Southborough is a town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

borough of Tunbridge Wells The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. It takes its name from its main town, Royal Tunbridge Wells. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the municipal borough of Royal Tun ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies immediately to the north of the town of

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

and includes the district of

High Brooms High Brooms is a suburb of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Its railway station is High Brooms railway station. It is connected by train to London and Hastings. It is in the civil parish of Southborough. Between 1885 and 1968, the High ...

, with the

A26 road The A26 road is a primary route in the southeast of England, going from Maidstone to Newhaven through the counties of Kent and East Sussex. The road is almost entirely single carriageway with one lane on each side, although some of the road is ...

passing through it. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 11,124. The town is within the

High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is in south-east England. Covering an area of , it takes up parts of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex. It is the fourth largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England ...

Origin of name

After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

, the area came within the domain of

Tonbridge Castle Tonbridge Castle is a 13th century castle situated in Tonbridge, Kent, England. Early history Following the Norman Conquest, Richard Fitz Gilbert was granted land in Kent to guard the crossing of the River Medway. He erected a simple Motte-and ...

, one of 4 boroughs to do so. This was the South Borough.

Governance

Southborough separated from

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

in 1871 when its own

board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...

was formed . In 1894, it was recreated to become an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

, with its own elected council to manage its affairs. It retained that title until 1974, when under local government reorganisation it became a

. By historical accident, however, Southborough had a Town Council, which it has retained. Southborough Town Council consists of 18 members, from the three town wards: North (seven Councillors); West (six Councillors); and East/High Brooms (five Councillors). The posts of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and deputy mayor are elected annually. As with many other Parish Councils, its responsibilities are less than those of the local Borough Council. At the same time, Southborough is part of Tunbridge Wells borough: the two wards of that borough are Southborough and High Brooms (three councillors) and Southborough North (two). The town has its own grant of heraldry: this includes reference to the cricket ball industry and contains two sprigs of broom, alluding to High Brooms.

History

''The Southborough Society'’ ("the civic, heritage and

amenity society In England and Wales, an amenity society is an organisation which monitors planning and development. National societies National amenity societies preserve historic art and architecture and operate at a national level. In England, the six princip ...

for Southborough") is the main source for many of the facts in this part of the article'' The remains of an ''

Iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning 'iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, Eu ...

'' (135 million years ago) was discovered in High Brooms. Before the first millennium AD the land here was heavily forested; however some significant finds have revealed that it was inhabited. Arrowheads and stone axe heads provide evidence of ‘’'prehistoric'’’ habitation of Southborough while burial sites from both the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

s have also been unearthed. The site of the Castle Hill Iron Age Fort, dating back to 315 BC, lies in the Eastern valley. Routes linking other forts are still part of the town’s road network. Little is then known about the district until the Norman Conquest as it was the most sparsely populated part of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

due to the almost impenetrable forest.

Richard Fitz Gilbert Richard fitz Gilbert (before 1035–), 1st feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, was a Norman lord who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and was styled "de Bienfaite", "de Clare", and of "Tonbridge" from his holdings.G. E. ...

(later de Clare) was rewarded for his part in the conquest with land;Notes on other lands granted to Fitzgilbert
one such grant was the Lowey of Tunbridge, an area of land equating with the holdings of a manor, which covered some 20,660 acres (8347h) on the Weald and across the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

valley. He was also granted the right to build a castle at Tonbridge. The Manor of Southborough was one part of the Lowey. Over the following seven hundred years it had a chequered history. After Richard de Clare, it was held by the Audley and Stafford families until 1521, when

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Katherine Woodville, and nephew of Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV. Thu ...

, was beheaded on

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher grou ...

and the estates reverted to the Crown.

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

gave the (now separated from Tonbridge) estate to

George Boleyn George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s. He was the brother of Anne Boleyn, from 1533 the second wife of King He ...

, brother of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, whose fate he also suffered. It was then passed to

John Dudley, Earl of Warwick John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504Loades 2008 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Ja ...

, who later exchanged it for other estates. Under

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

it had again reverted to the Crown: she bestowed it on Sir Richard Sackville who sold it to Thomas Smythe of Westernhanger. He was commonly known as

Customer Smythe Thomas Smythe or Smith of London, Ashford and Westenhanger, Kent (1522–7 June 1591). was the collector of customs duties (also known as a "customer") in London during the Tudor period, and a member of parliament for five English constituenc ...

, a "farmer" of the collection of customs and excise dues. In 1790 when Lady Smythe died the Manor was split up and sold; the Manor House of Great Bounds and the Manorial rights being purchased by the Earl of Darnley who in turn parted with it to James Alexander. The whole area was part of the

Royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

of Southfrith until about the middle of the 16th century, reserved by royalty for hunting. The settlement consisted of a number of isolated hamlets including Nonsuch Green, Holden Corner, Modest Corner and a few houses near the Common. High Brooms was a desolate tract inhabited by Romany Gypsies, very many of Kent's population today will have Gypsy heritage - whether they choose to admit this is another matter. From 1639, lodging houses appeared in Southborough to accommodate visitors to the newly discovered

chalybeate Chalybeate () waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. Name The word ''chalybeate'' is derived from the Latin word for steel, , which follows from the Greek word . is the singular form of ...

spring at

The Pantiles The Pantiles is a Georgian colonnade in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. Formerly known as "The Walks" and the (Royal) "Parade", it leads from the well that gave the town its name. The area, developed following the disc ...

, Tunbridge Wells. During the reign of King Charles I, the

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

faction tended to stay at Southborough, whilst nearby Rusthall tended to attract visitors from the

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

(

puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

) faction.

