Royal Tunbridge Wells
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Royal Tunbridge Wells Tunbridge Wells |
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 8 ′ N , 0 ° 16 ′ E | ||
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| Residents | 56,500 (as of 2006) | ||
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| Post town | TUNBRIDGE WELLS | ||
| ZIP code section | TN1, TN2, TN3, TN4 | ||
| prefix | 01892 | ||
| Part of the country | England | ||
| region | South East England | ||
| Shire county | Kent | ||
| District | Tunbridge Wells | ||
| British Parliament | Tunbridge Wells | ||
| Website: www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk | |||
Royal Tunbridge Wells (up to about 1909 Tunbridge Wells ) is a town in the far west of the county Kent near the border with Sussex in the south east of England in the UK . Tunbridge Wells is the administrative seat of the Borough of Tunbridge Wells .
spa
Tunbridge Wells is a spa town that owes its existence to the discovery of iron springs in the early 17th century. The expansion of the place around the allegedly medicinal spring in the restoration era , when people increasingly believed in the medicinal effectiveness of the medicinal springs , made Tunbridge Wells an attraction for the upscale society from the nearby capital London.
The city experienced its heyday as a health resort in the middle of the 18th century. Mayor and electrical engineer Sir David Salomons (1851-1925) organized in October 1895 together with Frederick Richard Simms with the Tunbridge Wells Horseless Carriage Exhibition, the first public presentation of gasoline-powered motor vehicles in the United Kingdom. In 1909 King Edward VII awarded the city the title "Royal". The city has a population of around 45,000 and is the center of the Tunbridge Wells Borough. The entire borough has about 100,000 residents.
Tunbridge Wells has been a twin town of Wiesbaden since 1989 .
Attractions
- The Pantiles: In the 1730s, the tree-lined spa promenade with the colonnades was laid out next to the spring, which is now called The pantiles . The term comes from the original paving of the area in 1700 with square clay tiles, the pantiles . Chalybeate Spring is the name of the ferruginous spring that was discovered in 1606 by Dudley, Lord North, a nobleman. The bathhouse was built in 1804 directly behind the spring by the mayor's wife to enjoy steam and shower baths. Theater / Corn Exchange ( grain exchange ) was built in 1802. The border between Kent and Sussex used to be exactly between the stage and the auditorium. From 1843 the building was used as a grain exchange. The statue of the harvest goddess Ceres above the main entrance reminds of this. Queen Victoria often stayed at the former Royal Victoria inn .
- Mount Sion Village: Previously the name of an entire village, today, like many others, only the district and street name. The village got its name at the time of the Puritans . Mount Sion was home to the spa guests who came to Tunbridge Wells, but the local merchants also stayed here. Frog Lane: A small, curious alley with stone pavement, which used to be common.
- Mount Pleasant: A model estate was built here in the 19th century under the name Calverley Estate to accommodate elegant families. Calverley Park: The settlement consists of 19 villas arranged in a semicircle. Calverley Park Crescent , a semicircular terrace with a covered promenade , was envisaged as a shopping center for the villa residents . The conversion of the former Mount Pleasant House resulted in the Calverley Hotel, which is now the Hotel du Vin , where Queen Victoria often stayed as a child.
The first houses in the headwaters were built where the London Road meets Mount Ephraim today . The House 85 London Road is one of the city's oldest surviving houses, built around 1660th The poet Thackeray lived here in 1860. Around 1735, the Hare and Hounds pub , now called the Royal Wells Inn , was built.
The museum and art gallery show wooden mosaics (“Tunbridge ware”) from the city and the surrounding area.
The following churches can be mentioned as worth seeing: King Charles the Martyr , built with donations from visitors in 1678, named after Charles I ; Holy Trinity , for which the Duchess of Kent laid the foundation stone on her birthday in 1827.
Surroundings
Tunbridge Wells is located in a hilly landscape in which there are several villages, whose houses are either clad in wood or clad with clapboard-like flat bricks pushed one on top of the other.
To the north of Tunbridge Wells lies the Medway river valley with its tributaries. The River Teise rises in the east of the city. There are large orchards and hop fields here. "Flower roads" are marked along the field paths in spring to guide visitors to the desired types of fruit, depending on the color of the marking. The tall hop towers with their conical roofs should also be mentioned, which used to be used to dry the hops, but have now been converted into bizarre houses. Many of the villages used to be important ironworks. a. supplied the British Navy with guns. Tunbridge Wells should not be confused with its neighboring town of Tonbridge to the north; the two cities share the same pronunciation.
To the east and west of Tunbridge Wells is the High Weald, crossed by rivers and streams. The originally impenetrable forest has been partially cleared over the course of time for the settlement of farms and villages. When Edward III. In the 14th century, when Flemish cloth makers ordered to England to break the continental monopoly, medieval cloth mills flourished here. One of the main towns was Cranbrook with the mighty Union Windmill, some 20 km east of Tunbridge Wells.
Historic buildings in the surrounding area
- Bodiam Castle , Bodiam: a well-preserved ruined castle from the 14th century
- Bateman’s , Burwash. 17th century ironworks owner's house; was the residence of the poet / writer Rudyard Kipling (Jungle Book) for30 years
- Chartwell near Westerham: former residence of the Engl. Premier Sir Winston Churchill
- Hever Castle , Hever Master's House, residence of Anne Boleyn , before the second wife of Henry VIII. Was
- Knole House , Sevenoaks: one of the largest mansions in England,owned by the Sackvillessince Elizabeth I , (see Vita Sackville-West ), furniture collection, state rooms and picture gallery
- Penshurst Place , Tonbridge: one of the best preserved stately homes in England from the 14th century
- Scotney Castle , Lamberhurst: a “country house” from the 19th century with a picturesque view of the castle ruins from the 14th century
- Chiddingstone Castle , Chiddingstone: a castle from the 16th-19th centuries. Century with a collection of Japanese armor as well as Egyptian and Buddhist artefacts - large Japanese garden
sons and daughters of the town
- Herbert Fortescue Lawford (1851–1925), tennis player, 1887 Wimbledon champion
- Victor McLaglen (1886–1959), British and later American actor
- Elsie Bowerman (1889–1973), author, suffragette
- Reginald Godden (1905–1987), Canadian pianist and music teacher
- Maurice Wilson (1914–1987), painter and illustrator
- Arthur Sellings (1921–1968), writer
- Alec McCowen (1925–2017), theater and film actor and director
- John Hine (born 1938), Catholic bishop
- Christopher Alan Bayly (1945–2015), historian
- Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe (* 1945), painter, educator, art critic and theorist
- Jannette Roscoe (* 1946), sprinter
- Spike Wells (* 1946), jazz musician and priest
- Adrian Plass (* 1948), writer and speaker
- Shane MacGowan (born 1957), Irish singer
- Sid Vicious (1957-1979), bassist
- Jamie Spence (born 1963), professional golfer
- Jonathan Kennard (* 1985), racing driver
- Emma Corrin (born 1995), actress
