The school occupies a site of 150 acres (61 ha) on the edge of Tonbridge, and is largely self-contained, though most of the boarding and day houses are in nearby streets.

For the next hundred years few details of the school survive apart from rare records in the Skinners' Company books.

During his time as headmaster, the school received a series of generous endowments from Thomas Smythe, the first governor of the East India Company and son of Andrew Judde's daughter Alice.

In 1765, the townspeople of Tonbridge asked the question[clarification needed] of free education, and governors' legal team decided that the parishioners' children, provided they could write competently and read Latin and English perfectly[clarification needed], had the right to learn at the school paying only the sixpence entry fee.

School numbers under the young Knox rose to 85, and pupils began to arrive from all over England and also from abroad.

In 1826, the governors bought the field which now contains the Head cricket ground, and the patches to the north and south of it, later to be called the Upper and Lower Hundreds.

In 1838, Knox took the decision to level the Head, a considerable project, using labour and earth from the new railway workings in the town.

Thomas Knox died shortly after the completion of his cricket pitch, in 1843,[5] whilst preparing to preach in the parish church.

The Tonbridge he inherited was still a largely Victorian institution; fagging and ritual caning were still in place, and sport was considered more important than academia.

Over the next 40 years personal fagging was abolished (ending in 1965)[clarification needed][1949+40≠1965], and the intellectual life of the school was revitalised (particularly under the headmastership of Michael McCrum).

Boaters (known at the school as "barges"), straw hats worn by boys, were no longer compulsory uniform after a major town-gown fight in the 1970s.

She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer.

[10] The Chapel of St Augustine of Canterbury occupies a central position in the school next to the old buildings and Orchard Centre.

In September 1988 it was severely damaged by fire with almost all objects in the building being destroyed except a 15th-century stone sculpture.

[12] The school offers a diverse range of sports, from traditional rugby and cricket to niche activities like fives and water polo.

This club produced four other internationals including England captain Francis Luscombe, and was also one of the founding members of the Rugby Football Union.

[15] Former Kent professionals who have coached the school cricket team include Alan Dixon, whom Richard Ellison credits for developing his swing bowling abilities, and John Knott.