Tonbridge, Kent : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Tonbridge. You may be able to find further references to Tonbridge in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Tonbridge, and Tonbridge Wells Bartholomew
Tunbridge hundred Bartholomew
Tunbridge town and parish with railway station Bartholomew
TUNBRIDGE a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred Imperial
Tunbridge (or South-Western) Division parliamentary division Bartholomew

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Tonbridge.

Place Type of entry Source
Southborough town Bartholomew
SOUTHBOROUGH a village and a chapelry Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Tonbridge within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Kent 4
William Cobbett Jan. 2nd, 1822: Sussex Journal 3
William Cobbett Sept. 3rd to 6th, 1823: From Dover to the Wen 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 3
John Byng A Tour into Kent, 1790 1
William Camden Essex and Suffolk 1
William Cobbett Nov. 9th to 21st, 1821: Gloucester to Berghclere 1
William Cobbett Oct. 31st, 1825: Winchester to Burghclere 1
William Cobbett Oct. 18th to 26th, 1826: Weston to Kensington 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 3: Hampshire and Surrey 1
Daniel Defoe Appendix to the second volume 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 2: The Peak District 1
Robert Gammage On tramp in 1840, from London to the south coast 1
Paul Hentzner Arrival and London 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Tudeley 0 2
Hildenborough 0 2
Southborough 1 2
Hadlow 1 2
Capel 0 2
Bidborough 0 2
Leigh 3 2
Shipbourne 0 2
Littlefield 0 2
Washlingstone 0 2
Underriver 0 2
Oxenhoth 0 1
Plaxtol 0 2
Pembury 0 2
West Peckham 0 2
Tunbridge Wells 37 2
Ivy Hatch 0 2
Sevenoaks Weald 0 2
East Peckham 0 3
Chiddingstone Causeway 1 0

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Tonbridge. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
TONBRIDGE AND TONBRIDGE WELLS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
TUNBRIDGE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Byng The Torrington Diaries: Containing the tours through England And Wales of the Hon. John Byng (Later Fifth Viscount Torrington) between the years 1781 and 1794 (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1938).
William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Paul Hentzner Travels in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (London: Cassell, 1892).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
TUNBRIDGE OR SOUTH WESTERN DIVISION John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.