Spring 2008 The proposed frontage to Mount Pleasant - a colonnade of shops with a hotel above

‘Ritz’ Cinema Site A new vision for 2008 see page 8

The entrance to the hotel - halfway up Mount Pleasant - a tiny ‘square’, said to be reminiscent of the Fish Market in the Pantiles

2 Front Cover: The Frohman Memorial in Marlow - see page 14. www.thecivicsociety.org Contents

Introduction ... 4 From the Planning Scrutineers ... 5 Notes from Gill Twells.

Chairman’s Letter by John Cunningham ... 6

The ‘Ritz’ Cinema Site - a new vision for 2008 ... 8 The winning design for the Cinema Site. Samuel Pepys at the Rhenish Wine House ... 12 John Fuller’s 2008 Kings Charles Lecture. Shadowy Character in Tunbridge Wells? (5,3) ... 14 Did Peter Pan really live here? More on Maps ... 16 Two versions of Kip and where to find some useful maps. A New Surgical Unit for Knights Park? ... 19 Details of another planning application. Local History Group News ... 20 Adopt a Grave ... 23 Forthcoming Events ... 24

Editor: Chris Jones. 52 St James Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2LB Tel 01892 522025 (evenings and weekends) Email [email protected] Secretary: Mrs Pauline Everett. Chenhalls, Glenmore Park, Tunbridge Wells TN2 5NZ. email [email protected] 2008 Newsletter Spring 3 An Introduction by Chris Jones

The Cinema Site In Spring 2002 the Newsletter displayed proposals for the re-development of the cinema site - flats, shops and nightclub. Six years later we have a new set of plans - with offices, shops and a hotel. Those who attended the presentation at the Town Hall have given them a guarded approval, but perhaps we are just getting used to the idea - like a friendly home the second time you call. Our main concern is what the new buildings will look like. Please look at the draw- ings on pages 8 to 11 and let us know what you think. Looking Ahead Dr John Cumming was a popular minister of the Presbyterian Church and a keen bee-keeper. He was mainly known to the Victorian public, though, for his prophesies, made during the 1850’s, that the world would end in 1867. His credibility took a bit of a beating when it was discovered, two months before the anticipated Second Coming, that he was negotiating a twenty-one year ex- tension to the lease on his house near Tunbridge Wells. Cumming was only one of a long line of visionaries who have used Scriptural texts to calculate the end of time. John Fuller explained some of the calculations in his King Charles lecture in January. I have attempted to summarise his talk on page 12 below.

New Lamps We’ve got some nice new lamp- posts in Crescent Road, but have you seen these amazing structures in the AXA car-park above the Calverley Grounds? There must be at least ten of them. I fear we may be faced in future with all sorts of clumsy designs, on the basis that they are ‘sustainable’ or renewable.

4 www.thecivicsociety.org From the Planning Scrutineers by Gill Twells

69-71 Culverden Park Road - eventually needed. The appeal against The appeal against the refusal of per- the refusal of the second scheme is due mission for the redevelopment of the to be heard in July . site has been allowed. “Brewhouse Hotel “ and “Prehab 17A Boyne Park - We supported a at the Cumberland” We have ob- third proposal for a large new semi- jected to a request for extended Licens- detached pair of houses on this vacant ing hours. site, and are happy that it has received 30 Warwick Park - (former “Grot approval . We gave an award to the de- Spot” ) We have objected to the deep veloper in 2006 for the restoration of excavation of the front garden to pro- Rosemount on Mount Ephraim. vide 2 car parking spaces - the bare Dingley Dell, 1 Rusthall Road - retaining walls and the poor workman- Rather than demolishing this small ship do nothing to alleviate the scar! “Cottage-Ornée” style house on the It is now the subject of a retrospective edge of Rusthall Common, and replac- planning application. ing it with a modern house, we again Land behind Forest Road - We commented that it would be preferable objected - as did TWBC - to the build- to permit a new house on another part ing of an estate of 70 houses behind of the grounds, even though they are Forest Road. The land is in Wealden in the Green Belt. The Planning Com- District so the houses would use mittee refused both the demolition and Tunbridge Wells facilities without pay- the rebuilding, in spite of the disabili- ing Council Tax to TWBC. The appli- ties of the applicant. cation was refused by Wealden DC last Site adjacent to Dunorlan Park - week - they say that they have already A third scheme for a Sunrise Senior allocated enough land for housing. We Living care home, with lower build- understand that the developer, Charles ings, has been proposed. We think this Church, is to appeal immediately. is a further improvement, but have sug- TWBC may be able to block the appli- gested that space for more car parking cation as the access is via Benhall Mill

