Victorian
Tonbridge has always lived with the risk of flooding. For hundreds of years the town's position beside the Medway has made it vulnerable whenever the river rises. The geography of the surrounding country makes matters worse: a 200-yard gap between the castle and the station channelled water from the Medway basin back towards Turners Hill, while the Eden Valley carried runoff down from the Surrey Hills. When heavy rain fell on ground already saturated, all of that water converged on the town.
Nothing, however, prepared Tonbridge for what began on Saturday 16 October 1880. More than two inches of rain came down within a single day — a remarkable amount when set against an average annual rainfall of thirty two inches. Those responsible for the river moved quickly, opening all the locks downstream to let the water pass through, but the sheer volume overwhelmed every defence.
By Sunday morning the fields around Tonbridge lay under water, and the High Street itself began to flood. At Ramshurst Farm the sheep had to be moved to safety; the field there had never been flooded before in living memory. Houses in the centre of town, which had escaped inundation for fifty years, were not so fortunate. By six o'clock that evening the water was strong enough to force open the doors of homes, and several chapels found themselves standing in the flood. In response, a joint service was arranged between the congregations, and the Tonbridge Free Press noted that the subject of the sermon was The Deluge — an apt choice under the circumstances.
One episode during the weekend showed both the dangers and the courage of those who faced them. A barge carrying twenty tons of gunpowder lay moored above the bridge, and there were fears that its moorings were not secure. A party of men rowed out to inspect it but could not reach it, at which point Mr Pawley dived from the boat and swam across. To everyone's relief he found the barge entirely safe.
The flood reached its peak at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, though it was receding rapidly by daylight on Monday. The damage it left behind was described as very deplorable, with most of the High Street standing in four feet of water. A relief committee was soon established under the chairmanship of the vicar of Tonbridge. It supplied coals to roughly seventy flooded cottages, assessed the losses suffered by shops and their stocks, and considered how best to help families replace furniture and utensils. An appeal to the public sought £1,000 — probably the equivalent of more than £50,000 today. Among those who responded was Samuel Morley MP, who came over from Hall Place and handed in a cheque for £100, remarking that tradesmen in particular would need assistance to recover.