AUTUMN 2006

WHAT DID THE VICTORIANS DO FOR US? * * * BATTLE OF THE URINALS Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006

Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society

Objectives:

1. To stimulate public interest in 2. To promote high standards of planning and architecture in the town 3. To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic or public interest.

Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society is supported by AXA PPP healthcare

Front Cover: See opposite

2 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Intro Cover photograph... There’s definitely a Celtic influence there. And yet isn’t there also something pre-Columbian, Aztec maybe, about that head-dress. Actually, it’s just a lamp post. I’m sure you knew that all along. A real Tunbridge Wells lamp-post - on the other side of the pillar are the municipal arms with the motto: ‘Do Well Doubt Not’. But all rather tatty and over-painted. They don’t have to be like that. Southern Water, after some prompting from Daniel Bech, has restored and re-painted its sewer vents around the town. They look just like lamp-posts, though usually without a lamp on the top. And nowadays they look much smarter than lamp-posts. They are a reminder of the work done by the Victorians in the town - something of a theme in this Newsletter. They also provide an introduction to this story from the archives. Charmian was reading the Proceedings of the Sewage Outfalls Committee of August 20th 1867. It referred to the case of Goldsmid vs Tunbridge Wells Improvement Commissioners. Mr Goldsmid had complained that sewage was being discharged from the town into Calverley Brook which ran through the Somerhill Estate and into his lake. He considered it a health hazard. The Commissioners were not sympathetic. They pointed out that the sewage in the Brook at the other end of town was used by farmers there as a ‘source of great profit’. The solid matter in the brook was collected and used to fertilise the land. The landowners looked upon it ‘as a fortunate present’. Faced with the ingratitude of Mr Goldsmid, the Commissioners asked their engineer to prepare a scheme for diverting all of the town’s waste into the southern valley - by means of a tunnel starting near Goods Station Road, running through the railway tunnel then across the Common and down High Rocks Lane to Groombridge. What enterprise! Unfortunately it was never built - the South Eastern Railway Company objected, and there were fears about it polluting the Wells. But doesn’t it just sum up the Victorian era - the can-do attitude, the urge to improve, the dumping of s__ in your neighbours’ backyard. There is more of this sort of thing on page 15. * * * * STOP PRESS * * * * On Monday, October 2nd, Daniel Bech and John Cunningham will be describing the exciting discoveries they made while researching the new Historical Atlas of Tunbridge Wells. Town Hall 7:45.

3 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 From the Planning Scrutineers Perhaps the most significant recent of the existing industrial buildings could application has been that by Sunrise be re-used, but this looks unlikely. Senior Living for a major development Sainsburys has proposed converting in Pembury Road adjacent to a former filling station in St Johns . The Friends of Road to a ‘Local’ store.As the site Dunorlan have requested that a has previously been used for retail, Planning Forum be convened to there is no requirement for ‘change of consider it. As present it is not clear use’. We are concerned that there whether this will take place. The doesn’t appear to be any space at the development would be extensive, rear for deliveries. though perhaps preferable to earlier There was an application in June proposals for the site. We can’t help to demolish stables and build 3 new thinking that it would be better if it houses at 4 Calverley Park could include the site of the original Gardens. After investigation we Dunorlan house, looking out over the believe that the stables may be of park. This might enable the developers historical interest and should be to reduce the height of the new retained. buildings. There have been further A second significant proposal is for applications for developments on the conversion of 69/71Culverden former garage sites: in Grosvenor Down into a 6-floor block of flats. We Walk, Cambridge Gardens and St consider this proposal to be over- James Park. The sites are very small intensive, and intrusive on and the proposed developments would neighbouring properties. We have be very cramped. suggested that the lowest floor be We have objected to two proposals omitted, but fear that this is the sort of for alterations to existing buildings. At development that the Council will need 3a Nevill Park we object to the if it is to meet Government targets. removal of stone mullions from the This could be the first of many such dominant bay window to install a conversions in Culverden Down. double door of unstated material (? We have also seen the formal uPVC). At 80 Upper Grosvenor application for the re-development of Road, we consider that the proposed Goods Station Yard to provide 94 new alteration of the front ground-floor dwellings. We had hoped that some window from a rectangular sliding sash 4 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 to an arch with a single glass pane, in the committee who think that this is will damage the appearance of the tantamount to vandalism, that it entire facade, and that it is quite un- seriously impacts the amenity of the necessary. surrounding houses, which are in a We disliked a proposal for the Conservation Area, and would like the conversion of an annexe at Grange Council to take some form of action. Farm, in Pembury Road, to a separate Others fear that this sort of reaction is house as an encroachment on the exactly what the perpetrator is hoping Green Belt; and we felt that a proposed for, and that the best approach is to side and rear extension to Honeywood, ignore them, as you would a naughty also in Pembury Road, was quite out and rather tedious child. Eventually of character for this part of the they will seek attention in some other Consrvation Area. way - wearing a safety pin through In the last issue, we mentioned that their nose perhaps. What do you a garden wall in Garden Road had been think?p CJ painted bright green. There are some Society News

