Tunbridge Wells, Kent : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

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

Place Type of entry Source
Tunbridge Wells market town Bartholomew
TUNBRIDGE-WELLS a town, six chapelries, and a sub-district 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 Tunbridge Wells 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.
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 9
Celia Fiennes Tunbridge Wells and Rye 7
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 3: Hampshire and Surrey 5
Celia Fiennes 1697: Through Kent to Canterbury and Dover 3
Celia Fiennes Buckinghamshire, Oxford and Chichester 2
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: York and Scarborough 2
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: Coventry to London 2
Robert Gammage Liverpool and London in 1842 2
Henry Broadhurst In Journeyings Often 1
William Cobbett Aug. 30th to Sept. 1st, 1823: Sussex and Kent 1
William Cobbett Sept. 3rd to 6th, 1823: From Dover to the Wen 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Durham to Shropshire 1
John Wesley 1777-80: On the Isle of Man; City Road Chapel; Wesley Visits Lord George Gordon 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
Washlingstone 0 2
Broadwater 0 2
Rusthall 1 2
Southborough 1 2
Frant 1 2
Speldhurst 2 2
Pembury 0 2
Langton Green 0 3
Bidborough 0 2
Eridge Green 0 2
Groombridge 1 2
Fordcombe 0 3
Little Bayham 0 2
Tudeley 0 2
Ashurst 4 2
Tonbridge 23 5
Penshurst 1 2
Bayham 0 2
Capel 0 2
Matfield 0 2

Names from historical writing

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

Name Author Source
TONBRIDGE WELLS William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
TUNBRIDG Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
TUNBRIDGE Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
TUNBRIDGE WELLS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
WELLS Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).

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.