should be identified now, in case it is Road, which is in Tunbridge Wells. 2008 Newsletter Spring 5 Chairman’s Letter We are at the beginning of a 10-15 year period in which, for better or for worse, the face of the centre of our town will change more than it has probably done since the late 19th. century. Three major developers have come to Tunbridge Wells and what they do (subject, of course, to the well-known strong arm of the TWBC Planning Department), will be significant. The first developer is Rydell Ltd ( an English company based in Kingston-on-Thames and a subsidiary of the Cork-based Irish company Padlake Ltd), which is the owner of the Ritz site. Here the news is quite encouraging. Having bought the site for a reputed £8.5 million, it submitted two applications, which were rejected. It decided to enlarge the site by buying further land down Mount Pleasant (as far as Gourmet Burger) and also in Clanricarde Gardens and, in conjunction with TWBC and the South-Eastern Region of the RIBA, announced a competition for a concept (not a detailed) develop- ment of the site, to include an 100+ bedroom, 3-4* hotel or alternatively residential units; a minimum of 7,000 sq. metres of retail space and 6,000 sq. metres of offices. (It is perhaps invidious to say that the Civic Society suggested such a competition for the site in 2002 and 2006, a suggestion which was rejected on both occasions as ‘taking too long’ and ‘being too complicated’.) Six architectural practices – four from Lon- don, one from TW and one from Hythe - entered the competition and on 27th. February, the winner was announced – Panter Hudspith of London S.E.1. Their presentation (which incidentally used, without acknowledgement, two maps from the RTWCS ‘His- torical Atlas of Tunbridge Wells’) was unanimously judged the best. Your Vice-Chairman, Alastair Tod, and I were invited to attend the announcement and subsequent presentation. We concluded that we liked the planning concept which seemed to reflect more of the character and style of Tunbridge Wells than any previous application we had seen. We liked the setting back of the building from Church Road to produce a better vista towards Holy Trinity; the limiting of storeys to a maximum of five above ground and only half the frontage onto Mount Pleasant (which will make it in scale much less overbearing than the neighbouring Wellington Gate); the use of a colonnade on Mount Pleasant Road to provide more style and also weather protec- tion; the setting back of the hotel entrance to form a small courtyard in front; the provision of a courtyard garden in the centre of the site, which hopefully will not be entirely for private use. We still have a concern about the external finish of the build- ing (the choice of brick, stone, stucco, concrete, with plate glass firmly rejected) which has yet to be decided when this concept design is turned into a finished design for planning approval. Despite its 400 years, the character of the buildings in Tunbridge Wells is essentially late Victorian – look at the other side of Mount Pleasant Road and also Church Road – and that should mean stucco. The second developer is the new Development Partner for TWBC appointed on 29th. December 2007 from 21 applicants and six short-listed organizations. The new Partner is itself a partnership between John Laing plc ( the British construction and infrastructure operator taken over by the German insurer, Allianz, in October 2006 6 www.thecivicsociety.org for over £950 million) and Glendale plc (which is a support services provider for the public and private sectors). These two companies have formed a separate Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) to work as the Development Partner with TWBC on the ‘regeneration’ of four town centres in the Borough, namely Tunbridge Wells, Southborough, Paddock Wood and Cranbrook. TWBC see this as a partnership with a 10-20 year timescale. TWBC insist that it will retain full planning powers over all development of what TWBC says is a £90 million property portfolio. Detailed propos- als are expected by February 2009 (less than a year away) with consultations and representations being made and accepted up to January 2010 and with the adoption of the final proposals between February and April 2011. Our concerns are that Town Centre development inevitably means retail develop- ment above all, with little attention to other social and economic issues; that while Southborough, Paddock Wood and Cranbrook have relatively well-defined and com- pact town centres, Tunbridge Wells does not, and the definition of its town centre seems to be from the & Sussex Hospital down to the Pantiles, with no consideration of other important areas such as St. John’s, High Brooms, North Farm, Lower Camden Road and Ramslye which also have retail and social needs; and that a new partner coming form outside may not have the feel for the nature and character of the town and everything will be measured in strictly financial and commercial terms. This view is supported by the fact that the final two short-listed both made proposals for the complete or partial demolition of the Civic Centre (Town Hall) and the driving of a new road from the Town Hall cross-road through the Town Hall site to Monson Road. This proposal may be music to the ears of TWBC, which hates the Civic Centre, but is it music to the ears of the citizens, and will they be consulted? The third developer is Targetfollow, the new owner of (approximately one third of) the Pantiles and the whole of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons. It is too early to form an opinion about its plans, but it is a very fast-growing property company with car-parking interests. What can be assumed is that it would not have bought unless it could see an opportunity to produce a satisfactory return on its investment; and that must include some form of development of the Pantiles and the Commons on a profit- able basis. Time will tell. Watch this space, as they say. A final question that needs to be asked is how these three major developers will interact with each other. They may not need to but, even if they don’t, there is a need for someone to co-ordinate what could be radically differing planning, if the town is to retain the nature and character that resulted in it being rated by Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer of Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location, as the 3rd most desirable place in the UK in which to live.

