Great Culverden Park is a small, 4.2ha, woodland, about half a mile from the centre 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 ...

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 ...

, west of Mount Ephraim and bounded entirely by houses along Royal Chase, Connaught Way, Knightsbridge Close, Culverden Park and Royal Wells Park. It is not accessible, or visible, from a public place. The Park is the remnant grounds of the former ''Culverden House'', designed by

Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...

for Jacob Jeddere Fisher in 1830 and built on the highest point in the wood and the first big house to be built there. When Jacob Jeddere Fisher pulled down the old house and built himself another, in 1830, he named it Great Culverden. Great Culverden House was once the residence of Rear Admiral Charles Davis Lucas, VC, who died there in 1914. The house was demolished to make way for the Kent & Sussex Hospital, which itself was demolished in 2014 to make way for the Royal Wells Park housing development which was completed in 2018. The Park forms a 'green link' under the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Green Infrastructure Plan, 2011 that provides a wildlife corridor linking the park, Rusthall Common and other local wildlife sites. The housing development along Mt. Ephraim is required to provide a contiguous Protected Ecology Zone through the development to support this. Except for an ice house, a hydraulic ram connected to a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

and some other hydraulic works, nothing remains of the house that gave the park its name. The Park is owned by Great Culverden Park Ltd., which may issue shares to properties adjacent the Park.

References

Royal Tunbridge Wells Forests and woodlands of Kent 1830 establishments in England {{Kent-geo-stub