Summer Quiz The Summer Quiz issued with the who scored 41. The prizes will be last Newsletter, which required you to presented at the AGM on November identify 49 buildings in the town from 9th. when we will also give all the photographs of dates which appear on answers. those buildings, was meant to be In the meantime perhaps you could difficult. But I never imagined it would have another look for this date, which so comprehensively defeat the best was the only one to have defeated all minds of the Civic Society. Nobody entrants: submitted a complete set of correct answers. Special congratulations are therefore due to our joint winners, Jane Dickson and Sue Brown, who both scored 43 points out of 49, and to third prize winners Jim and Barbara Kedge

5 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Croquet Competition The RTW Croquet Club recently held a tournament at its new site in the top corner of Calverley Grounds. Richard and Joan Still entered on behalf of RTWCS. Our team did really well, though we under-stand that they weren’t quite in the medals. We expect them to do much better next time. Bzzzz I thought you might be interested in a Camden Road), and Peter Hutton, story about locally-produced food. We lecturer in Bee Studies, were very had bought some honey from the helpful and explained the whole Farmers’ Market, and noticed that it process. Unfortuntely I had incorrectly came from Hilbert Road, about 200 set up the flash in my camera and the yards from our house (as the bee flies) pictures are unusable. Bit of a on part of the old Charity Farm land. disappointment really, and, to make So I went along to a meeting of the matters worse, two of the little bees beekeepers there as they extracted stung me. p CJ the honey from the combs, and took some pictures for the Newsletter. Walter Bienz (ex-chocolatier of Shiny and new Have you seen these sleek new bicycles outside the Town Hall? Presented by to mark our 400th anniversary. We assume that they are cycle racks. I rather like them. p CJ