14th March 2008 Newsletter Spring 2008 Newsletter Spring 7 The ‘Ritz’ Cinema Site - a new vision for 2008

by Chris Jones

The ABC cinema closed in October 2000. Since then, through a series of planning applications and appeals, the site has deteriorated into the biggest grot-spot of the town. Things may be about to change. The Council, the developers and the local branch of RIBA recently held an architectural competition for the site, which is now slightly bigger and includes the PizzaHut building. Six firms were invited to submit conceptual designs, one of them from Tunbridge Wells. The brief was for an “inspirational, high quality mixed use development” which respected the local architectural heritage, yet maximised the development potential. The proposals had to include 7,000 sq m of retail space, with, optionally, offices, hotel, and cafes/restaurants. The five-person jury (there was no public consultation) was unanimous in selecting the proposal from Panter Hudspith, who are based in Southwark. Broadly speaking, the winning pro- posal comprises four main elements: • an office block to the west, • shops on Mount Pleasant, • a hotel and spa above the shops, • a courtyard in the middle. The architects took their inspiration from The Pantiles, particularly Bath Square and the Fish-Market. The hotel 8 www.thecivicsociety.org entrance, therefore, is set back from Mount Pleasant, to form a small square, and in the centre of the site is a bigger ‘courtyard’. It is not clear from the plans how far this courtyard, sited between the offices and the hotel will be open to the public, nor how the architects will ensure that public space is open to the sun - experience in other parts of the town shows that the public don’t like sitting in shadow. The west-east cross-section, below, shows the five-storey office block to the west, the four-storey hotel to the east above three storeys of retail space. The diagram also shows the colonnade along the Mount Pleasant frontage - again a feature inspired by the Pantiles. This particular cross-section is a bit mislead-

ing as it might suggest that the courtyard is open at both ends. In fact the north end is closed by five storeys of buildings along Church Road, and the south end by a ‘spa’ with a pool (see the north-south cross-section below - the ‘spa’ is the area with the wavy roof). The Church Road frontage will be pulled back to the level of Pitcher & Piano. The main element here will be a two-storey restaurant with offices above. As in the original scheme for the site, the main goods entry will be from Church Road, though there will also be entry to the car-parks from Lonsdale Gardens. Newsletter Spring 2008 Newsletter Spring 9 The steep slope of the site makes it difficult to understand the floor plans. I believe that access from Mount Pleas- ant will be at Ground Floor level (see bottom left) - to shops and the hotel lobby. Access from Church Road will be at Upper Ground Floor (see below)- to the offices and a bar. The bar itself will provide access up to the main res- taurant which is at First Floor level (see

Floor Plans: - First Floor (above) - Upper Ground Floor (right) - Ground Floor (below)

top left). The internal courtyard and ‘spa’ is also at First Floor level. The top floors of the hotel, not shown on these plans, have balconies looking out over the southern part of the town. There would be 150 car parking spaces - for use by the office workers and hotel guests. 10 www.thecivicsociety.org The buildings on the Church Road frontage have been pulled back from the road. This provides a wider view of Trinity from Mount Pleasant (though for much of the year this is hidden by trees). The extra space allows for planting along the roadside.

