The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. It takes its name from its main town, Royal Tunbridge Wells. The borough also contains the towns of Paddock Wood and Southborough, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Large parts of the borough fall within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The neighbouring districts are Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, Ashford, Rother and Wealden.

The town of Tunbridge Wells had been governed by improvement commissioners from 1835.^[2] The commissioners' district was reconstituted as a local government district in 1860, which in turn became a municipal borough in 1889.^[3][4] That first borough of Tunbridge Wells was renamed "Royal Tunbridge Wells" in 1909 following a petition from the borough council to Edward VII.^[5]

The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of three former districts and parts of a fourth, which were all abolished at the same time:^[6]

• Cranbrook Rural District
• Tonbridge Rural District (except parishes of Hadlow and Hildenborough, which went to Tonbridge and Malling)
• Royal Tunbridge Wells Municipal Borough
• Southborough Urban District

The new district was named Tunbridge Wells after the area's largest town, but without the Royal prefix.^[7] The district was not initially granted borough status.^[8] The council resolved to petition for it in June 1974 and a borough charter was received on 20 December 1974, allowing the chair of the council to take the title mayor.^[9][10]

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Kent County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[16]

The borough of Tunbridge Wells lies along the south western border of Kent, partly on the northern edge of the Weald, the remainder on the Weald Clay plain in the upper reaches of the rivers Teise and Beult.

Much of the borough lies within the High Weald, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The presence of sandstone outcrops and the chalybeate springs, together with old workings, point to ancient iron manufacturing in the area.

The Weald Clay plain along the northern edge of the borough forms part of the so-called Garden of England, named for its extensive orchards and former hop farms, sheep and cattle. A string of villages lies across this plain, from Brenchley and Horsmonden to Benenden and Headcorn.

The main roads through the borough are the A21 London to Hastings road and in the east, the A229, which runs from the A21 at Hurst Green through Cranbrook to Maidstone.

There is a railway line across the clay plain in an almost unbroken straight line between Redhill, Tonbridge and Ashford, Kent. The SER line to Hastings passes through Tunbridge Wells; here there was once a further branch connection south-eastwards to Groombridge, and at Paddock Wood is the southern terminus of the Medway Valley Line to Maidstone.

Apart from Tunbridge Wells itself, places of interest in the Borough include:

• Bedgebury Pinetum
• Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst for leisure water pursuits and outdoor conferences
• Sissinghurst Castle gardens: the home of Vita Sackville-West
• facilities for rock-climbing at the 'High Rocks', 2 miles west of Tunbridge Wells

• List of places of worship in Tunbridge Wells (borough)