Editing Tonbridge (section)

==History==
The town was recorded in [[Domesday Book]] 1086 as ''Tonebrige'',<ref>[https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ5946/tonbridge/ Open Domesday: Tonbridge.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128225904/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ5946/tonbridge/ |date=28 January 2021 }} Retrieved 12 September 2020.</ref> which may indicate a bridge belonging to the estate or manor (from the Old English tun), or alternatively a bridge belonging to Tunna, a common [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] man's name. Another theory suggests that the name is a contraction of "town of bridges", due to the large number of streams the High Street originally crossed.<ref name="toncollectables-tunbridge">{{cite web |url=http://www.tonbridgecollectables.com/page2.php |title=Tunbridge Or Tonbridge |publisher=Tonbridge Collectables |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213546/http://www.tonbridgecollectables.com/page2.php |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

Until 1870, the town's name was spelt ''Tunbridge'', as shown on old maps including the 1871 [[Ordnance Survey]] map and contemporary issues of the [[George Bradshaw|Bradshaw]] railway guide. In 1870, this was changed to ''Tonbridge'' by the [[General Post Office|GPO]]<ref name="toncollectables-tunbridge" /> due to confusion with nearby [[Tunbridge Wells]], despite Tonbridge being a much older settlement. Tunbridge Wells has always maintained the same spelling.

===Normans and Tonbridge Castle===
{{Main|Tonbridge Castle}}
[[File:TonbridgeCastle0019.JPG|thumb|The [[motte]] of [[Tonbridge Castle]]]]
[[File:Tonbridge Castle.jpg|thumb|Tonbridge Castle gatehouse]]
Tonbridge stands on a spur of higher land where the marshy [[River Medway]] could be more easily forded. Ancient trackways converged at this point {{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}. There is no record of any bridge before 1191.<ref name=Timeline>{{cite web |url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/timeline.htm |title=Tonbridge Timeline |publisher=Tonbridge Historical Society |access-date=15 October 2010 |archive-date=21 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521234813/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/timeline.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> For much of its existence, the town remained to the north of the river, since the land to the south was subject to extensive seasonal flooding.<ref name=Flood>{{cite web |url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/historyhome.htm |title=Tonbridge – a brief history |publisher=Tonbridge Historical Society |access-date=15 October 2010 |archive-date=21 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521234745/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/historyhome.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> One part of the town is called 'Dryhill'.<ref name=Dryhill>{{cite web |url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/people/martin-hardie.htm |title=Martin Hardie |publisher=Tonbridge Historical Society |access-date=15 October 2010 |archive-date=4 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804230537/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/people/martin-hardie.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare]] founded the [[Tonbridge Priory|Priory of St Mary Magdalene]] in 1124.<ref name=Priory>{{cite web |url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-priory.htm |title=The Priory |publisher=Tonbridge Historical Society |access-date=15 October 2010 |archive-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523043702/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-priory.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

A [[motte and bailey]] castle was built here in the 11th century by [[Richard Fitz Gilbert]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonbridgecastle.org/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=13|title=Tonbridge Castle history – 11th & 12th Century|access-date=29 December 2007|archive-date=10 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210080234/http://www.tonbridgecastle.org/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=13|url-status=live}}</ref> son of the murdered guardian of the infant  [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]]. Richard was responsible for governing England in William I's many absences.

The town was besieged by [[William Rufus]], soon after his accession to the throne, because the Earl had pledged allegiance to William's brother, [[Robert Curthose|Robert]]. William Rufus died from an arrow wound a few years later, in an incident generally reported as a hunting accident, when he was shot by [[Walter Tirel]], Richard Fitz Gilbert's son-in-law, & born in Tonbridge himself.

===Medieval===
The town was soon afterwards taken again, this time by [[John of England|King John]] only a few months after the signing of the [[Magna Carta]]. Both the Earl and his son were signatories and guardians of the document responsible for its compliance. It was subsequently besieged by [[Edward|Prince Edward]], son of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]. On this occasion the besieged garrison burnt the town rather than see it fall. The town and [[Tonbridge Castle]] were rebuilt after this and in the 13th century became an official residence and records repository of [[Edward II of England|Edward II]].