The designers have carefully used all the available space to fit in the various elements. Making best use of the space is obviously important, but most people in the Society will be interested in the appearance, and it is difficult to intrepret this from plans and cross-sections. We might therefore look at examples of work by the architects in other towns. I fear that members might be disap- pointed. The architects have correctly identi- fied that Mount Pleasant has a ‘boul- evard’ feel, and they have responded to that with wide pavements and trees. But it also has an elegance, which comes from the white-painted render, the symmetry of the windows, the cor- nices and the architraves. By contrast the Panter Hudspith development in Exeter (right) reminds me of nothing more than the current cinema frontage - brick panels in a concrete framework. I hope that developer and architects will realise that they gain more by cher- ishing the style of the area in which they are lucky enough to be working, rather than reacting against it. Newsletter Spring 2008 Newsletter Spring 11 Samuel Pepys at the Rhenish Wine-House A summary of the 2008 King Charles Lecture by Dr John Fuller John Fuller started his lecture with representing God’s activities on the a wonderful analogy. He described the third day, was followed by astronomy action of a kaleidoscope, where a small for the fourth day, and by the study of number of simple elements can be ma- marine life and birds for the fifth day. nipulated to produce an endless series But life in 1661 was a little more of different patterns. History, he said, complicated. At the start of the previ- was just like that - the same basic facts ous century men had struggled against can be presented in a multitude of dif- the authority of organised religion and ferent ways. I hope that, in selecting demanded the right to understand and summarising a few elements of his God’s intentions by the direct study of lecture, I have not altered his message Scripture. Sometimes the intentions too much. were not explicit and detailed analysis He started with a quotation from of the text was needed. Samuel Pepys’ diary for May 23rd One particular topic was of great 1661. It records a discussion, in the interest - the timing of the Second ‘Rhenish Wine-House’, during which Coming and Day of Judgement. Al- the young Pepys was impressed by though the Second Epistle of Peter ex- mathematician Jonas Moore’s claims plains that these will come without that England and France were once warning, ‘like a thief in the night’ there joined. This was at variance with reli- was a desire to identify when this gious views about the age and devel- would actually be. opment of the Earth. Pepys wrote “[he] There developed the practice of spoke very many things, not so much ‘scriptural arithmetic’, which goes to prove the Scripture false, as that the something like this: time therein is not well computed nor • the Epistle of Barnabas states understood”. that as God created the Earth in six In previous centuries, scientific de- days, he will similarly bring all things scriptions, or nature study, had been to an end in six days, conceived within the context of the • Psalm 90, v 4, explains that a Christian creation story. So, in books thousand years are but as one day to of the 13th century, the various scien- God, so six days equals six thousand tific disciplines would be described in years, the same sequence as Genesis: botany, • to calculate the starting point of 12 www.thecivicsociety.org the 6,000 years scholars analysed the events and genealogies in the Old Tes- tament, and were able to assign a date of 4004 BC to the birth of Adam. (Older copies of the King James bible show this chronology on each page) A timetable derived in this way would have allowed people in Pepys’ day another 350 years or so, but some people used other calculations. The verse in Peter 2 already quoted, says that the earth and the works therein shall be burned - a ‘conflagratio mundi’. If one extracts the letters in this phrase that represent Roman nu- merals, they can be re-arranged to form the year 1657. This might seem a bit forced but it can be validated by look- ing at the date of the Flood - 1,657 of religious turmoil - the destruction years after the Creation. of statues and church windows, and the In a curious way, the struggle ejection of priests. One’s view on the against religious orthodoxy that led to Day of Judgement could be a matter this search for truth in Scripture, saw of life and death the parallel development of the ‘sci- In January 1661 fifty members of a entific process’, which looked to ob- sect called the ‘Fifth Monarchists’ had servation and experimentation as the attempted to take over London in the basis for truth. The Royal Society, name of ‘King Jesus’. They believed which represented this approach, was that the Second Coming would be in founded in November 1660. 1666. Eleven of the leaders were ex- But the discovery of fossils, and ecuted. theories about the development of land John is disappointed that this diver- masses did not accord with accepted gence between scientists and textual- ideas of scriptural arithmetic. Pepys, analysers remains as wide as ever. The in his diary was very careful not to dis- fundamentalists on both sides will not pute Scripture as such, just to question permit a return to the holistic approach the computation of time. It was as well of the 13th century.

to be wary. He had grown up in a time 2008 Newsletter Spring 13 Shadowy Character in Tunbridge Wells? (5,3) Did Peter Pan really live here?