6 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Heritage Open Days 2006 Do you remember the booklet that from some rock-climbers, and the Myrtle Streeten produced describing Mayor of course, we had the Rocks a visit to the town by the Queen to ourselves. A wonderfully peaceful Mother while Myrtle was Mayor? spot. We feel a bit silly that we’ve lived Wherever the QM went, the Mayor here 25 years and never visited them. was there before her, and yet the At the Beacon we had the benefit of a Mayor never left a venue first. The guided tour by Jane Dickson, who whole thing defied Physics. seems to know it well, past and We had the present. We were enchanted by the same feeling gardens, the Cold Bath and the lakes. during HODs. In the afternoon we broke free and Wherever we got to Salomons - alone. This is a place went: the Opera we know well, but it’s always worth a House, High visit. Of the various Davids Salomon, Rocks, the I prefer the first. His achievements in Beacon; the public life seem to me the most mayor’s party significant. I like the collection of always got there leather fire-buckets, presented to him before us. Of after his period as a Sheriff of the City course it could have been because we of . were saving the planet by cycling. (I don’t remember whether the QM ever used a bike, the Mayor doesn’t.) The Opera House was fascinating. After a talk by Richard Storkey, we went up into the Dress and Upper Circles. It’s a secret world; the plush folding seats are all still there, the boxes, the exuberant decorations, though all covered in a layer of dust. Some of the other visitors sat in the back row, lost in their thoughts - hmm. It took an enormous amount of time High Rocks and the Beacon were and effort to organise Heritage Open different. It was a beautiful day. Apart Days. We think it was worth it. p CJ 7 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Chairman’s Letter Re-organisation of Local Government There are encouraging signs that the fears expressed about the proposed re-organisation of Local Government, although well-founded, are diminishing. It is ‘rumoured’ (i.e. leaked) that the Government White Paper which was due last June, but then postponed until October, may not now even be published, or if it is, in a significantly emasculated form. You will remember that in order in their view to ‘make Local Government more local’, the Government was proposing to abolish County Councils and the two-tier system of County Council and local Borough Councils; and replace them with ‘unitary local authorities’ – their jargon for single local authorities, which would be smaller than County Councils, but larger than local Borough Councils. We have advised you of this in our last two issues and we are still ‘in the dark’ as we await the putative publication of the White Paper, so we should not lower our defences. But let us hope that the danger of the abolition of the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is now receding and the light at the end of the tunnel will get stronger. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council may not be much. This is not necessarily our view, but it is certainly the view held until very recently by the Audit Commission. However, it’s the only Local Government we’ve got, and we certainly would not wish to lose that, to be controlled by an authority based in a town some 15-20 miles away. So we need to continue to be vigilant; and keep our guard up; and be prepared to ‘fight our corner’, even if our resources are limited. And we need to give our support to TWBC, however imperfect they may still be. RTWCS has never been against TWBC (the converse was not necessarily true in the past) and we see our role as the friend, but nonetheless the critical friend, of the Council. Elections to the Executive Committee RTWCS needs to be pro-active and vigorous if it is to achieve the objectives which are laid out in its Constitution. We all need to be stimulated into action on behalf of the Society; and that need is not satisfied by a situation where there has not been a contested election for the Executive Committee for at least 10 years (and some say even 20 or 25 years). That has to change if the Executive Committee is to do what it is constitutionally required to do. So we are making an appeal to all members to come forward and offer their services – as candidates for the Executive Committee, as specialist advisors, as members of sub- committees (such as Planning Scrutiny, Membership Recruitment, Meeting Organisa- tion, Press Relations and Publicity). The members of the Executive Committee will be elected at the Annual General Meeting on Thursday, 9th. November (all other roles are co-opted) and any member who wishes to stand can do so by obtaining a Nomination Form from the Hon. Secretary, Gill Twells (01892 527 493), and submitting it, with the signatures of a Proposer and Seconder (both being members of RTWCS), not later than 23rd. October. 8 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 RTWCS Constitution The RTWCS Constitution was last revised some 19 years ago in 1987 and times have changed and the Society has moved on. Over the past few months, a sub-committee has been considering revisions and a draft has been prepared for your approval at the AGM in November. As a Charity we have to submit any proposed revi- sions to the Charity Commissioners for their approval, which we did in July. They have commented and we have replied and we fully expect to submit to you on November 9th a final draft for your approval. The Annual Garden Party on 22nd.July at Broomlands, Broom Lane, , the home of the previous Mayor, Cllr. Jennie Paulson-Ellis and her husband, Jeremy, was deemed by all to be a great success. Not only did the Marquess of Abergavenny attend, but also the Mayor and Mayoress, the Leader of the Council, many Councillor portfolio holders, as well as the Managing Editor of The Courier, Roger Watkins. Enor- mous thanks to Jennie and Jeremy for their kindness and hospitality, and to all RTWCS members who helped organise it. Heritage Open Days (HODs), in which we took ‘pole position’ in organisation, have also been deemed be a great success. In TW in 2006, there were some 29 properties and one event taking part from 1-4 days between Thursday 7th and Sunday 10th. Septem- ber. They ranged from Somerhill, Salomons, High Rocks, Happy Valley, the Spa Hotel, the Opera House, the , the Town Hall, Museum & Library and Assembly Hall to some 14 churches. Full details are still available at our specific HOD website at www.tunbridgewellsheritageopendays.org.uk or www.twhod.org.uk and the TWBC website at www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk. It is now estimated that there were over 5,000 site visits to the 30 properties/events – an average of about 160 per site/events – with attendances ranging from over 400 at St. Barnabas’s, to over 300 at High Rocks, 260 at The Opera House to 82 at the Assembly Hall, It is astonishing to record that RTWCS’s own Heritage responsibility -the Pound in Grove Hill Road (historically one of the means of catchment for straying cattle and sheep from the Common, but in reality with road-widening reductions, now a 15’ x 15’ compound) attracted 106 visitors. Conservation Awards. As already announced, Sandy Bruce-Lockhart (formerly Sir Sandy, Leader of the County Council, but now Lord Bruce-Lockhart of the and Chairman of the Local Government Association) has kindly accepted our invitation to present our Conservation Awards on Thursday 10th. October at the Town Hall. The event starts with a Reception at 7 pm, to which all members are welcome, followed by the Presentation of Awards at 7.45 pm in the Council Chamber. To mark the 400th Anniver- sary and also to reflect the widening role of RTWCS in the life of the Town, a new Award is being introduced – for Contributions to the Community – which is not based on architectural or design considerations, but on a real contribution to the quality of life in our community. Chairman 9 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got a sting by Daniel Bech Daniel Bech asks why our national and local governments make rules that they are not prepared to enforce When it comes to laws, regulations like a tip to a barmaid. and enforcement I would always start Parking on pavements is unlawful, with a reference to Mel Brooks’ yet loaded lorries ruin heritage brick History of the World - Part 1. pavements and are a nuisance and Brooks appears as Moses, descending hazard to pedestrians. Is there nobody from Mount Sinai with three heavy in charge to stop this? stone tablets bearing the fifteen Staying with transport - take the Commandments; after he drops one bus ‘gateways’ on Mount Pleasant of them, the laws of God become the Road outside the Opera House. In total Ten Commandments! 7 signs blight the street scene. Daily Just think of the stress stone about 800 drivers slip illegally through masons would be under today if all this stretch. No enforcement in sight! the byelaws, regulations and guidelines Recently an Estate Agent needed to keep us citizens under confronted York Road residents by control had to be chiselled onto stone. putting 8 cars on a small piece of land But there is a further dilemma. The 15ft x 50ft. All rules, set by Local more people ignore the regulations, the Planning, taxation and Highways Code less likely officials are to prosecute. are broken. There has been no sign yet Of course that doesn’t apply when that the authorities will intervene! moneys are involved, as with TV Has anyone ever been fined in licences, Council taxes, Business rates Tunbridge Wells for emptying his dog and Penalty Charge Notices. People on a pavement? On many lampposts are taken to Court, fines are imposed signs indicate that TWBC is fining the or else they are sent to jail. owners for this offense. Judged by the Parking was decriminalised to mess you can see everywhere in town, subsidise Boroughs and create new no-one takes notice - it is not enforced! jobs. If you are poor you could find There are fines for litter louts, too, yourself in the hands of the TV licence but wherever you go, the person in people; if you are rich, a ticket of £60 front has just dropped the wrapper of (reduced to £30 if you pay within two a Mars bar. Threats alone do not help! weeks) is not a deterrent; it’s more Recently an Alcohol Control Zone

