History of Tonbridge
- Introduction
- Tonbridge Timeline
- Events
- People
- Places
- Pictures
- How Tonbridge has grown
- From the archives
- Tonbridge then and now
- Made in Tonbridge
- Miscellany
- Links
This is the Tonbridge History website at
www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk.
Recent addition: War Diary: the diary of a German prisoner-of-war at Somerhill Camp in Tonbridge between 1945 and 1948.
Looking for your Tonbridge ancestors? Please check our Family History Advice page.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sunday 24th June 2012, 12.30pm
'Lunch with Eliza'
Come and explore the delights of Tonbridge's very own 19th century poet and cook Eliza Acton, who produced one of the country's first cookbooks, before the better-known Mrs. Beeton.
The Event includes talks, cookery demonstrations and food-tastings.
Details on the Tonbridge Arts Festival website. Further information about Eliza Acton here.
Greetings from Tonbridge . . .
. . . a town on the River Medway in the English county of Kent — and welcome to the website of Tonbridge Historical Society.
Tonbridge Castle and the 'Great Bridge', as they were in 1795 (private collection)
Tonbridge's history goes back a long way. People in the Iron Age used the river crossing here, as the Romans must have done later. A Saxon settlement may have grown up beside the river, before the Normans came and built the motte-and-bailey castle. Its massive gatehouse is now one of the finest surviving in the country.
Mediæval Tonbridge was a market town of a few hundred people. Today the population exceeds 30,000, but the town's historic core remains. Tonbridge still has more than 150 listed buildings.
The castle and five branches of the Medway appeared on Tonbridge's coat of arms, pre-1974. See here for details.
Use the links on the left to find out more about the history of our town, or browse our extensive pictorial collection. For those who want to go deeper, the Links section should help to get you started.
If you are visiting the town, there is a Tonbridge Trail which will guide you round the more historic areas. It is available free from the 'Gateway' Information Centre in Tonbridge Castle (ask for the 'Walking the Walls supplement'). The text of this walk is also available on the web here.
Tonbridge Historical Society brings together people with interests in all aspects of the subject, for talks and other activities. New members are always welcome. You can find out more here.
P.S. Today Tonbridge is spelt with an 'o' but pronounced (as it was once spelt) with a 'u': 'Tunbridge'. Details here.