A couple of weeks ago we had a call visitor there, to the home of his friend from a Mr Wood of Marlow. Mr Wood Pauline Chase. is looking into the history of a memo- Pauline Chase was an American ac- rial in Marlow which commemorates tress, born in 1885. She came to Lon- the life of Charles Frohman. (A pic- don in 1900 and took small parts in a ture of the memorial is on the front number of plays. In 1904 she joined cover.) Charles Frohman was an the cast of Peter Pan which Froman American theatrical producer who was was producing at the Duke of York’s especially successful in the years be- Theatre. She played the First Twin. The fore the First World War, but who was following year she took over the lead killed when the Lusitania was torpe- role and went on to play Peter for seven does in 1915. Frohman felt a great af- years, giving over 1,400 performances. fection for Marlow - he was a frequent The Times described her as having a “certain air of remoteness and strange- ness which lent force to Barrie’s whim- sicalities”. She became a star and was surrounded by admirers. One of them was Captain Scott (he of the Antarc- tic) with whom she is said to have had an affair. She had a religious side, and was baptised and confirmed during this period - JM Barrie and Ellen Terry acted as god-parents. She also had her mother’s body exhumed, brought across the Atlantic and re-buried in Marlow. The reason that Mr Wood contacted us was that Pauline Chase was sup- posed to have lived in Tunbridge Wells. We have done a quick check, but much more could be discovered. In October 1914 Pauline married Alexander Victor Drummond, young- 14 www.thecivicsociety.org est son of George James Drummond, Wells was in any way a secret. The of Swaylands near . These Courier recorded her death, and re- were the Drummonds of Drummonds ported that her son was proposing to Bank - founded in 1717, and in 1914, sell some of her love-letters, to fund still an independent concern. some scheme to protect her interpre- After the war the Drummonds set- tation of Peter Pan. It’s just a bit odd tled at ‘Bassetts’ near Mark Cross. that she is so little known now. There Pauline gave up her stage career, must be some people in the town who though she did appear in one film “The remember her. Did she, I wonder, have Real Thing at Last” in 1916, and there an American accent? She appeared is a picture of them both, in costume, briefly on television in 1959, as a at a pageant in Forest Row in 1929. friend of AE Matthews in “This Is Your They had three children: Ann, Jane and Life”. Alexander Peter. Captain Drummond As far as we know, the love letters had the first motor-car in the village, were not sold, but some of her papers, though he was a great horse-man and her costume, and the wooden sword founded the Eridge Polo Club. she carried as Peter, were presented to Captain Drummond died in a nurs- the London Theatre Museum in 1963. ing home in 1937, aged 48. One in- The Frohman Memorial was un- triguing reference suggests that he died veiled on Easter Saturday 1924. It was in High Brooms. This comes from the the work of Leonard S Merrifield, CricInfo web-site - Drummond had whose other work included the bust of occasionally played for the MCC. Asquith in the Palace of Westminster, We don’t know where Pauline went and statues of Carson and Craigavon immediately after her husband’s death, in Northern Ireland. The head and feet but she is recorded in Kelly’s directo- were knocked off during a gale in ries between 1948 and 1962 at Flat 1 1990. Carlton Lodge, Tunbridge Wells. You have probably already guessed Carlton Lodge was a big house, possi- that the statue is supposed to have been bly built by William Willicombe, on modelled on Pauline Chase, though the corner of Carlton Road and there is absolutely no proof that this Calverley Park Gardens - where the was the case. It does rather look like southern part of the Ferns development her though. And maybe there is some- now stands. thing about it that reflects this descrip- Pauline Drummond died in March tion of her character from a review in 1962. There was a memorial service The Times: “a sense of something not for her at St James Church. There is quite human, some fairy that has no no suggestion that her life in Tunbridge soul and is gay almost without a care”. 2008 Newsletter Spring 15 Extacts from the two versions of ‘Kip’: Top: from Jean Maulden’s book “Tunbridge Wells As It Was” Bottom: the more usual version taken from our own “An Historical Atlas” John Kip (1653 to 1721) was a Dutch draughtsman and engraver, who worked originally in Amsterdam but came to London in the period after 1689. The lower view of the Wells (above) appeared in The History of Kent by John Harris in 1719. The artist was Thomas Badslade (‘Bladeslade’ in the DNB). We don’t at present know where the other version appeared, or who the artist was. There are letters (A, B, C and D) on it, as if it were an illustration to some description of the Wells. 16 www.thecivicsociety.org More on Maps One of the interesting things that came up while we were producing the Historical Atlas was that there appears to be two versions of ‘Kip’ - the well- known ‘ birds-eye view’ of the Wells in the early 18th century. The more common version is the lower one on the page opposite. The other one was used by Jean Maulden in her 1977 book “Tunbridge Wells As It Was”. Jean was librarian at Tunbridge Wells, and I have always assumed that most of her pictures came from the library. But we have been unable to find the original map that she used. Does anyone know why there were two versions? Does anybody have an original copy of ‘Jean’s version’? On the subject of maps, I thought it might be useful to provide a little more information on where you might find some of the maps in the Atlas. We are very lucky in Tunbridge Wells to have so many maps and guide books from the 18th and 19th centuries. These are rather specialised, and the best places to study them are the Reference Library, Museum, and Centre for Kentish Studies (CKS). The Atlas should show you where we found each of the maps that are printed there. But there are more general maps that cover the whole country. Ordnance Survey maps are the obvious starting point. These have been published since the early 19th century, initially at a scale of one inch to the mile (1:63,360). You can buy new versions of these maps from the publishing firm Cassini. It produces three Tunbridge Wells maps, dated: 1813/19, 1897/98 and 1920/21. These maps have been re-scaled to 1:50,000 so that they can be compared directly with the current OS maps. They cost £6.99 each. The OS also produced what was called the ‘County Series’ of larger scale maps - 6inch (1:10,560) and 25inch (1:2,500). Four editions of the 6inch were produced, in the 1860’s, 1890’s, 1900’s and 1930’s. The Historical Atlas in- cludes extracts from each of these, taken from the copies at the CKS. The Tunbridge Wells library only holds the 1910 and 1936 versions, but that doesn’t really matter, because it has the much more detailed 25inch maps for 1867, 1897 and 1909. For a period during the 19th century the OS also produced very detailed ‘Town Plans’ at a scale of 1:500, or about 125inches to the mile. These were only produced for towns with a population over 4000. The library has 20 of these plans covering the central parts of town for the year 1867. (The maps on pages 108 to 111 of the Atlas, labelled as 25inch and 42 inch are actually ex- tracts from these 125 inch Town Plans.) Should you wish to see maps for other

