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Not to be confused with Royal Tunbridge Wells

Tonbridge
Tonbridge shown within Kent
Population	35, 340 (2007)
OS grid reference	TQ591468
District	Tonbridge and Malling
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	TONBRIDGE
Postcode district	TN9 (South), TN10 (North), TN11 (East)
Dialling code	01732
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Tonbridge and Malling
European Parliament	South East England
List of places: UK • England • Kent

Coordinates: 51°11′55″N 0°16′35″E / 51.1987, 0.2764

Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 35,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately four miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 25 miles south east of London. It belongs to the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling (population 107,560 in 2001).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Toponymy 1.2 Normans 1.3 Medieval 1.4 17th and 18th centuries 1.5 19th century to present 1.6 Securitas depot robbery 2 Governance 3 Economy 4 Transport 5 Education 6 Sport 7 Notable residents 8 Twin towns 9 References 10 External links

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The town was recorded in the Domesday Book 1087 as Tonebrige, which may indicate a bridge belonging to the estate or manor (from the Old English tun), or alternatively a bridge belonging to Tunna, a common Anglo-Saxon man's name.

In the late 1800s, the 'Tonbridge' name was actually known as Tunbridge: old maps prior to this date show it as such, as does the 1871 Ordnance Survey map and contemporary issues of the Bradshaw railway guide. In the late 1890s/early 1900s, this was changed to Tonbridge by the Royal Mail^{[citation needed]} as it caused confusion with Tunbridge Wells, a much more recent town. The latter has always spelt its name that way.

Tonbridge stands at a point where the Saxons built a bridge across the River Medway. For much of its existence, the town remained to the north of the river, since the land to the south was subject to extensive seasonal flooding. One part of the town is still called 'Dryhill'.

An 11th Century castle was built here by Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare,^{[citation needed]} a cousin of William the Conqueror's invading Norman army. Richard was responsible for governing England in William I's many absences.

The Fitz Gilberts were to become the country's wealthiest Norman family bestowed with many titles including Earl of Hertford, Earl of Clare and Earl of Gloucester as well as Lords of the Lowy (Freedom) of Tonbridge. They ended up also owning castles in Clare, Hanley, Bletchingley and Caerphilly and able to supply 26 knights in defence of the king. The family's wealth and power finally came to an end in 1314 at the battle of Bannockburn, where the last Earl died without leaving an heir.

The town was besieged by William Rufus, soon after his accession to the throne, because the Earl had pledged allegiance to William's brother, Robert. It is thus hardly surprising that the arrow that killed William Rufus a few years later in the New Forest was fired by Walter Tirel who was born in town as well as the Earls in law.

It was soon afterwards taken again, this time by King John only a few months after the signing of the Magna Carta. Both the Earl and his son were signatories and guardians of the document responsible for its compliance. It was subsequently besieged by Prince Edward, son of Henry III. On this occasion the besieged garrison burnt the town rather than see it fall. The town and Tonbridge Castle were rebuilt after this and in the 13th century became an official residence and records repository of Edward II.

The castle was finally taken by Henry VIII when its owner, the Duke of Buckingham, was executed for treason.

At this time, Tonbridge was considered an important strategic settlement. The King intended it to be a medieval walled town and a charter was issued allowing for walls to be built, a market to be held, court sessions to be held and two members of the town to attend parliament. Walls were never built however, probably because the castle's large outer bailey could have easily accommodated the town's populace in times of strife. A surrounding bank and ditch known as The Fosse was erected and may have been topped by a wooden palisade.^{[citation needed]} Today only traces of this encircling defence now remain. The historic core of the town still contains a large number of working buildings dating from the 15th Century; the oldest being Portreeves on East Street. ^[1] During Queen Mary's reign Tonbridge like many towns did not escape the persecution of the protestants and in 1555 Margery Polley was burnt at the stake in the town and Joan Beach met the same fate in 1556 at Rochester.^[2]. A memorial to Margery Polly's fate is to be found on the green at Pembury.

During the Civil War, the town was garrisoned by the Parliamentarian side who refortified the castle. Royalist sympathisers made several attempts to take the town but were repulsed.

In 1740 an act was passed to make the River Medway navigable to Tonbridge by the Medway Navigation Company,^{[citation needed]} allowing such materials as coal and lime to be transported to the town, and gun powder, hops and timber to be carried down-river to Maidstone and the Thames. For a hundred years the Medway Navigation Company was highly profitable, paying out good dividends to its investors but after the arrival of the railway in 1842 the company went into a steep decline and all commercial traffic ceased in 1911 when the company collapsed. Some of the original warehouses and the wharves are still recognisable today, downstream of the town's main bridge.

