TUNBRIDGE, or Tonbridge Wells, a market-town and fashionable watering-place of England, chiefly in the county of Kent, but partly, also, in that of Sussex, 5 miles S. from Tunbridge, on the Hastings branch of the London and South-Eastern Railway, and 46 miles from London by railway. The spring to which the town owes its origin is said to have been discovered and brought into notice by Dudley, Lord North, in the reign of James I. It soon acquired celebrity, and was visited, among others, by Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I., Catherine, queen of Charles II., and Queen Anne. It was a considerable time, however, before any houses were erected near the wells, the visitors generally residing at Tunbridge. At length, however, the present town began to be built, and latterly it has been rapidly increasing. It is very pleasantly situated in the midst of picturesque and beautiful scenery, and is noted for the salubrity of its atmosphere. The water is chalybeate, and nearly equal in strength to that of Spa in Germany. The town consists of four divisions—Mounts Ephraim, Pleasant, and Zion, and the Wells. It is much frequented during summer, and has all the requisites of a fashionable watering-place,—assembly-rooms, bowling-green, baths, public walks, libraries, &c. The season extends from May to November. It has also several churches and chapels, numerous educational and literary institutions, an elegant town-hall, market-house, infirmary, &c. Tonbridge Wells, like Tunbridge, is famous for its toys and other small wooden articles. Among recent distinguished visi-
tors at the Wells were her present Majesty and Prince Albert in 1849. Pop. (1851) 10,587.