areas, the British Library has full sets of the 6inch, 25inch and 125inch maps. 2008 Newsletter Spring 17 Tithe Maps are also very useful. Tithes were a mediaeval arrangement by which you paid one tenth of your income to the Church. Initially this was given in kind, ie one tenth of the actual produce of the land. The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 arranged for these payments to be converted into monetary amounts.This required an extensive survey across most of the country in which each individual property and land-holding was identified and valued. The maps were not produced to a standard scale, but all provide a very useful historical record. Three copies of each map, and of the accompanying ‘apportionment’ were produced: one held by the parish, one by the diocese, and one by the Tithe Commissioners. This third set can now be studied at the National Archives, though most County Archives hold a set of the relevant local copies. In the case of Kent, the tithe maps were copied onto CD, and these can be studied at the Library, or bought for private use (£15 per parish). The CD unfortunately does not include the ‘apportionment’, ie the list of owners and occupiers of the prop- erties. These, however, are being recorded on the Internet by the Kent Archaeo- logical Society. The details for the parish of , which included Tunbridge Wells, are almost complete. Occasionally copies of the official tithe maps would be made for use by individual land-owners. The maps on pages 41 and 42 of the Atlas are examples of this. These were working documents and, over time, would be annotated and updated. The description on page 40 applies more correctly to such copies, rather than to the official tithe maps, which, like the map of Speldhurst on page 43, would not have been annotated. And finally there are the Valuation Office maps. This was another national survey, conducted between 1910 and 1915, to meet the requirements of Lloyd George’s 1909 Budget. This introduced a tax on increases in the value of land. It therefore needed a national survey to establish the value of every property at a common starting point in 1909. The valuers typically used the 25inch version of the 1909 OS map, or, as in the case of Tunbridge Wells, a specially-prepared 50inch version. The maps, which were often hand-coloured, can be very attrac- tive, but need to be studied alongside the valuers’ ‘field books’ which record the owners, occupiers and value of each property. The maps and field books are held at the National Archives. To use the National Archives (at Kew), or the British Library (at St Pancras), or the CKS at Maidstone, you will need a Reader’s Ticket, which is available on request (with proof of identity). In all cases it is as well to prepare in ad- vance for a visit. Details of opening times, and of facilities and procedures, are available at the Library, or on the Internet. Members of the committee of the Local History Group would be happy to advise. 18 www.thecivicsociety.org A New Surgical Unit for Knights Park? The future strategy of the NHS en- stead to a site currently ear-marked for visages the out-sourcing of much elec- caravans.) tive surgery, which will be funded by We initially objected to this scheme the NHS but performed within the pri- as we think that the current dire traffic vate and charitable sectors. A national problems on the North Farm estate group of health professionals, mainly should be addressed before any new consultants, has been set up, with back- developments are allowed. However, ing from an American bank, to address we have since seen a more detailed this market. They propose a range of plan of the proposal, which seems to new surgical units, which, because be nicely hidden within some wood- they are designed specifically for this land (see below), and we have heard type of work, will be more efficient of proposals for parking at Notcutts than existing private units and will be Garden Centre. This would initially be able to offer more competitive prices. for construction workers building the One such unit has been proposed for new NHS hospital, but could make a Knights Park, on the site which is cur- very suitable park-and-ride site once rently allocated for park-and-ride. the hospital is complete. We have (There is a parallel proposal that would therefore modified our response to sup- see park-and-ride being allocated in- port the scheme. Where is it? Imagine you are going to the Knights Park cinema. You drive up a hill with the cinema and its car park on your left. Instead of turning left into the car park, you will go straight ahead. The site is downhill to your right.