In later medieval times, Tonbridge was considered an important strategic settlement. Some evidence shows [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] intended it to be a walled town, and a charter was issued allowing for walls to be built, a market to be held, court sessions to be held and two members from the town to attend parliament. The walls were never built, perhaps because the castle's large outer [[Ward (fortification)|bailey]] could have easily accommodated the townspeople in times of strife.<ref>{{cite web | title = Tonbridge History: Town Defences | url = http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-town-defences.html | access-date = 15 September 2018 | archive-date = 10 May 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190510202501/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-town-defences.html | url-status = live }}</ref> A surrounding bank and ditch known as ''The Fosse'' was erected. Today only traces of this encircling defence now remain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/historyhome.htm|title=History of Tonbridge: introduction|access-date=3 September 2009|publisher=Tonbridge Historical Society|archive-date=9 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709040037/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/history/historyhome.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The historic core of the town still contains a large number of working buildings dating from the 15th century: the oldest is Port Reeves in East Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-port-reeves-house.htm|title=Tonbridge History – The Port Reeve's House|access-date=22 January 2008|archive-date=16 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116023009/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/places/the-port-reeves-house.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Tonbridge School]], the famous public school, was established in 1552 under [[letters patent]] of [[Edward VI]], to educate the sons of local gentry and farmers (There was already a nearby school in existence for poorer boys, now Sevenoaks School.)

During Queen Mary's reign Tonbridge was involved in an unsuccessful uprising against the Queen's marriage to the King of Spain, with 500 townspeople involved in the Battle of Hartley in 1554.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/history/battle_of_hartley.htm |title=Battle of Hartley 1554 |publisher=Hartley-Kent |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105142749/http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/history/battle_of_hartley.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, the town was chosen for a place of execution of a number of Protestants; and in 1555 James Tutty<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.villagenet.co.uk/highweald/villages/brenchley.php |title=Brenchley Kent – (A beautiful Kent village) – an English Village UK |publisher=Villagenet.co.uk |date=18 May 2013 |access-date=26 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126043152/http://www.villagenet.co.uk/highweald/villages/brenchley.php |archive-date=26 January 2012  }}</ref> and Margery Polley were burned at the stake in the town and Joan Beach met the same fate in 1556 at Rochester.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.touch2000.org.uk/tonbridge1.php |title=History of Christianity in Tonbridge &#124; The early years |publisher=History.touch2000.org.uk |date=4 March 2012 |access-date=26 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209001731/http://history.touch2000.org.uk/tonbridge1.php |archive-date=9 February 2009  }}</ref> A memorial to Margery Polly is on the green at [[Pembury]].

===17th and 18th centuries===
During the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], the town was garrisoned by the Parliamentarian side who refortified the castle. Royalist sympathisers made several attempts to take the town but were repulsed.
[[File:TonbridgeBigBridge0075.JPG|thumb|The Wharf on the [[Medway Navigation]], downstream of the Big Bridge.]]
In 1740 an [[Act of Parliament]] was passed to make the River Medway navigable to Tonbridge by the [[Medway Navigation]] Company,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/History.php?wpage=MEDW |title=River Medway |publisher=Jim-shead.com |date=24 January 2009 |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=27 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327234818/http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/History.php?wpage=MEDW |url-status=live }}</ref> allowing such materials as coal and lime to be transported to the town, and gunpowder, hops and timber to be carried downriver to Maidstone and the Thames. For a hundred years the Medway Navigation Company was highly profitable, paying out good dividends to its investors, but after the arrival of the railway in 1842 the company went into a steep decline and all commercial traffic ceased in 1911 when the company collapsed. Some of the original warehouses and the wharves are still recognisable today, downstream of the town's main bridge.

