Iron Age Evidence suggests that
Iron Age people farmed the fields and mined the iron-rich rocks in the Tunbridge Wells area, and excavations in 1940 and 1957–61 by James Money at
High Rocks uncovered the remains of a defensive
hillfort. It is thought that the site was occupied into the era of
Roman Britain, and the area continued to be part of the
Wealden iron industry until its demise in the late eighteenth century. An iron forge remains in the grounds of
Bayham Abbey, in use until 1575 and documented until 1714.
Pre-modern era The area which is now Tunbridge Wells was part of the parish of
Speldhurst for hundreds of years. The origin of the town today came in the seventeenth century. In 1606
Dudley North, 3rd Baron North, a courtier to
King James VI and I who was staying at a hunting lodge in
Eridge in the hope that the country air might improve his ailing constitution, discovered a
chalybeate spring. He drank from the spring and, when his health improved, he became convinced that it had healing properties. He persuaded his rich friends in London to try it, and by the time
Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of
King Charles I, visited in 1630 it had established itself as a spa retreat. By 1636 it had become so popular that two houses were built next to the spring to cater for the visitors, one for the ladies and one for the gentlemen, Until 1676 little permanent building took place—visitors were obliged either to camp on the
downs or to find lodgings at
Southborough of the
Pantiles, 1895 In the 1680s there was a building-boom in the town: carefully planned shops were built beside the
Pantiles promenade (then known as the Walks), and the Mount Sion road, on which lodging house keepers were to build, was laid out in small plots. Tradesmen in the town dealt in the luxury goods demanded by their patrons, which would certainly have included
Tunbridge ware, a kind of decoratively inlaid woodwork. "They have made the wells very commodious by the many good building all about it and around which are lodgings for the company that drink the waters. All the people buy their own provisions at the market, which is just by the wells and is furnished with great plenty of all sorts of fish and fowl. The walk which is between high trees on the market side which are shops full of all sorts of toys, silver, china, milliners and all sorts of curious wooden ware besides which there are two large coffee houses for tea, chocolate etc. and two rooms for the lottery and hazard board (i.e. for gambling)."—
Celia Fiennes, 1697 Following
Richard Russell's 1750 treatise advocating sea water as a treatment for diseases of the glands, fashions in leisure changed and
sea bathing became more popular than visiting the spas, which resulted in fewer visitors coming to the town. Nevertheless, the advent of
turnpike roads gave Tunbridge Wells better communications—on weekdays a public coach made nine return journeys between Tunbridge Wells and London, and postal services operated every morning except Monday and every evening except Saturday. During the eighteenth century the growth of the town continued, as did its patronage by the wealthy leisured classes—it received celebrity cachet from visits by figures such as
Caius Gabriel Cibber,
Samuel Johnson,
David Garrick,
Samuel Richardson—and in 1735
Beau Nash appointed himself as
master of ceremonies for all the entertainments that Tunbridge Wells had to offer. He remained in this position until his death in 1762, and under his patronage the town reached the height of its popularity as a fashionable resort.
Nineteenth and twentieth centuries By the early nineteenth century Tunbridge Wells experienced growth as a place for the well-to-do to visit and make their homes. It became a fashionable resort town again following visits by the
Duchess of Kent,
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert, In 1889 the town was awarded the status of a Borough, and it entered the 20th century in a prosperous state. 1902 saw the opening of an
Opera House, and in 1909 the town received its "Royal" prefix. Due to its position in South East England, during the
First World War Tunbridge Wells was made a headquarters for the army, and its hospitals were used to treat soldiers who had been sent home with a "
blighty wound"; the town also received 150 Belgian refugees. The
Second World War affected Tunbridge Wells in a different way—it became so swollen with refugees from London that accommodation was severely strained. Over 3,800 buildings were damaged by bombing, but only 15 people lost their lives. In compliment to [Queen Henrietta Maria's] doctor, Lewis Rowzee, in his treatise on them, calls these springs the Queen's-wells; but this name lasted but a small time, and they were soon afterwards universally known by that of Tunbridge-wells, which names they acquired from the company usually residing at Tunbridge town, when they came into these parts for the benefit of drinking the waters —Edward Hasted, 1797 Tunbridge Wells is one of only three towns in England to have been granted this (the others being
Leamington Spa and
Wootton Bassett). Although "Wells" has a plural form, it refers to the principal source, the chalybeate spring in the Pantiles (where the
waters were taken). ==Governance==