Tonbridge derives from the Saxon word 'tun' meaning 'estate or manor', so indicating a bridge belonging to the manor. The town is recorded in the Domesday Book as Tonebrige. It was spelt as Tunbridge until the late 19th Century, when the Royal Mail changed it, to avoid confusion with Tunbridge Wells.
The Tonbridge parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, and was built in the 12th Century on the site of a wooden Saxon chapel. In the 13th Century, the church was enlarged. The west wall was demolished and the nave extended. A squat tower was built at the end. An arcade was also added along the north wall. The 14th Century saw the construction of the Chapel of St. Nicholas by building a north aisle. The church was enlarged again during the 15th Century, by the addition of a south aisle, and the building of the upper part of the tower. A small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was added, although this would later house the organ. . In 1663, a gallery was added over the north aisle to accommodate the boys from Tonbridge School during services.
There was a major overhaul and restoration between 1877 and 1879. The work included re-roofing and the removal of the galleries and the box pews.
The Priory of St. Mary Magdalene was founded by Richard de Clare of Tonbridge Castle in 1124. It became the home of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, the Black Canons (so called because of their black robes) who had settled in Tonbridge by 1253. These popular monks went out preaching and were welcomed everywhere they went in Tonbridge and elsewhere. The original Priory was burnt down in 1337. The new replacement building had a chapter house, dormitory, refectory, church, vestry and library.
The doors of St. Mary Magdalene were closed by the last Prior Tomlyn on 8th February 1525. At the time of the suppression, there were eight canons at the Priory. The last fragment of the ruined Priory disappeared when the railway came to Tonbridge. Excavations for the railway goods yard in 1934 uncovered a monk's skeleton.
Tonbridge stands at a point where the Saxons built a bridge across the River Medway. 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. One part of the town is called 'Dryhill'.
A castle was built in the 11th century by Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare, a cousin of William the Conqueror. Richard was responsible for governing England in William'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. It is thus hardly surprising that the arrow that killed William Rufus a few years later in the New Forest was fired by Walter Tirel who was born in the town, as well as the Earls in law.
The castle was soon taken again, this time by 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 Prince Edward, son of Henry III. On this occasion, the besieged garrison burnt the town rather than see it fall. The town and Castle were rebuilt, and in the 13th century became an official residence and records repository of Edward II. It was finally taken by Henry VIII when its owner, the Duke of Buckingham, was executed for treason.
Henry VIII considered Tonbridge to be an important strategic settlement, and intended it to be a walled town. A charter was issued allowing for walls to be built, a market, court sessions and two members of the town to attend parliament. The walls were never built however, probably because the castle could have easily accommodated the town's populace in its large outer bailey, in times of strife.
During Queen Mary's reign, Tonbridge was involved in an unsuccessful uprising against her marriage to the King of Spain. 500 townspeople were involved in the Battle of Hartley in 1554. As a result of the defiant action, in 1555, James Tutty and Margery Polley were burnt at the stake in the town and Joan Beach met the same fate in 1556 at Rochester. A memorial to Margery Polly was erected on the green at Pembury.
During the 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.
In 1740, an Act of Parliament was passed to make the River Medway navigable to Tonbridge by the Medway Navigation Company, 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, following 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.
The United Kingdom's first speeding fine was handed down 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 eight miles an hour in a two mile an hour zone in Paddock Wood, in his Karl Benz powered car. Mr Arnold was eventually apprehended by a policeman who had given chase on his bicycle.
Following many years of planning, the line from Reigate Junction to Tonbridge was officially opened for traffic on 26th May 1842 and until the completion of the section of line to Ashford on 1st December 1842, Tonbridge served as the terminating point for services from London Bridge.
