older remains of this
pleasantly-located and popular town is Tunbridge Castle, its keep having
stood upon a lofty mound above the river. This "Norman Mound," as it is
called, is now capped with ruined walls, and an arched passage leads
from it to the upper story of the elaborate gate-house, still in
excellent preservation. Richard Fitzgilbert built the keep, and ruled
the "League of Tunbridge," but his castle, after a long siege by Henry
III., was taken away from his successor, who assumed the name of Gilbert
de Clare. From the De Clares the stronghold passed to the Audleys and
Staffords, and it is now held by Lord Stafford. The gate-house is a fine
structure, square in form, with round towers at each corner. The ruins
are richly adorned with mouldings and other decorations, and within is a
handsome state-apartment. Tunbridge is a quiet town, standing where five
of the tributaries of the Medway come together, over which it has as
many stone bridges. One of these streams, the Tun, gives the town its
name. In St. Stephen's Church, a badly mutilated building with a fine
spire, many of the De Clares are buried, and the quaint half-timbered
building of the "Chequers Inn" helps maintain the picturesque appearance
of the Tunbridge High Street. The spa of Tunbridge Wells, with its
chalybeate springs and baths, is a few miles southward, but the days of
its greatest glory have passed away, though fashion to a moderate extent
still haunts its pump-room and parade. This famous watering-place
stands in a contracted valley enclosed by the three hills known as Mount
Ephraim, Mount Zion, and Mount Pleasant.

[Illustration: TUNBRIDGE CASTLE.]

[Illustration: PENSHURST PLACE.]

[Illustration: PENSHURST CHURCH.]

To the westward of Tunbridge, and in the Medway Valley, is Penshurst,
celebrated as the home of Sir Philip Sidney--a grand, gray old house,
built at many periods, begun in the fourteenth century and not completed
until a few years ago. It is a pretty English picture within a setting
of wooded hills and silver rivers, the pattern from which Sidney drew
his description of "Laconia" in _Arcadia_. The buildings, particularly
their window-heads, are ornamented with the tracery peculiar to Kent.
The great hall, the earliest of these buildings, has a characteristic
open-timber roof, while its minstrel-gallery, fronted by a wainscot
screen, is ornamented with the badge of the Dudleys, the "bear and
ragged staff." Within these halls a