Industrial Southborough

Iron was worked in the area since prehistoric times, since the underlying rock (the iron-rich

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

of the Hastings Beds which make up the Weald) provided the raw material. From the mid-16th century onwards there were a number of water-powered furnaces on the two streams running through the town: one at Modest Corner; and three on the Southborough Bourne. The latter included the Vauxhall Furnace, operating from at least 1552, near Mote Farm in what is now Vauxhall Lane: and the Brook (Broakes) Mill opened in 1553. The rock was dug from "bell pits", and iron smelted here was worked at a forge nearby. The forges probably continued working until the 18th century when the making of iron became uneconomical and in 1771 the sites were taken over for

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

manufacturing hence the name Powder Mill Lane. The mill blew up shortly afterwards but was replaced and continued manufacturing gunpowder. By 1845 a cornmill had been erected on the site, which continued in operation until 1942 when it was demolished. There are now no traces of any industrial workings on the site. Apart from that heavy industrial employment, people in Southborough were mainly occupied in Agriculture, Textiles and Transport: trades such as

Blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

Coachbuilder A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

s and Harness makers. With

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

being played on the common, it is perhaps logical that the town became renowned for the manufacture of

cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a crick ...

s. The first recorded makers were Philip Wickham and Joseph Smith of Modest Corner and many other cricket ball makers set up business including Thomas Twort and John Martin in 1853. Southborough began to expand rapidly from 1879 when the Holden Estate was sold and laid out to accommodate 165 new dwellings. The High Brooms Brick and Tile Company started to build houses for its employees and the area expanded: it is now an industrial estate.

Southborough Common

The Common of Southborough (now owned by the Town Council) has always been part of the Manorial Holding. It was originally around larger but between 1790 and 1810 portions were enclosed so that the total area now is . Under the

Commons Registration Act 1965 The Commons Registration Act 1965 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom enacted in 1965 that concerns the registration of rights to common land, town greens, and village greens in England and Wales. The legislation under the Harold Wils ...

, a number of persons registered their rights as Commoners. In 2003, the whole area of the Common – a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

– was the subject of an appraisal by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. The appraisal report seeks to retain the historical significance of the Common and its immediate area.

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

has been played on the Common for over 200 years.

Twinning

On 18 October 1992, Southborough twinned with the town of

Lambersart Lambersart () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. This commune is located in the Métropole Européenne de Lille, and is a suburb of the city of Lille, bordering it on its northwest side. Inhabitants of the town are called ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The Twinning Charter signed by both towns formally resolved to honour the twinning relationship by establishing and maintaining friendly relations with each other, to foster and develop mutual understanding and respect between the people of their respective administrative areas, to favour all kinds of links between the two regions especially in the educational and cultural fields, to encourage exchange visits and to develop human and cultural relationships and establish a firm foundation for future understanding, respect and friendship between their people for all time. To celebrate five years of twinning on 18 October 1997 Lambersart Close on the new Barnetts Wood housing estate was officially unveiled followed by a reception at the Salomons Estate. A friendship between the towns of Southborough and Kaniv in Ukraine began in the year 2001, when representatives of the towns met at the European Project for Youth in Lambersart. The friendship developed strongly and in 2005 the Southborough and Kaniv Association (SAKA) was founded. Now citizens of Southborough visit Kaniv as welcome guests and citizens of Kaniv are similarly welcomed in Southborough. SAKA has its own website - www.southboroughandkanivassociation.com.

Sport

Southborough has long been associated with sport. Cricket has been played on the common for over 200 years and the town was a centre for cricket ball manufacture until 1978.Southborough Conservation Area Appraisal
,

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Tunbridge may refer to the following places: * Tunbridge, Illinois, United States * Tunbridge, North Dakota, see Locations in the United States with an English name#North Dakota * Tunbridge, Tasmania, Australia * Tunbridge, Vermont, United State ...

, August 2003. Retrieved 2017-12-09. Southborough Cricket Club play on the common. Their ground was used a number of times by the

Kent Women cricket team The Kent Women cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English county of Kent. They play their home matches at County Cricket Ground, Beckenham, as well as the St Lawrence Ground and Polo Farm, both in Canterbury. They a ...

between 1957 and 1971 and B. M. Close's Ground, a ground to the east of the town, was used for one

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

match by

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

in 1867.Other matches played on The Common, Southborough
, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-09.Grounds Records in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', pp. 210–211. Canterbury:

. Southborough has three football clubs, the largest of these is Ridgewaye FC. Ridgewaye F.C. formed in 1995. It is the largest youth organisation in Southborough having 550 members in 2016. It has been an FA Community Standard Club since January 2013. The membership consists of boys and girls aged from six to eighteen years of age who play on Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Ridgewaye fields, off Yew Tree Road, Southborough from September to May. Southborough and District Wheelers is a long-established cycling club which has thrived in recent years. It caters for cyclists of all abilities, organising both social and competitive rides.

Theatre

The Royal Victoria Hall Theatre was built in commemoration of the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

, It opened in 1900. It was the first Municipal Theatre in England. unsympathetic Building alterations during the 1970s have prevented the Royal Victoria Hall from being listed. In January 2015, it was announced that the theatre would close after the end of the run of the

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

''. Demolition could follow. A campaign to save the theatre collected thousands of signatures both online and by hand and having been collected and presented to Southborough Town Council failed.

Notable people

* John Harvey Rainier (1847–1915), admiral * Edward Colebrooke (1858–1939), cricketer

References

{{authority control Civil parishes in Kent Towns in Kent