Royal Tunbridge Wells to have been granted this (the others being Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Wootton Bassett). Although "Wells" has a plural form, it refers to the principal source, the chalybeate spring in the Pantiles (where the "waters" were taken). Royal Tunbridge Wells is the administrative centre for both Tunbridge Wells Borough and the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. The Borough is governed by 48 Councillors, representing 20 wards (eight wards fall within the town of Tunbridge Wells itself). Elections are held for 16 Council seats each year on a rotational basis, with elections to Kent County Council taking place in the
Royal Tunbridge Wells Tunbridge Wells. The town is sited at the head of a valley that runs south-east to Groombridge; like the River Teise, which originates in Tunbridge Wells, the stream in the valley is one of the many tributaries of the River Medway, which runs through a much larger valley north of the High Weald. Nearby villages have been subsumed into the built-up area of the town, so that now it incorporates High Brooms to the north, Hawkenbury to the south, and Rusthall (whose name resonates with the iron content of the rocks) to the west. Royal Tunbridge Wells is twinned with: