Tunbridge Wells, The Pantiles c.1890
Photo ref: T87001
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Photo ref: T87001
Photo of Tunbridge Wells, The Pantiles c.1890

More about this scene

Nearly four hundred feet above sea level, this principal inland resort of Kent owes its popularity to the accidental discovery of a chalybeate spring by Dudley, Lord North in 1606, which led to the fashion, amongst the nobility, to visit and take the waters. The terraced walk of the Pantiles, with its row of shops behind a colonnade faced by lime trees, was first laid out in 1638. It received its name from the tiles with a concave surface with which it was paved in 1697 at the instigation of Princess (later Queen) Anne.

A Selection of Memories from Tunbridge Wells

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Tunbridge Wells

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

I was born in June 1944. My mother started labour in Farmcombe Rd (the Sussex end of TW) but delivered in the Kent & Sussex (the Kent end of TW). The Kent Sussex border ran (does it still?) by the St Johns church, Pantiles. Does this make me born in Kent or Sussex? My mother told me the story of looking out the Farmcombe Rd bedroom window, on or near the day I was born, and seeing a fighter plane going by with ...see more
I went to school here, 1958-1964 there exist photos of the school but so far none with the Frith Collection. The school was opposite Central Station in Vale Road and resembled a large shoebox with small extensions at either end with a forecourt (playground) before it and this behind a substantial brick wall and blue double gates for vehicular access and a side gate for ...see more
I am researching the history of The Ravenswood Avenue estate (Ravenswood Avenue, Pinewood Road, Lipscombe Road, Fairfield Avenue and part of Hilbert Road between the top of King George V Hill and Hilbert Recreation Ground) including the people who lived there between when the estate was built in the 1930s and the 1960s. I lived at 40 Ravenswood Avenue for the first 19 Years of my life between ...see more
In May 1962, I was 5 years old and lived in Amhurst Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. I stepped out in front of an oncoming brick lorry on the zebra crossing at St Johns Church. I was taken to the Kent and Sussex hospital where my left foot was practically severed through. I was told later by my father that surgeons wanted to amputate my foot, when one of the older surgeons at the hospital at that time ...see more