Janet:"Ask a Brit about Royal Tunbridge Wells, and first thing that's likely to pop into his or her mind is the phrase, 'Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells.' That's apparently the way morally outraged residents of Tunbridge Wells signed their letters of complaint to London newspapers more than a century ago. If your British friend has a literary bent, he or she may remember the line from E. M. Forster's novel A Room with a View. The character 'Miss Bartlett' says, 'I am used to Tunbridge Wells, where we are all hopelessly behind the times.'"

Ron: "Even today, Royal Tunbridge Wells has a reputation for gentility, conservative values, and — perhaps — a touch of primness. We thought it the perfect English town to be the home of an admirable tea museum, and of course a series of veddy, veddy English murder mysteries. It's the right size — population about 63,000 — and only an hour's train ride from London. And not many people outside Great Britain are familiar with Tunbridge Wells. Another important consideration was that Janet grew up in the Wells."

Janet: "We lived first on Claremont Road and later on Eridge Road. In fact, my mum's house was on the very patch of land where we located The Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum. A four story Georgian building — even a fictional one — seems so much more appropriate than the petrol station you'll see there today."

The Wells is southeast of London

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with the kind permission of Ordnance Survey.

Ron: "Royal Tunbridge Wells is the leading town — and administrative center — of the Borough of Tunbridge Wells. The town is southeast of London, in the County of Kent, sitting up against the border to East Sussex. This is an especially pretty part of England — gently rolling hills, lovely villages, and distinctive Kentish architecture. The novelist William Makepiece Thackeray lived in the Wells; so did the noted mathematician the Reverend Thomas Bayes."

Janet: "As we explained in Dead as a Scone, Royal Tunbridge Wells developed as a spa town around a source of iron-rich mineral water that was believed to have medicinal properties. Lord North, a courtier to King James I, discovered the 'chalybeate' (iron-bearing) spring in 1606. He believed it the equal of European Spa waters and assumed it could cure all sorts of ailments. By the way, I've heard chalybeate pronounced a thousand different ways. The three most common variations are, kal-ib-ee-ate, k-hail-e-be-at, and kal-hib-ee-ate. Feel free to pick the one you like best."

The Pantiles

Reproduced with the kind permission of the publishers of Historical and Interesting Views of Tunbridge Wells.

Ron: "You can still sip water from the original source — although I can't recommend it. The taste is too bitter for me."

Janet: "The chalybeate spring is located at the top end of the Pantiles, a colonnaded shopping 'precinct' that is one of the town's leading attractions. Our heroine — Felicity (Flick) Adams — lives a few hundred feet away, in the Pantile's Lower Walk (photo, below left). The Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum is a short walk from the bottom of the Pantiles — a fine location for another attraction that tourists will want to visit."

Ron: "The original commercial center of Royal Tunbridge Wells developed around the chalybeate spring, as shops sprung up to serve the visitors to the spa. As the town grew, it expanded to the north, leaving the Pantiles at the southern end. Our hero — Nigel Owen — lives on Lime Hill Road, closer to the current center of Royal Tunbridge Wells (photo, below right)."

Janet: "Back in 1606, the largest village close to the spring was the historic town of Tunbridge, so the area was named Tunbridge Wells. Over the years, the spelling of Tunbridge changed to Tonbridge. So now if you look at a map of Kent, you'll find Tonbridge right up the road from Tunbridge Wells. The similar spellings and pronunciations have been a source of confusion to travelers for centuries. The "Royal" prefix helps a bit. In 1909, King Edward VII bestowed the right to add "Royal" to the town's name in recognition of three centuries of visits by British royalty. Royal Tunbridge Wells is the name you find on maps; most locals call the town Tunbridge Wells or the Wells."