The new unit would be of three stories around a central, covered, courtyard. Visitors would approach from the south, and go into the main clinical area, which will look out, on one side to the car-park, and on the other to the courtyard. The northern side would be used mainly for patient accommodation, with views into the existing woodland. The building would be ‘eco-friendly’, with high-levels of insulation and rainwater collection. 2008 Newsletter Spring 19 Local History Group News Kent History Sunday The Museum of Kent Life, just north of Maidstone, celebrates a form of agriculture which, although not unique to mid-Kent, is very much identified with the area. It has the county’s last coal-fired oast house, a working farm, and historic build- ings saved from destruction. In Septem- ber it holds a ‘Hop Picking Festival’. This year it is working with the Li- braries and Archives group within KCC, to incorporate a ‘Kent History Sunday’ (Sept 7th). Local History Groups have been asked to set up stalls explaining the history of their area, and to describe the work that they do. We have not yet decided whether we will take part, but if anybody would like to be in- volved please let us know. Those involved will get free access to the Museum for the day (the usual price is £7.50).

Camden Road - the Works Exciting times in Camden Road. • Camden Road the Musical – a After its triumph with a community community play which will run for two play in Withyham last year, the Claque weeks in May 2009 Theatre* is inviting Camden Road to The essence of these projects is that celebrate its own unique history and the community is involved and is en- culture in a series of cummunity events riched through discovery and co-op- over the coming 18 months. eration. Individual members of the The programme includes: Civic Society are already working as • Camden Road in Camera – pho- research volunteers, but anyone else is tographic displays and heritage walks welcome to join. • Camden Road in Perspective – re- The first task is to collect material search into the history of the area for Camden Road in Camera. If you 20 www.thecivicsociety.org have any photographs of the area, or memories, or stories, then please bring them along to Relish, 26/28 Camden Camden Road Road, on April 2nd, between 6 and 9pm. If you can’t make that date, or if you in Camera would like to be involved in other as- pects, or if you would just like some ing community plays for thirty years. information, please contact Catherine Jon Oram, who has been its Artistic Hylton on 07847 723430. Director since 1985 lives in Rusthall. *Claque Theatre has been produc- Literary Anthology I have been reporting ‘progress’ on of time, and the Anthology always Sue Brown’s Literary Anthology of seemed to take second place. Getting Tunbridge Wells for some time now - agreement to use material that is still in the Autumn issue last year I said that within copyright has taken a lot of it was expected to be ready for publi- time. We are currently waiting for per- cation in November. But complications mission from the National Portrait Gal- with the Historical Atlas took up a lot lery to use some of their pictures. Intriguing Towards the end of last year, Roger Young in St Helena? Roger and Gill and Gill Joye were poking around be- tell us that Young is a typical St Helena hind the organ in St James Church. surname, though we get no further than They came across an old suitcase con- that. (What is really interesting in all taining sheet music (see right). Noth- of this, though, is just what Roger and ing particularly intriguing about that - Gill were up to behind the organ in the a Robert Ferrier Young is recorded as first place.) living at 33 St James Road between 1929 and 1953. Nothing particularly intriguing until you realise that the church was not the one in St James Road, Tunbridge Wells, but the one in Jamestown, St Helena, 5,000 miles away in the South Atlantic. What ex- actly was the connection between RF