Later, the town and its surroundings became famous for the production of finely inlaid wooden cabinets, boxes and other objects called [[Tunbridgeware]], which were sold to tourists who were taking the waters at the nearby springs at Tunbridge Wells. Another speciality in the town was until recently the production of cricket balls (the original cricket ball factory in Preston Road was demolished in 2012 to make way for housing)<ref>visual</ref> and other sports goods. The [[Corn Exchange, Tonbridge|Corn Exchange]] in Bank Street, which was originally conceived as a chapel, dates from 1790.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/photos/other-churches/slides/8J.001.html|title=Old Tonbridge in pictures: Other churches|publisher=Tonbridge History|access-date=24 September 2017|archive-date=24 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183510/http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/photos/other-churches/slides/8J.001.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===19th century to present===
[[File:Tonbridgemap 1946.jpg|thumb|right|250px| A map of Tonbridge from 1946]]
During the March 1880 parliamentary election, Tonbridge was the scene of a riot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kent-police-museum.co.uk/core_pages/pasttimes_early_days_pt3.shtml |title=Past Times – Articles on Kent Police History |publisher=Kent Police Museum |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102195841/http://www.kent-police-museum.co.uk/core_pages/pasttimes_early_days_pt3.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> On the announcement of the results, several thousand people started to hurl stones and cobbles at each other in the High Street near the Rose and Crown Hotel. The county's [[Chief Constable]] Captain Ruskin, with over a hundred policemen, charged the crowds many times during the evening, only to end up as the target of the crowd, who started hurling stones and cobbles at them instead of each other. Many people, including twelve policemen, were seriously injured before the crowd finally dispersed at midnight.

The United Kingdom's first<ref>{{cite book|last=Winn|first=Christopher|title=I Never Knew That About England|publisher=Ebury Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-09-190207-0}}</ref> speeding fine was handed out by Tonbridge Petty Sessions court in 1896. The guilty driver was a Mr Walter Arnold of [[East Peckham]], who was fined one [[shilling]] for speeding at {{convert|8|mph|0}} in a {{convert|2|mph|0|abbr=on}} zone in [[Paddock Wood]], in his [[Karl Benz]] powered car. Mr Arnold was apprehended by a policeman who had given chase on his bicycle.

During [[World War II]] a prisoner of war camp was built at the junction of Tudeley Lane and Pembury Road on land belonging to [[Somerhill House]].<ref name=School>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006040751/http://www.schoolsatsomerhill.com/project/uploaded-media/somerhill-history.pdf|archive-date=6 October 2011|url=http://www.schoolsatsomerhill.com/project/uploaded-media/somerhill-history.pdf |title=SOMERHILL HISTORY |first=Diane |last=Huntingford |publisher=The Schools at Somerhill |date=February 2009 |access-date=8 December 2010}}</ref> It held German pilots who had been shot down, and captured Italian soldiers. After the war the camp was used as temporary housing for people made homeless by [[the Blitz]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}} The site is now occupied by the Weald of Kent Girls' Grammar School.

[[Ruth Ellis]], the last woman in the United Kingdom to be hanged, was married<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Thomas L. |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/ellis/5.html |title=The Mad Scientist – RUTH ELLIS: THE LAST TO HANG — Crime Library |publisher=Crimelibrary.com |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-date=4 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204212735/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/ellis/5.html |url-status=live }}</ref> at the registry office in Tonbridge on 8 November 1950.

===Securitas depot robbery===
{{Main|Securitas depot robbery}}
Tonbridge was the location of the largest cash theft in British criminal history.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=BBC|date=27 February 2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4756454.stm|title=Record £53m stolen in depot raid|access-date=29 November 2007|archive-date=2 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302160829/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4756454.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> On 22 February 2006, over £53.1&nbsp;million was stolen from the Securitas cash-handling depot in Vale Road to the east of the High Street. During the following police investigation, around half of the money was recovered. On 28 January 2008 five people were convicted at the [[Old Bailey]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7199584.stm| title=Five found guilty of £53m robbery| date=28 January 2008| publisher=BBC| access-date=29 January 2008| archive-date=29 January 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129165145/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7199584.stm| url-status=live}}</ref>