Tonbridge
Tonbridge maps (2 available)
Map of Kent
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Tonbridge books (11 available)
- 4 photos on Tonbridge appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Tonbridge
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Tonbridge and Kent
Tonbridge memories
Read and share memories of Tonbridge and Kent inspired by Frith photos
Can anyone help?
Can anyone help? I am looking for a photo or info about my great grandfather's shop in Tonbridge at 84 Barden Rd. It was called the Domestic Oil Stores and was owned by Frederick Albert Nice. My grandad, Reginald Cecil Nice (Jock), and my two great aunts, Irene and Gertrude Nice, also worked there. Apparently my great grandad or grandad owned the first motor car in Tonbridge. I left Tonbridge when I was four years old in 1966 and it was still there then. I would be so grateful if someone can help or has any memories of this shop.
Contributed by heather marchant
Bank Street School
This is the year when the school finally closed. It was worn out but much loved. The roof leaked, the knots in the floorboards stood high while the wood was highly polished with years of wear. The teachers had large baby boomer classes. Many pupils were bussed in from Higham Wood. We sang "Now the day has ended" at the end of every school day before putting the chairs on the tables to help the cleaners. There were large oil heaters and big black chimneys in every classroom and on cold and wet winter days the classroom would be filled with the aroma of the drying woollies draped over the guard rail. In summer, jam jars of sweetpeas would sit atop ...read more here
Contributed by Jenny Saggers
The Castle Lawn
I have a clearer copy of this photo in the book on Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and have studied it with a magnifying glass.
I was one year old in 1951 (and according to my parents, already walking at 9 months). The posture of the man beside the child (me), leads me to believe that it is my late father Reginald Warrener, Dental Surgeon of 50 High Street, Tonbridge.
The dog would appear to be our Labrador, at the time, Bruce. The two women at the top of the steps I believe to be my mother Stella (on the right) and either her sister Jose or my Godmother, Mrs Lilian Budd who lived at 16 Hilden Avenue, Hildenborough, on the ...read more here
Contributed by Rodney Warrener
Date of photo
In 1953, the 400th anniversary of the school, the Queen Mother "opened" the entrance with newly erected boars' heads on each pillar. I have a photograph of this ceremony before the assembled school.
Contributed by John Crates
floods in tonbridge
I was born in Tonbridge in 1957. I went to Sussex Road primary school and Hillview for girls. I remember the most is the flood we had and the carnivals when I was younger. I still come back to visit my sister who stills lives there. A lot has changed - I prefer the old Tonbridge.
Contributed by janice black
50 High Street
Although not so far back as 1890 I remember often being in the room with the large casement windows on the left hand side, in the 1950s and 60s.
This was my father's office at his dental practice at 50 High Street. The surgery itself was at the rear, being quieter. The separate entrance has now gone and is incorporated within the shops below. This room had a large window seat overlooking the High Street below. As well as the electric lights in this room there was a gas bracket on the wall, over his receptionist's (Mrs Taylor) desk and I remember this gas light being used once, during a power cut. Also, the one in the lavatory on the ...read more here
Contributed by Rodney Warrener
hop picking. Telephone exchange Tunbridge Wells
DOES ANYONE EVER ANSWER TO OUR MEMORIES?. THERE MUST BE SOMEONE OUT THERE COME ON JOIN IN I joined Tunbridge Wells telephone exchange september 1948 I remember so well the evening the man would come to George St. to tell us we started picking next day. Äll to work." "pull no more bines". all wonderful memories. We picked at Larges farm top of Quarry Hill I have contacted Ann re Mabledon. We would run into the bines when the German bombers came over and hide from the machine guns, a german pilot was escorted by us with pitchforks after he had parachuted ...read more here
Contributed by daphne hooker
Mabledon Estate.