Young of Tunbridge Wells and M 2008 Newsletter Spring 21 The Broadwater Sign Does anybody recognise where this ground, is in enamelled metal, and is sign might have come from? It’s in about 25 to 30 inches long. At present royal blue lettering on a pale blue back- it’s in a shop window in Camden Road.

Leigh Powder Mills In 2006 we reported that Leigh His- and 1934. The project has the support torical Society was embarking on a of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and of project to excavate and investigate the Glaxo Smithkline, and has involved history of the Gunpowder Mills which the Canterbury Archaeological Trust operated near the village between 1811 and gunpowder experts from English Heritage. The expert view seems to be that they have found a site of national importance. The project is holding an exhi- bition in the School Hall on Leigh Village Green from 18th to 20th April (10-12am and 2-4pm). The exhibition will explain how explo- sives were produced, and show findings of the excavation. Further volunteers for the work would be welcomed. Please contact David Hansell on 01732 334802. The Leigh site was acquired by GSK in 1950. Despite having walls 27 inches thick, Building No 7 (left) was unsuitable for anything other than storage, so it was destroyed - as were most of the other buildings. 22 www.thecivicsociety.org Adopt a Grave The Friends of Woodbury Park Cemetery have done a great job in clearing the undergrowth from hundreds of graves that had become neglected and for- gotten. They would now like to set up an “Adopt a Grave scheme” by which people can select an individual grave to look after . It could be the grave of a child or an adult, ornate or simple, celebrated or unknown. The adopter would keep it clear of returning brambles and ivy, perhaps plant a few snow- drops and primroses and generally help to ensure that the memorial does not crumble away. They would be kept up to date with anything known about the person buried there, or per- haps they would want to carry out their own research. But the Friends need someone to run this scheme - basically list- ing the graves up for adoption and those that are adopted and by whom , and relaying any queries about them and their maintenance . Would anyone be interested in helping them to set this up? If so please contact

June Bridgeman on 01892 525578 or email [email protected] “ 2008 Newsletter Spring 23 Meetings start at 7.45 on the second Thursday in the month (unless otherwise stated). Please remember to bring your membership card. Visitors are welcome.

Apr ‘Kent, Brick by Brick’ - an illustrated talk by Lt.-Col. Dick 10th Bolton. * Royal Wells Inn *

‘Affordable Housing: What is it?’ - an illustrated talk by May Geraldine Harrington of the Town & Country Housing Group 8th * Town Hall *

Cricket Week - members are welcome to use the Tunbridge May Wells Cricket Club marquee for the games starting on 21st (v 21-26th Somerset) and 26th May (v Middlesex).

Jun ‘Tonbridge: the Growth of a Market Town’ - an illustrated 12th talk by Mrs Pat Mortlock * Town Hall *

Jul Garden Party - in the grounds of ‘Lynwood’, Nevill Ridge, by 12th kind permission of the owner, Miss Jean Barling. 6 to 8 pm. (Sat) Please see enclosed form for tickets.

Please note that during this session, meetings may be in either the * Town Hall *, as usual, or in the * Royal Wells Inn * on Mount Ephraim.

Heritage Open Days - Please note that the dates are September 11th to 14th, and not 4th to 7th as on your membership card.

The views expressed in this Newsletter are those of the named author or of the editor and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Society. Published by the Civic Society.