10 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 was made law in Tunbridge Wells. We see the signs everywhere, The Mount Pleasant tastefully painted in Bus heritage colours. So ‘gateway’ is how come every just not weekend residents being are woken by policed drunken revellers? Greg Clark told us that he had been out with a Police patrol and was shocked that many of the lads were illiterate. issues hundreds of enforceable So maybe the group targeted by the conditions per year in conjunction with signs cannot read them or is too drunk planning applications. Yet not all of to take notice. This begs the question: them are adhered to. Who follows up? Does every rule have to be put onto a Why set conditions, which are not sign? Or is this just a subsidy for sign- enforced? Maybe it makes some makers? developments look less evil. Even then, If you drive along Forest Road you developers can ask for the ease or will notice the forest of signs warning alteration of a condition later. you, on the left, in the middle and on Judging by examples of local town the right that you should drive at 30 planning, developers have an easy life miles per hour. If the occasional in Tunbridge Wells. ‘Grot Spots’ have cautious driver does this, he brings the been a standing agenda item for the flow to a standstill. Civic Society for the last year, yet the We have been told that soon a Cinema site seems to be untouchable, third of all street clutter will be despite it ruining the setting of the removed. As there are no SPOs (Sign Town Hall itself. Preservation Orders), like TPOs (Tree Why do our ‘authorities’ invent Preservation Orders, another point of regulations that they have neither the enforcement neglect) there is a chance resources nor the will to enforce? Do that our town might soon look better. they secretly hope that the God of TWBC’s Planning Department Moses will take a hand? p DB

11 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 What did the 19th Century do for us? You will allow me one gross House at the end of the Pantiles. generalisation. (After all what are There were still some visitors, and historians for, if not to generalise?) The they needed somewhere to stay, so 18th century brought to Tunbridge lodging houses continued to be built. Wells nothing but wastrels and Many of the more delicate house- scoundrels. That’s not just my fronts up Mount Sion and along Puritanical opinion on their behaviour. London Road are from these early Last year a member of the Society ‘Regency’ years of the century. Some, was writing an article about Georgian such as Cecil Court, were new-build; houses in the town. Between us we some, eg 23 to 29 Mount Sion, were could come up with very few re-modelling of much earlier houses. examples. But the 19th century - now Three particularly attractive houses in that’s a very different matter. Cumberland Walk (6, 7 and 8) are In the early years the town was also from this period. still catering for visitors, visitors whom But everything changed in the it was losing to the delights of seaside 1820’s. In 1826 John Ward acquired towns like Brighton. In an attempt to the Calverley Estate, 874 acres of compete, the Lady of the Manor of mainly farmland to the north and east , commissioned new warm of the town. In 1828 his architect, and cold baths from architect JT Decimus Burton produced plans for its Groves. The venture was not a great development. There followed the success but has left us the Bath construction of Calverley Park, Calverley Promenade (now called the Crescent), Calverley Place (now 57- 70 Calverley Road), and Calverley Parade and Terrace (these last two demolished in the 1930’s to make way for the library and Town Hall). Burton also converted Calverley House into a hotel, now the Hotel du Vin. The Calverley development was a huge change. The old town had been for visitors. The visitors liked the idea

