After Bloodshotts field (the current location of Tonbridge Grammar School) was rejected as an inferior site, "Mr Deacon's Field" in Haysden Lane (now Brook Street) was acquired from Sir Edmund Hardinge's trustees for £240 per acre, a total of £2,059. At one point owned by Sir Andrew Judd, the site consisted of of land, which according to Taylor (1988) sloped "gently from the road to the rear of the site". Plans, by Campbell Jones, were submitted to the headmaster in July 1883; they included a covered playground, red-bricked buildings incorporating local sandstone, Broseley roof tiles and a small basement housing a boiler. The construction was carried out by Messrs Turners of Watford, and total construction costs were £8,637. Nearly two years later, on 27 April 1895, the Foundation Stone was laid, at which time Lewis Boyd Sebastian, Master of The Skinners' Company performed a small ceremony. Opened in March 1896, the building featured an oak Neo-Georgian fleche surmounting an Oregon pine hammer-beamed roof. The principal entrance was carved by Messrs Lornie of London and featured shields bearing the coat of arms of Sir Andrew Judd and the company, the only architectural flourish allowed by the low budget.