History of Calverley Grounds
Calverley Grounds originally belonged to Mount Pleasant
House, where the future Queen Victoria stayed regularly on her
visits to Tunbridge Wells with her mother, the Duchess of
Kent.
Like other visitors, the Princess would have enjoyed her walks
through this tract of meadow land with a lake at its lowest point.
In 1825 wealthy developer John Ward bought the land as part of his
Calverley Estate, on which his architect Decimus Burton was to
create a new town to rival the old village centred on the
Pantiles.
In 1837 Decimus Burton converted the old house into a hotel, but
the meadows were preserved as an informal open space until
purchased by the Borough Council in 1920. Over the next few years
the grounds were landscaped into their present form and provided
with terrace walls and flower beds. Much of the work was carried
out by labourers paid from the Mayor's Unemployment Fund. Tennis
courts and a bowling green were constructed, each with a thatched
pavilion, along with a teahouse built in similar style. The
bandstand, built in 1924, lost its original ornate ironwork after
damage by an incendiary bomb on 26 September 1940. A matching
pavilion, opened in 1926, which surrounded it on three sides, was
destroyed on the same night.
Although cultivated flowers, shrubs and trees are most
conspicuous in the park, it also supports a wide variety of wild
plants. This combination of natural and man-made habitat provides a
desirable home for many species of insects and other small animals.
Alongside the familiar garden butterflies, like the Small
Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Peacock, which visit the abundant
flowers of spring and summer, may be seen such meadow species as
the Meadow Brown, Common Blue and Small Copper. Despite the lack of
open water, dragonflies often visit the park in search of prey.
Several attractive species of solitary bees, including six national
rarities, breed in the park. Their females gather nectar and pollen
from flowers to stock their nesting burrows in sunny banks and
beside paths.
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out more about the history of Calverley Grounds