12 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 parks is that the farm land between them has remained undeveloped, retaining their arcadian feel. In the same way, Camden Park was developed by the Marquess Camden from the late 1840’s, and Broadwater Down, by the Abergavennys from the 1860’s. What was really different about the 19th century, though, was the growth of staying in the country - in cottages of services, provided either municipally spread hickledy-pickledy over the hill- or commercially. Through the century sides. While they were here they we can watch their growing lived a communal life - taking the importance: water, gas, police, fire, waters, tea-drinking, balls and gaming. education, health care, railways, The New Town was for residents. telephones. Some of the hidden The residents wanted country houses, infrastructure from this period is still not cottages. While the new houses in use (think drains), some of the were not huge, they were formal and surface detail is still there (think sewer carefully laid out so that each vents and lamp-posts). A lot of the appeared to be in its own private park. larger structures have gone, but we still And though the New Town had its have the railway stations - the west Promenade and Pleasure Gardens, side of the Central station was built this was not communal living. in the 1840’s, and the West station in Ward’s success led other land- owners to attempt the same thing. In the 1830’s Abergavenny gave leases for the development of Nevill Park, and, from 1854 for Hungershall Park. The houses, mainly Italianate, follow the Burton idiom, though there is no evidence that he was involved. Terence Davis in 1976 wrote of Hungershall that it had a ‘sometimes eccentric, perhaps sinister, appearance’. The main appeal of both

13 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 the 1860’s. Skinners School dates (1864) which has always seemed from 1886, the little Victoria National slightly exotic, perhaps because it was School off Camden Road, from 1834. originally in Sussex and Chichester The Grosvenor Recreation Ground diocese. Then there are the non- was opened in 1889, and the conformists: Hanover chapel (1833) GreatHall in 1872. The east side of opposite Tesco, the Friends’ Meeting Mount Pleasant was built in the House (1894) in Grosvenor Park, and 1870’s and most of the High Street Vale Road Methodist church (1872). and Camden Road shopping areas And finally, the wonderful contrast are Victorian. The remarkable builder, between the former Congregational William Willicombe, having worked for Church, built in 1848 by Jabez Scoles Burton on the Calverley estate, went and extended in 1866 (now Habitat), on to develop much of Lansdowne and St Barnabas, built in 1887 on a Road, Sandrock Road and cathedral-like scale, with sumptuous Calverley Park Gdns. Other fittings reflecting its position at the high builders were filling in the huge area end of the Anglican spectrum. between St James Rd, Queens Rd That was a bit of a gallop through and London Road; the areas around one hundred years, and just shows how St Johns and St Peters churches; and significant those years were. Our the gaps between Grove Hill Road Stuart heritage: Pantiles, King Charles and Mount Sion. In the last decade of and Mount Sion, may be what makes the century came the developments Tunbridge Wells different. But, put very of Madeira and Warwick Parks. clumsily, our Regency and Victorian Then there were the churches. heritage is what Tunbridge Wells is. p Holy Trinity, built between 1827 and CJ 1829 to the designs of Decimus Burton and to serve the needs of the New Town, is Gothic. Its conversion to Arts Centre in the 1980’s saved the exterior and some of the internal monuments. As the town grew, additional parishes, and churches, were needed: St John’s (1858), St James’ (1860) and St Peter’s (1874), all fine buildings with towers or spires, and all surviving. As does St Marks

14 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Down in the Vaults 4: not a particularly savoury subject for discussion by Charmian Clissold-Jones