Later, the town and its surroundings became famous for the production of finely inlaid wooden cabinets, boxes and other objects called Tunbridgeware, which were sold to tourists who were taking the waters at the nearby springs at Tunbridge Wells. Another speciality in the town was until recently the production of cricket balls and other sports goods.

In October 1853 the Hartlake bridge a few miles downstream of the town was the scene of tragedy when a wagon carrying over 30 hop pickers toppled off the bridge into the river,^[3][4] which was in flood due to heavy rain. Thirty of the wagons' occupants including entire families drowned, but due to the flood it was many days before all the bodies could be recovered. A service was held at the bridge on the 150th anniversary of the tragedy in 2003.

During the March 1880 parliamentary elections, Tonbridge was the scene of a riot.^[5] On the announcement of the results, several thousand people started to hurl stones and cobbles at each other in the High Street near the Rose and Crown Hotel. The county's Chief Constable Captain Ruskin together with in excess of a hundred policeman charged the crowds many times during the night only to end up being the crowd's target who started hurling stones and cobbles at them instead of each other. Many people including twelve policeman were seriously injured before the crowd finally dispersed at midnight.

The world's first^{[citation needed]} speeding fine was handed down by Tonbridge petty Sessions court in 1896. The guilty driver was a Mr Walter Arnold of East Peckham who was fined one shilling for speeding at eight miles an hour in a two mile an hour zone in his Karl Benz powered car. Mr Arnold was eventually apprehended by a policeman who had given chase on his bicycle.

During World war II a POW Camp was built on the junction of Tudeley Lane and Pembury Road on land belonging to Somerhill. It was used to house both German pilots whom had been shot down, and also captured Italian soldiers. After the war the camp was used as temporary housing for people made homeless by the Blitz. The site is now occupied by the Weald of Kent Girl's Grammar School.

Main article: Securitas depot robbery

Tonbridge was the location of the largest cash theft in British criminal history^[6]. On 22 February 2006, over £53.1 million was stolen from the Securitas cash-handling depot in Vale Road to the east of the High Street. During the following police investigation, around half of the money was recovered, and those charged are currently under trial at the Old Bailey.

Tonbridge is in the parliamentary constituency of Tonbridge and Malling. Since the constituency's creation in 1974, its Member of Parliament has been Sir John Stanley of the Conservative Party.^[7] The town is within the local government district of Tonbridge and Malling, and is divided into the seven local government wards of Cage Green, Castle, Higham, Judd, Medway, Trench and Vauxhall.^[8] These wards have 15 of the 53 seats on the Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council. As of November 2007, all 15 of these seats were held by the Conservative Party.^[9] Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing;^[10] while Kent County Council is responsible for education, social services and trading standards. Both councils are involved in town planning and road maintenance.

Major industries include light engineering, printing and publishing,distribution and financial services. Tonbridge together with its neighbour has been designated by the South East Assembly as a Regional Hub.

A monthly farmers' market sells a wide variety of locally produced food and drinks, together with more exotic imports.

The town has largely retained its 'market town' atmosphere and has many attractions to visitors and residents alike, including the well-maintained Castle Gatehouse, a large country park and activities based around the river. Sports facilities including an indoor/outdoor swimming pool, a leisure centre and a large sportsground are all located close to the town centre. Many of the facilities are provided or subsidised by the local authority.

Most of the town's shopping facilities are concentrated on The High Street, which runs for about one mile through the town centre. There has been increasing criticism from local residents that there is a relative abundance of restaurants, estate agents, banks and 'cheap' shops, and a lack of major high street retailers. However, there are far fewer empty high street premises than in the mid 1990s reflecting the towns increasing prosperity. The town does inevitably suffers from its proximity to large shopping centres such as Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Bluewater. The Borough Council has published proposals to improve the towns shopping and leisure facilities.

The Police Station is the head quarters of the West Kent Police Division and is located on Pembury Road.

Royal Mails TN postcode main sorting office is located on Vale Road in the town

Tonbridge is also the location of Carroty Wood. An outdoor activity and residential centre run by 'Barnabas Adventure Centres'[1]offering groups of young people the opportunity to try out a variety of different out door activities.

The town has its own wildlife hospital, The Fox Project.

Tonbridge railway station is Kent's busiest with 3.8 million passengers using it a year. It is an important railway junction with lines to London, Ashford, Hastings and Redhill. The town is also served by the A21 trunk road between London and Hastings and the A26 between Maidstone and Brighton. It is also close to the M25 motorway.

There are future proposals to dual the A21 at Castle Hill and thereby improve the connection to Tunbridge Wells and Pembury, where a new regional hospital is to be constructed.

