Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Calverley Park has 19 hectares (46 acres) of residential and public park laid out in 1828. The site was originally designed as a 'garden suburb' by Decimus Burton.

Monument Types

• BANDSTAND (BANDSTAND, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• BOWLING GREEN (BOWLING GREEN, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• FORMAL GARDEN (FORMAL GARDEN, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• LANDSCAPE PARK (LANDSCAPE PARK, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• PAVILION (PAVILION, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• SUNDIAL (SUNDIAL, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• TENNIS COURT (TENNIS COURT, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• TERRACE (Ornamental Terrace, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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[Name TQ 58853924] Calverly Park[NAT] (1) Residential and public park laid out 1828, with modifications, 19ha. Notable as an early "garden suburb" still largely intact. Main features incude tennis courts, bowling green and pavilion, bandstand and adjacent pavilion. Western area, between bandstand and lodge returned to grass 1985-86. [Full topographical description] LISTED GRADE II. Additional references, not consulted. (a)(b) (2) Additional topographical reference. (3)

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

A mid-19th-century landscape of villas in parkland, laid out by the architect and builder Decimus Burton, part of which was developed as a public park in the 1920s.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Calverley Park and Grounds lie within the built-up centre of Tunbridge Wells, to the immediate east of Mount Pleasant Road which runs due north through the town centre, and about 130 metres north-east of the railway station. The registered site of roughly 11 hectares comprises 4.5 hectares of public park, 3 hectares of communal parkland, and 3.5 hectares of villa and other private gardens. The site lies on the plateau and steep, south-facing slopes of Mount Pleasant and extends across the floor of the narrow west-facing valley which separates Mount Pleasant from the further crest of Mount Sion to the south. From the higher slopes and the plateau there are extensive views westwards and southwards, through tree cover, over Tunbridge Wells and to the more distant countryside. The site is enclosed along its north and east sides by an almost continuous stone wall (sections are missing towards the west end of the northern boundary and Calverley Park Crescent has no wall), built as part of the original layout, which forms the boundary with the adjacent Crescent Road, Calverley Road, and Prospect Road. To the south the site is enclosed by the rear fences and hedges of mid-19th- to late 20th-century commercial and housing development and to the west by late 20th-century commercial buildings and associated car parks on the east side of Mount Pleasant Avenue.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Calverley Park and Grounds and adjoining property which together formed the Calverley estate was acquired in 1820 by John Ward. Development of the villas and their associated landscape setting, to designs by Decimus Burton, began in the autumn of 1828 (Colbran 1840) and was complete by 1839. The Ward Estate remained the freeholder, the villas being occupied leasehold until they were progressively sold off from 1947 and the parkland became the property of the trustees of the Calverley Park Association. In November 1920, the western half of the site, known as Calverley Grounds, was acquired by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for a public park. The site remains (1999) in the hands of the individual villa owners who form the Calverley Park Association, the local authority, and a number of further individual and commercial private owners. (6)

<1> OS 1:10000 1974 (OS Card Reference). SKE48159.

<2> English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest, Part 24 Kent(May 1987) (OS Card Reference). SKE41619.

<3> Country Life (1 May 1969) 1080-83 (OS Card Reference). SKE39313.

<4> Country Life (8 May 1969) 1166-69 (OS Card Reference). SKE39367.

<5> Newman J(1980)The Buildings of England:West Kent and the Weald 584-585 (OS Card Reference). SKE47549.

<6> Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS), 2005, Parks and Gardens UK (www.parksandgardens.org) (Website). SKE16061.

Sources and further reading