In another report from the Local History Group volunteers who are cataloging the Town Hall archives, Charmian Clissold-Jones presents a rather unsavoury story from the late 19th century. The curious case of the “Battle of papers relating to the case are stuffed the Urinals” began in 1890 when the into boxes in the vaults, giving more Corporation of Tunbridge Wells information than you really want to proposed to build an underground know about the subsoil of the Pantiles, sanitary convenience with urinals, the state of public conveniences in the water closets and lavatories beneath area (“of a most inferior character”), the promenade at the far end of the and of urinals in other towns. Pantiles. The site was carefully chosen The Manor contested the right of not to cause offence, and the matter the Corporation to do the work, and was publicly discussed at the Town complained that it was inconsistent Hall without objections being raised. with the terms of the Rusthall Manor Several months later, though, the Act of 1739, which prohibited the Lord of the Manor of Rusthall tried to erection of any “necessary” or prevent the construction by issuing a “boghouse” on the Pantiles. They writ against the Corporation. The writ claimed to be concerned about the failed and the conveniences were possible impact on the important completed and opened, but the battle medicinal springs, vital for the welfare had only just begun. and prosperity of the town. They The arguments raged back and argued that the soil belonged to the forth for many years, and the case of Manor even if the Pantiles was a Baird v. the Mayor, Aldermen and public street, and claimed that the Burgesses of the Borough of Corporation had taken no action at all Tunbridge Wells reached the High on the Pantiles prior to 1876. The Court in 1893. Never has so much judges and QC’s in the High Court time, verbosity and paperwork been pored over old maps and listened to expended on whether the Pantiles was the history of the town. a public place or a street, or whether In its defence, the Corporation the soil of the Pantiles was vested in showed that it had spent £500 on the Corporation, or in the Manor of widening the promenade in 1888, with Rusthall. Today, large numbers of the consent of Col. Weller (the then 15 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Lord of the Manor). A slope had been class of persons whom it is not removed and a retaining wall built to desirable to attract to the Pantiles”. create the Promenade. It claimed to However Ernest Charlton, of 37 the be acting under powers conferred on Pantiles, reported that they were it by the Public Health Act of 1875 “mainly used by the Visitors and and the Tunbridge Wells Improvement Promenaders.” “Workmen and men Act of 1890. of the lower class”, he explained, had Certainly, when considering the not objected to the earlier urinals so state of the existing six urinals, the he saw no reason why they should be arguments for new conveniences attracted by the new ones. “The were overwhelming. The urinal at the Pantiles is not a resort of workmen and Duke of York’s was “much the lower classes during the time when overlooked”; that at the Coach and visitors are using the Promenade in the Horses, was “combined with a dustbin. morning and afternoon.” One stall. No water laid on”. The Judgement in 1893 concluded Evidence from local businessmen that the lavatory and public urinals had further strengthened the case. indeed proved to be of the utmost Edward Thomas Hughes, at 39 and importance to the convenience of the 41 the Pantiles, testified that “nearly inhabitants and visitors to Tunbridge every passage (on the Pantiles) has Wells. Large numbers of people had been used as an urinal, and streams used them: 28.000 within the first three of urine could almost at any time months, and over 100,000 in the be seen running across the following year. The judge declared Promenade.” He said that visitors that all that the Defendants had done, often requested to use water closets was to the benefit of the public and on his premises. that they had not infringed or interfered Thomas Barton, Alderman and with the rights of the Manor. The businessman at number 48, often had modern wc did not come under the reason to complain of nuisances, in term “boghouse”, the erection of particular at the urinal at the Hand and which was prohibited under the 1739 Sceptre. “The said urinal has been act. Judgement was made for the frequently overcrowded …and urine Defendants with costs. has constantly run from the said The Manor, however, did not accept urinal onto the Promenade.” defeat, and, in 1896, the case went to There had been some concern that the Court of Appeal at the House of the new facilities might encourage “a Lords. Meticulous and detailed

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Work on the Pantiles in about 1890 - either the construction of the Promenade, or the building of the urinals.

Picture by kind permission of Tunbridge Wells library. discussions ensued. To clarify certain archives is that it is sometimes difficult points, other cases were cited; “the to understand the wider context of a Court of Appeal there held that although story. Who, for example, was this the street has vested and did vest in Baird, and why was he so determined the vestry, it only vested in them so long to fight the case. The transcripts do as it was a street.” Quite so! The not provide an answer, so I asked judge commented soon afterwards “I Geoffrey Copus, who knows all about neither understand the argument or the such things. Frank Osborne Baird, it answer to it at present.” seems, was a reclusive bachelor Scot Finally, however, he concluded that who was to remain Lord of the Manor the corporation did not have any power until his death at 94, in 1949. ‘Not a to erect a water closet, urinal, or a lovable man’, according to Geoffrey, lavatory on land under a street which he would not let anything pass that was the property of a private owner, threatened to weaken the legal position and declared in favour of the Lord of of the Manor. p CC-J the Manor. I understand though that PS I have recently uncovered a the urinals remained in place. collection of photographs and maps One problem in working with the relating to the case - very interesting.

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Trees of Tunbridge Wells by Richard Still If you stand on Mount Ephraim Silver Maple is a native of North and look out over Tunbridge Wells to America and the fastest growing Pembury and Forest Roads and member of the acer family. Their size Broadwater Down, trees form the is now presenting some problems. dominant feature of the townscape. In front of the Town Hall is a row It is almost as if the native woodland of limes. This has been a very cover of the Weald were gradually re- successful introduction of well grown asserting its dominance, although in specimens, which have all survived and fact there is a rich variety of foreign make a stylish addition to the town imports as well as native trees. centre. There are many limes in I will attempt to identify some of Tunbridge Wells and they can grow to the more notable examples. In this first a great height (eg in Victoria Grove). article I will focus on the area bounded These are probably a smaller growing by Mount Ephraim Road, Calverley variety (Caucasian Lime – Tilia Precinct, Mount Pleasant, Church euchlora) which also has the delicious Road and London Road ‘lime green’ leaves in spring and Beside Thackeray’s restaurant is attractive pale yellow autumn colour. a large Cupressus macrocarpa, and In Trinity churchyard there is a opposite are two fully grown Holm very interesting and well grown oaks (Quercus ilex). This evergreen collection of trees. In front of the oak was introduced to from Church, facing Church Road, there is the Western Mediterranean in the 16th a pair of Persian Ironwoods (Parrotia century. Further down at no. 14 are persica). This unusual and handsome, two very fine Copper Beeches. These spreading, small tree was introduced specimens are grafted, which ensures to England from Persia and the a good, rich leaf colour and exercises Caucasus around 1840, about the date some control over their height. the Church was built, but I doubt if The pedestrian precincts are these specimens are that old. They are planted predominantly with Italian chiefly notable for lovely rich crimson Alders (Alnus cordata) with a few and gold autumn colouring. Also beside Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum). the road is a very ancient yew, which The alders make very suitable street must be at least as old as the church. trees with bushy upright growth and Other notable specimens here are a purple catkins in early spring. The Blue Atlantic Cedar (Cedrus atlantica

