Tunbridge

Tonbridge grew at a crossing of the River Medway in western Kent, beneath a castle established after the Norman Conquest. Its bridge and market made it a centre for the surrounding Weald, where farmers and cloth workers brought their products for exchange and sale in the market town. The castle's imposing gatehouse still marks the site of the medieval stronghold.

In the seventeenth century Tonbridge served as a gathering point for the carders, spinners and weavers who supplied the cloth trade and sent finished goods towards London. A monthly cattle market was authorised in 1671, reflecting the importance of livestock farming in the Weald. During the Civil War, a skirmish at nearby Hilden Brook in 1643 brought the conflict to the edge of the town.