 11 a.m. & 3 & 6.45 p.m.; daily, 8 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Technical institute of the Urban District Council, High street. Instruction is given by qualified teachers in science & art, bookkeeping, cookery & domestic economy, dress cutting & making, manual training in woodwork, modern languages, nursing, shorthand, typewriting & wood carving; W. H. Cooper, headmaster & organising secretary.

National, Bank street, for 720 children; average attendance, 600; partly endowed with £8 2s. yearly, derived from rents & consols.

St. Stephen’s, Waterloo road (boys), erected in 1857, to accommodate 300 children; average attendance, 327.

Wesleyan, Barden road (mixed & infants), built in 1869, & enlarged in 1901, for 400 children; average attendance, 205 boys & girls & 100 infants.

St. Stephen’s, Pembury road (girls), erected in 1871, as a memorial to John & Sophia Deacon, by their sons, for 293 children; average attendance, 248.

St. Stephen’s, Pembury road (infants), erected in 1857, as a memorial to James Alexander, of Somerhill, by his family, to accommodate 234 children; average attendance, 231.