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A fine example of Mount Etna Broom (Genista Aetmensis) in the garden of 75 London Road. It is the only variety of broom that achieves tree size in the UK glauca), a fully grown and slightly Birch (Betula youngii). The other decaying lime, a group of wild plums gardens fronting the houses along (there was a mass of small yellow fruit London Road have a similar rich on the ground when I visited in August), variety of flowering trees and acers a magnificent fully grown wild cherry, producing a glorious show in May, and Scots Pines, and a Robinia (or Locust rich autumn colouring in October – robinia pseudoacacia), somewhat In the back garden of 75 London overwhelmed by its neighbours. Road, beside York Road, is a very fine Further along Church Road there is a example of Mount Etna Broom magnificent native oak in the Trinity (Genista aetnensis) introduced from Theatre car park Sardinia and Sicily. It produces a mass In the garden of 69 London Road, of yellow blossom in July and August there is an unusual smaller form of the (see above). Also worthy of note is the Common Sycamore (Pseudo- fully grown native Ash (Fraxinus platanus brilliantissimum) which excelsior) which is growing in front produces leaves of the most delicious of 82 London Road. This is probably shrimp pink in spring. The garden of a seedling and one of the only two true this house has many delightful trees natives among the trees covered on this including magnolia, cherry and an brief arboricultural tour of the central unusual, small, specimen Weeping area of our town. p RS

19 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Local History Group News Annual General Meeting The AGM was held in July. The • John Cunningham (Chairman) committee for the coming year was • Chris Jones (Secretary) selected (see right). In addition, • Lionel Anderson Geoffrey Copus will remain on the • Ann Bates Editorial Board until the work on the • Ian Beavis Historical Atlas (see below) is complete. • Sue Brown After the normal business of the • Jane Dickson meeting, John Cunningham gave a talk • Mike Hinton on the History of Warwick Park. • Louise Irving Historical Atlas of Tunbridge Wells The principal achievement of the Tunbridge Wells. The maps will be LHG in 2006 has been the preparation accompanied by explanatory notes. of our next monograph - a historical atlas of Tunbridge Wells. This will be Stop Press - We have decided to much larger than our previous books, delay publication of the Historical Atlas being A3 in size (about 12” by 16” for until next year. However, later in the imperialists amongst you). October 2006 we expect to publish a It will include more than fifty maps 2nd edition of Philip Whitbourn’s from the 16th century onwards; drawn monograph on Decimus Burton - from private collections, the National including new material discovered by Archives and British Library, county Philip. archives at Maidstone and Lewes, and from the Reference Library here in Local History Surgeries The Reference Library stocks a lengthy. In order for ‘customers’ to be good collection of local history given individual attention, the Library material: Parish Records, Census has started local history ‘surgeries’. returns, house sale particulars, and The Community Librarian with local newspapers back to the mid 19th special responsibility for Local Studies century. Use of the collection is will be available during these sessions popular, and enquiries are often to help visitors with their enquiries.

