Tunbridge Wells, From The Air c.1955
Photo ref: T87053
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More about this scene

In the centre of this aerial photograph is an area known as Harvey town after a previous owner of the land. In the late 1950s all this area was cleared to build a multi-storey car park. Behind the library, which is the building to the left of the Town Hall, stands the tall Technical Institute, which opened in 1902. Next to it was the Monson Swimming Baths, which opened in 1898; they were closed in the late 1970s, and demolished later.

A Selection of Memories from Tunbridge Wells

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Tunbridge Wells

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

I was born in June 1944. My mother started labour in Farmcombe Rd (the Sussex end of TW) but delivered in the Kent & Sussex (the Kent end of TW). The Kent Sussex border ran (does it still?) by the St Johns church, Pantiles. Does this make me born in Kent or Sussex? My mother told me the story of looking out the Farmcombe Rd bedroom window, on or near the day I was born, and seeing a fighter plane going by with ...see more
I went to school here, 1958-1964 there exist photos of the school but so far none with the Frith Collection. The school was opposite Central Station in Vale Road and resembled a large shoebox with small extensions at either end with a forecourt (playground) before it and this behind a substantial brick wall and blue double gates for vehicular access and a side gate for ...see more
I am researching the history of The Ravenswood Avenue estate (Ravenswood Avenue, Pinewood Road, Lipscombe Road, Fairfield Avenue and part of Hilbert Road between the top of King George V Hill and Hilbert Recreation Ground) including the people who lived there between when the estate was built in the 1930s and the 1960s. I lived at 40 Ravenswood Avenue for the first 19 Years of my life between ...see more
In May 1962, I was 5 years old and lived in Amhurst Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. I stepped out in front of an oncoming brick lorry on the zebra crossing at St Johns Church. I was taken to the Kent and Sussex hospital where my left foot was practically severed through. I was told later by my father that surgeons wanted to amputate my foot, when one of the older surgeons at the hospital at that time ...see more