Tonbridge Daily Photo

Clearing fallen tree at Little Bridge

Clean this up please!!!!

The Big Bridge is looking really clean at present and the new paintwork is showing off the ironwork features to its best advantage. I do hope that the Little Bridge, made by the same Tonbridge Foundry in Avebury Avenue, will now get the TLC it too deserves as it's looking a little jaded.

Situated outside the Shaw Trust on the Little Bridge is the most decorative ironwork I have come across in Tonbridge. I believe it too was made by Gray Brothers of Avebury Avenue, but it is far more delicate and intricate in design. However, it is in a poor condition and in desperate need of a clean. I don't know who is responsible for the wrought ironwork, but whoever that may be is allowing it to fall into disrepair. This is directly in the High Street and doesn't do the town any favours. It would be good to see this cleaned up and renovated so that everyone can enjoy this little bit of history in our town.

Big Bridge has Makeover

The Big Bridge in town is having a revamp. Built in 1887 by Gray Brothers at their Avebury Avenue foundry it is now an iconic and much loved landmark in Tonbridge.

Hopefully the Little Bridge will receive the same treatment. 

Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

Recognising Tonbridge detail

I thought this one would be easy, but only two people recognised where this detail is situated. The four petalled flower forms part of the pattern on both Big Bridge and Little Bridge.

 

If you look closely on the larger pillars the makers of the ironwork, Gray Brothers, can be seen. Gray Brothers were a Tonbridge company who made the intricate and beautiful railings in their Avebury Avenue foundry in 1887.  The site of the former workshop was approximately where the Adult Education building now stands.

Next time you cross either of the bridges stop to look at the railings, as more often than not, we are so used to our surroundings we simply don't notice how stunning they are, and the added bonus is they were made in our town by Tonbridge men.

Tonbridge Daily Photo

Tonbridge Daily Photo #166   - Scaffolder by Little Bridge

Tonbridge Daily Snippet

The water that flows towards the High Street and under Little Bridge first tumbles over Buley's Weir which is situated between the Teen and Twenty and The Memorial Gardens. 

The Weir takes it's name from Buley the Fishmonger whose shop once traded close to this spot in the 19th Century, and whose name was used as a point of reference.

Tonbridge Daily Snippet

The iron railings on the town's Big and Little Bridge were made by Gray Brothers whose foundry was in Avebury Avenue. The foundry stood on the now Adult Education building.

Look carefully at the railings when next passing over the bridges and the Gray Brothers logo can clearly be spotted.

Tonbridge Daily Photo

Tonbridge Daily Photo #49  -  Little Bridge

Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

It took a while before a few correct answers were posted on this Recognising Tonbridge, but Shaun, Hyperman and Peter all recognised the Victorian balconette and canopy that overlook the river by the Little Bridge.
The balcony would have given a birds-eye view over the Angel Cricket Ground before the development of this area, and I am sure many a match was enjoyed from this spot.

Recognising Tonbridge

Little Bridge

View over former Angel Cricket Ground

Traffic Chaos

The congestion and pollution problem in Tonbridge High Street was again highlighted in this week's Kent & Sussex Courier.  Traffic jams have been a problem in the town centre for years.  Today it is a daily problem, with the added complication of air-quality, but even as far back as the 1960's there were weekend snarl ups as people headed through the town, on what was then the only route to the coast from London.

Nothing has eased the traffic.  Not the building of a by-pass, or the route around the industrial estate, nor the straightening of the High Street, or the widening of the road that led to the destruction of medieval buildings.  Not parking restrictions, nor car parks, traffic lights, roundabouts or double yellow lines, and according to The Courier TMBC now 'proposes stricter parking enforcement to reduce "idling of engines"... improved junctions ...and a reduction in harmful emissions from buses.' Will it ever end?

Even over 100 years ago, in Victorian Tonbridge, the town was proposing measures to ease 'traffic' in the High Street.  The problem in 1871 was more about the amount of people and animals travelling through the main thoroughfare, than the 'motor' vehicle snarl-ups we now experience.

Apparently more than a century ago on the town's market day the amount of traffic The Little Bridge carried was constant, and when special events occurred such as the County Cricket matches there were queues of slow moving carriages in the High Street.  This was often made worse by large traction engines hauling waggon trains on behalf of the Medway Navigation Company.  In some spots the road was only 14ft wide and these places caused blockages and made it unsafe for pedestrians.  The line of buildings was then totally irregular and what pavement there was was generally used by High Street traders to display their goods. It was all very 'hit and miss'.

So in 1871 a 'Town Improvements Committee' was formed to use their imagination and expertise to permanently solve the High Street's traffic problems, so as to create a healthy and pleasant environment for the people of the town.  Little did they know that even after all their well intentioned improvements a century later the problem would have worsened catastrophically.

The Committee recommended a number of improvements to ease the flow of traffic such as the removal of all bow windows and steps to High Street buildings around the Little Bridge Area (NO, I hear you cry), so as to give more pavement width.  A second recommendation was to raise enough funds to buy as much frontage as possible to be used for widening the road.  And so the devastation of the town's heritage began.

A census was conducted in August 1871 (140 years ago) to establish the amount of traffic that passed over the Little Bridge on three chosen days.  On market day 1084 animals were counted crossing the bridge, 101 of them horses, now that must has been a sight, but also a great difficulty if road in some places was only 14ft wide.

Mid-Victorian England, C.W. Chalkin, KCC, c1977

So, what is next for our town?  How is Tonbridge ever going to solve its traffic problem? A century has past and we seem to be no further.  Any ideas?

Five High Street Bridges

Wall Plaque Marking Piper's Stream Bridge

Tonbridge once had five High Street bridges.   Today only two remain and are affectionally known as the Big Bridge and the Little Bridge.  So what happened to the other bridges and even more interesting where did the water disappear to that they crossed?

A bridge apparently crossed a waterway that ran under the High Street and through the Botany,  A second small stream, named Cann's stream flowed behind Bartram's Brewery (yes ... Tonbridge did have its own brewery).  This stream would have flowed under and through what is now Weatherspoons beer garden, or close to that area.  This too had a bridge in the High Street.  The third bridge that was lost spanned Piper's stream and was named after Mr. Piper a local business man whose trade was situated alongside the water.  A plaque set into a newly rendered and pebbledashed wall marks the spot where this third small bridge crossed Piper's stream in the High Street.  This can be found close to Boots Opticians.

So what happened to the water?  It seems that parts of the stretches were filled in and other parts diverted into the main river.