Rock Villa

Rock Villa, located at 85 London Road, is a notable 18th-century building. It stands two storeys high with attics and features a front that is tile-hung and painted. The house has three dormers, with the central one adorned with a curved pediment. There are three sash windows, all retaining their glazing bars, and the central first-floor window is round-headed. The porch is supported by thin columns and has an open pediment, along with a rectangular fanlight above the doorway that displays geometric tracery. The door itself is modern. A tablet on the house notes that the author William Makepeace Thackeray stayed here in 1860 and wrote "Tunbridge Toys." Rock Villa is part of a group with the adjacent properties at numbers 83 and 85.