My mother, Joyce Clark (formerly Smith) born in 1924, recognises this photograph of Quarry Hill. Her father William Smith was the sawyer for Mabledon Estate (on the right) and was responsible for felling the trees on the right of the photograph. Mabledon Estate (the gates are just off the photograph) was owned by the Deacon family who were London bankers. Mum's Uncle Charlie (Charles Eastwood) was the bailiff for the estate alongside William. Mum's grandfather (Charles Smith) was a sawyer before William took over.
Contributed by Anne Allan
Extracts From Tonbridge & Kent books
Boys on bicycles, shoppers and motorists throng this street, and there is every sign that the public library (left) had a regular flow of readers who still did not have the luxury of owning a newly invented television set. Meanwhile, local schoolboy Michael Colin Cowdrey, 17, made his debut for Kent County Cricket Club in this year.
An extract from from"Kent Revisited Photographic Memories".
The impressive facade of the Hotel Metropole, with the Ship Hotel next door, faced the end
of the Jetty to greet the thousands of holidaymakers
who travelled down on the paddle steamers. In the
foreground is a ‘guess your weight’ machine, where
you only paid if the proprietor guessed your weight
correctly. He could do this by cleverly adjusting
the weights to his advantage. Six houses to the left
was the lodging house of Mrs Sophia Booth, where
J M W Turner stayed between 1827 and 1851. From
here he painted watercolours of golden sunsets over the
sea to the west and the misty dawns to the east.
Between 1939 and 1945 the Hotel Metropole and
surrounding properties were demolished as part of
the town’s Fort Road Improvement Scheme. The area
as it was before demolition can be seen in the aerial
photograph on pages 8-9.
Three acres of rundown cafes, souvenir shops and a
wooden arcade were cleared, and a new dual-carriageway
swept down the hill offering a clear panoramic view of the
sands and bay.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".
The list of `Fashionables` taking rooms in the Cliftonville Hotel would be published weekly in the local newspaper, again emphasising the separation of the social classes.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".
Margate received its Charter of Incorporation in 1857.
Communal action and a progressive Town Council
aided development with the building of promenades,
bandstands, concert halls and the provision of a good
water supply and drainage. The resort spread eastwards
into Cliftonville, and later westwards to take over Westgate
and Birchington. The boarding houses of Margate became
the private guest houses and hotels of Cliftonville; dinner
was served in the evening and not midday, and amateur
landladies with old-fashioned rules were replaced by
professionally trained staff.
Frith’s Margate has now almost disappeared.
There has been a partial rejection of the traditional
bucket and spade family fortnight by the sea. With
competition from continental holidays in sunnier
climates and the mobility brought by package tours
and private car ownership, visitors are demanding a
higher standard of amenity and more sophisticated
entertainment. The town’s population is also increasing
with a larger number of permanent residents enjoying
their memories and pensions in their retirement years
by the sea.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".
RECORDS of a harbour in Margate go back to the 14th
century, when it appears to have been a small wooden
structure sheltering the local fishing vessels. Prior to the
building of Jarvis’ wooden jetty in 1824 the stone pier
around the harbour was the main landing point for most
visitors, but only at high water. The building of the 1824
jetty then allowed disembarking at all states of the tide.
Through the centuries Margate Harbour has always
suffered from the destructive forces of the strong northerly
storms. The most disastrous was the winter storm of 1808,
which destroyed most of the stone pier and the neighbouring
sea front. This resulted in the construction of a new stone
pier and wharves built by John Rennie between 1812 and
1815. The lighthouse shown in 54762 was added in 1829.
However, it suffered storm damage and fell into the sea
during the winter storms and floods of 1953. It has now
been replaced by a smaller and simpler structure.
The disadvantage of the stone pier was that vessels had
to anchor offshore at low tide. This was overcome by the
building of an unsatisfactory wooden jetty in 1824, which
in turn was replaced between 1853 and 1857 by Birch’s
iron jetty. The structure jutted 1,240 feet out to sea and a
small rail link brought passengers and their luggage down to
landside porters.
An extract from from"Margate Town and City Memories".