20 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Local History Group News Appointments will not be necessary - second Thursday of the month - the visitors will be able to just ‘drop-in’ next three being Oct 12th, Nov 9th and during the specified hours. Dec 14th. The times are from 9:30 to The surgeries will be held on the 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00. History of the Calverley Hotel We recently had a request from father, William Pawley, was owner of Mr Harry McLaughlin in Glendale, the hotel towards the end of the 19th California for photographs of the century. He had been born in the White interior of the Calverley hotel in the Hart Inn, in Bromley in 1840. It is 19th century. Mr McLaughlin is suggested that the money to buy the presenting a 19th century French hotel came from the father of his secretaire to a local museum and was American fiancee, Angeline Howard. hoping to be able to demonstrate that Mr McLaughlin has developed a it had been used by his great- detailed web-site of his family’s history. grandmother while she lived at the It includes a picture of Angeline taken hotel. The secretaire is very ornate by H.P.Robinson at the Great Hall. The with gilded bronze decorations and web-site address is: http:// oval porcelain panels. webpages.charter.net/ghal/ Mr McLaughlin’s great-grand- GrandHotels. It’s worth a look. Lock’d is the Elsan in its brick abutment With all the recent publicity about summers in Tunbridge Wells, in a hut, John Betjeman, I wondered what he then retreats to South Ken when the had written about us. All I could find weather gets cold. Surely there are was a poem which starts: ‘With her others. I find a reference to ‘towers latest roses happily encumbered’. I and steeples of Tunbridge Wells’, but don’t like it. I don’t understand it. It Google fails me. Can anyone tell me seems to be about someone who more? St Barnabas Local History As part of Heritage Open Days at Rusthall, Valuation Office records etc. St Barnabas, Geoffrey Copus gave a We plan to put the text on the web- talk on sources of local history. It was site, which might take a week or two. full of good material, not just of St If you would like to see it in the Barnabas, but of the Manor of meantime, please contact me. p CJ 21 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Putting Faces to Names - Alastair Tod Alastair Tod was expansion of the Royal born into a naval Naval Museum, and family in Kent in 1937, then setting up a project but while growing up to bring together the had some twenty scattered museums of different homes in Army units around Britain and abroad, Aldershot in a novel including a Thames ‘experience centre‘. barge. One of those This led him to become homes was in Sweden secretary to a group and in 1969 he married working on a popular a Swede, Tuva. In national science centre 1998 they moved to as a flagship Millennium Tunbridge Wells. project. When this Alastair and Tuva have been members ended he migrated yet again, and of SPAB for more than thirty years revived some of his planning skills, by and their 1832 Tunbridge Wells cottage joining a firm in the renewable energy is the third house they have restored. field, with the original brief of helping Alastair followed his family into the obtain sites for small-scale generators, Navy, but decided against a naval and in due course managing relations career because he didn’t want an with local communities and responding enforced career change in middle age. to public interest in energy schemes. After reading English at Oxford he Alastair has had experience on qualified as a town planner, and later both sides of the table, as planner and did a research degree at the University planning applicant, as well as in of Kent. While working as a planner community organisations and the non- on strategy and major development profit field. He is concerned that the issues at the GLC he was caught up increased legislative and financial in the abolition of the council in 1986, pressures on local government make and found himself helping to set up the sensitive policies and local initiatives community organisation which became more difficult, while tax incentives and Thamesmead Town. commercial pressures favour new- He then became involved with build over conservation. p AT cultural heritage, working first on the

22 Civic Society Newsletter Autumn 2006 Garden Party 2006

This year’s garden party was held at Broomlands, the home of Jennie and Jeremy Paulson-Ellis, in Langton Green. The house is believed to date from 1840 and is probably a re- modelling of an earlier cottage called Little Broom. At one point it became the dower house to Holmewood, and was owned by the Barrow family until the Second World War. During the first war it was used as an auxiliary hospital, and in the second was damaged by a V1 rocket which landed on the lawn (to the right of the picture above). Adjacent to the house is a walled garden and a stable block around a courtyard. There are also very attractive gardens. Despite the threat of thunderstorms, we enjoyed a very pleasant evening. As usual, Frances Avery provided the food, and cake; and our hosts supplied some excellent wine. During the evening, Mr and Mrs Paulson-Ellis (see above) were presented with a framed map of Tunbridge Wells - a unique creation by Daniel Bech, who has used computer technology to ‘stitch’ together two historical maps of the town which had been originally been published separately. p CJ

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Forthcoming Events

Meetings start at 7.45 on the second Thursday in the month (unless otherwise stated), in either Committee Rooms A and B or the Council Chamber within the Town Hall. Please remember to bring your membership card. Visitors are welcome.

Oct 2nd ‘Researching Old Maps of Tunbridge Wells’. A talk by (Mon) Daniel Bech and John Cunningham on the discoveries they have made while researching the new historical atlas of Tunbridge Wells. NB Local History Group meeting - all welcome. Oct 12th CONSERVATION AWARDS ceremony. Awards will be presented by Lord Bruce-Lockhart of the Weald (ex-Leader of Kent County Council). Members are invited to attend at 7pm for refreshments, prior to the presentations. Nov 9th Annual General Meeting. With an illustrated talk on the events of the year, and answers to the Summer Quiz which was published with the last Newsletter. Dec 14th Christmas Meeting. ‘My Life is Magic’, a talk by Janet Clare, member of the Magic Circle. There will be a small charge for refreshments after the talk.

Editor Chris Jones, 52 St James Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2LB Tel 01892 522025 (evenings and weekends) Email [email protected] Membership Secretary Frances Avery, 16 Great Courtlands, Langton Green, Tunbridge Wells TN3 0AH Website www.thecivicsociety.org The views expressed are those of the named author or of the editor and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Society. Published by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society.

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