The town is home to several remaining Grammar Schools, including The Judd School, Weald of Kent Grammar School and Tonbridge Grammar School (formerly Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls). Tonbridge School, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde, is a nationally respected boys' public school in the centre of the town. A number of Tonbridge's secondary schools have specialist status, including Tonbridge Grammar School for Maths and ICT; Weald of Kent Grammar School for Girls, a specialist school for languages; the Judd School for Music with Maths; the Hayesbrook School for boys, a specialist sports college; and Hillview School for Girls, which has recently been awarded a Performing Arts Status. Hugh Christie Technology College is also renowned in the area for its IT expertise, and for allowing students to take GCSEs in year 9, rather than the usual year 11. Further and higher education is also available at West Kent College which recently has announced it will be building a new multi million pound campus. There is also a small continuing education campus of the University of Kent.

The many primary and secondary schools in the Tonbridge area provide a high quality of education, with several regularly appearing close to the top of both county and national ratings lists, and this has been an incentive for many when moving to the town. It also means that teaching is a major source of employment in the town, and this results in thousands of pupils commuting daily into the town from other parts of Kent especially by train.

The 2007 Tour de France passed through the centre of Tonbridge on 8th July, as part of the first stage (London to Canterbury). The riders climbed Quarry Hill at the south of the town, a Grade 4 and first King of the Mountains climb of the Tour.

Cowdrey Cricket Club, renamed from Tonbridge Printers CC in 1998 after Lord Colin Cowdrey of Tonbridge, is the town's main cricket club. The town also has Tonbridge Cricket Club, founded in 1837.

Tonbridge Athletic Club, is noted for being Kelly Holmes' former club.

Tonbridge has its own Rugby union club, Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Football club. Often referred to as TJs, the club has a successful junior section that play Tag Rugby. During the summer months, the town has a Touch Rugby club.

Tonbridge has its own football team, the Tonbridge Angels who play in the premier division of the Ryman League, a successful canoe club that has produced a number of olympic participants and a dinghy sailing club, the Tonbridge Town Sailing Club.

Tonbridge made national and international headlines in the summer of 2004 when it staged an open-top bus parade for Dame Kelly Holmes to celebrate her double Olympic gold success. Over 40,000 people were estimated to have packed Tonbridge town centre and lined the route from her family home in nearby Hildenborough, roughly equivalent to the combined population of both, and more than twice the numbers who attended the subsequent parade in central London for all of the medallists. Another medallist at the 2004 Olympics was Tonbridge-born Ian Wynne (1973-) who won a bronze medal for canoeing.

The boxer Sir Henry Cooper also lives in the adjoining village of Hildenborough. The cricketer Frank Woolley 1887 and the film actor Harry Andrews CBE in 1911 were both born in the town. Many famous people were educated in Tonbridge, including cricketers Bob Woolmer, at Yardley Court, and David Fulton, at The Judd School. Tonbridge School has educated a number of famous pupils including the authors EM Forster and Frederick Forsyth, cricketers Colin Cowdrey and Chris Cowdrey, and more recently the members of the famous pop/rock band Keane.

Other famous people born in the town were: Anna Atkins (1799-1871) botanist and photographer, James Edward Cowell Welldon (1854-1937) Bishop of Calcutta, Henry Fowler (1858-1933) educationist, Harold Stephen Langhorne (1866-1932) career soldier, William Cobbold (1862-1922) England international football player, Reginald Punnett FRS (1875-1967) geneticist, Sir James Ralph Darling OBE (1899-1955) Chairman Australian Broadcasting Commission, Cecil Frank Powell (1903-1969) Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Sir Dick White KCMG KBE (1906-1983) Director General of MI5, Neville Duke DSO OBE DFC (2 bars) ADC (1922-) World War II pilot and world air speed holder in 1953, Ron Challis (1932-2001) football referee, Malcolm Simmons (1946-) British Speedway Champion 1976/7 and former captain of England team, Timothy Allen (1971-) photojournalist.

Tonbridge is twinned with the towns of Le Puy-en-Velay in France, and Heusenstamm in Germany.

• Tonbridge at the Open Directory Project
• History of Tonbridge Churches
• Tonbridge Tourist Guide - Heart of Kent

v • d • e Towns and villages in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England
Addington • Aylesford • Barnes Street • Branbridges • Beltring • Birling • Blue Bell Hill • Borough Green • Burham • Ditton • East Malling • East Peckham • Eccles • Golden Green • Hadlow • Hildenborough • Ightham • Kings Hill • Larkfield • Leybourne • Mereworth • Offham • Platt • Plaxtol • Ryarsh • Shipbourne • Snodland • Somerhill • St Mary's Platt • Stansted • Tonbridge • Trottiscliffe • Walderslade • Wateringbury • West Malling • West Peckham • Wouldham • Wrotham • Wrotham Heath
List of places in Kent

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Unitary authorities	Borough of Medway
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