A cold blast from the past

Happy Valley: the gates to the cold baths

In this unseasonally warm weather, the idea of a cold dip is actually quite pleasant. In this postcard, you can see the gates to the old Cold Baths in the grounds of The Beacon, and a much more open-looking Happy Valley. This shot must have been taken from the top level of the rocks, or maybe from Red Snapper just below, but these days you’d be hard pushed to spot the gates through the trees that have grown up. If you walk along the foot of the rocks, you can still see parts of the iron fence and gate, although it may not be the original. There are still remnants of the Cold Baths, too, with just the curve of the old brick wall and the spring marking the site of what used to be one of the biggest leisure attractions for Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells.

Toad squatting

This postcard – another from the Barber collection – always stands out for me, and not just because of the total lack of vegetation. Can you imagine coming across a group of modern-day urchins squatting on the Toad today? It’s funny how we see scenes like this one through rose-tinted spectacles. But are these charming Rusthall rogues of yesteryear or the hooligans of their time? It’s just like the graffiti on the rocks at Happy Valley. Is there really a difference between the ‘historical’ engravings and the more modern ones? What do you think?

A better class of hooligan?

The Lovers’ Walk

Here is another in the series of postcards of the Commons from our Chairman, John Barber.

This card shows a series of characters walking “The Lovers’ Walk”, someone has even taken the time to label some of the people on the card but there is no reference on the back to this or to where The Lovers’ Walk is.

Do you know where The Lovers’s Walk is, why not let us know in the comments below. In fact, we’d especially love to hear from you if you are one of the people labelled in the picture, now wouldn’t that be great to show the grandkids.

Queen’s Grove

Another postcard today from the magnificent Barber Collection. This one is of the Queen’s Grove on Tunbridge Wells Common. It looks like a band is playing and everyone is enjoying themselves. I wonder if this could make a comeback?

Click the image for a larger version.

The Barber Collection

We’ve been kindly lent the postcard collection of our Chairman, John Barber, to archive digitally and share with the Friends.

Here is the first of many posts of the huge collection. It’s been a few years since cows chewed the cud on the Common. Can you read the message on the back? You can click any of the images to view larger versions.

Do you have any postcards of the Commons you’d like to share and add to our archive? Drop us a comment below.