News
The Society is planning a “Tonbridge History Weekend”
Exhibition: Location: The Council Room, Tonbridge Castle
Bank Holiday Monday 12pm to 4pm
Admission Free
AND
Walking the Fosse-23rd May – 10am – from Big Bridge
Walk-Lost Pubs of Tonbridge – 1pm – 23rd May. from Tonbridge railway station.
Talk – 11am 24th May – Medieval Tonbridge, Meeting Room, Ground Floor, Tonbridge Castle.
Talk – 1pm 24th May – The Worthies of Tonbridge, Meeting Room, Ground Floor, Tonbridge Castle.
For details and essential booking for the Walks and Talks please email secretary@tonbridgehstory.org.uk
More news
During the weekend there are further activities available to the public.
Monday 25th May 2026 from 12pm to 4pm
An exhibition of Artifacts and Images – Admission: Free
Location: The Council Chamber, Tonbridge Castle
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The Society was founded in 1960 to provide a focus for local people with historical interests. The website still accessed using the name Tonbridge History and uses the domain name (tonbridgehistory.org.uk). Unlike some similar societies, Tonbridge Historical Society it is concerned with national history and archaeology, as well as with the history of Kent and the local area. The annual subscription is £12 for single membership (over 18), £20 for joint membership (any two members living at the same address), age 18 or under: free. New members are welcome. If you would like to join, please contact the Acting Secretary .
A programme of lectures by invited speakers runs through the winter months. Meetings take place in the Riverside Room at the Angel Centre, Tonbridge, TN9 1SF usually on Thursday evenings. In addition there is an afternoon meeting, with tea, on a Saturday in November. Details for 2026-7 shown in the sidebar
The society’s Research Group explores varied aspects of the history of the town and its inhabitants, and has produced six publications.
A twice-yearly Newsletter is published with Society news, information, articles and pictures relating to the history of Tonbridge. You can download some recent Newsletters.
The society also maintains extensive collections of archives and pictorial material, and is starting to build a collection of three-dimensional artefacts.
Tonbridge a town on the River Medway in the English county of Kent
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 details of the arms. To find out more about the of our town, goto Tonbridge – a brief history or to the the people and places For those who want to go deeper websites with more Tonbridge History should help to get you started.
P.S. Today Tonbridge is spelt with an ‘o’ but pronounced (as it was once spelt) with a ‘u’: ‘Tunbridge’ …more at Tonbridge or Tunbridge.