Paddock Wood developed as a settlement during the second half of the 19th century as a result of the local hops industry. By 1900 it was a local transport hub with three railway lines at the railway station.
Government
Paddock Wood has three tiers of local government: parish, borough and county.
Borough council
Since 1974 Paddock Wood has formed part of the Borough of Tunbridge Wells. The borough is governed by a 48-member council. The town elects 4 borough councillors, with 2 each for the Paddock Wood East and Paddock Wood West wards. Three are members of the Conservative Party and one is Independent.
The commercial areas of Paddock Wood are separated by the railway line. To the South of the railway lies Commercial Road which runs north east to south west through the town, and is the main shopping street. At the north east end of the street is the entrance to the Railway Station. Commercial Road is home to the branches of several banks, a variety of take-aways, a restaurant and a number of small shops. To the east of Commercial Road, runs Maidstone Road. This road runs north to Beltring and East Peckham, and south to Matfield, and is the main route into and out of the town. To the north of the railway line lie the industrial areas. Eldon Way Industrial Estate can be found to the east and is home to British Car Auctions, among others. To the west is the larger Transfesa Road and Paddock Wood Distribution Centre. This is the home to a number of companies including Gabriel Chemie UK Ltd, Norman Collett, CoolChain, Mack Multiples, Warburtons and a Whirlpool warehouse, which was destroyed in a large fire in early July 2005.
Culture and community
Mascalls Gallery, a public art gallery opened in 2006 on the site of Mascalls Academy. It had a frequently changing programme of exhibition featuring national and international known artists. These included Henry Moore, LS Lowry, Graham Sutherland and Lee Miller as well as artists from Latin America, Japan and America. In 2010 Mascalls Gallery exhibited for the first time in the UK drawings by Marc Chagall for nearby Tudeley Church. The gallery has since closed, because priorities at Mascalls have shifted, as they have nationally.
The town has two schools, Paddock Wood Primary School which was built in 1909, and which has approximately 600 pupils and Mascalls Academy,, opened in 1956 and has around 1400 pupils, and it takes its pupils from Brenchley, Matfield, Capel, Five Oak Green, East Peckham, Horsmonden, Lamberhurst and Yalding, as well as Paddock Wood itself.
Literary references
Some Dickens scholars believe that Paddock Wood is the rural railway station described in Dombey and Son. Some believe that one of Charles Dickens's children was buried in the graveyard as it says on the sign at the entrance. Paddock Wood Railway station appears in the novel Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens where, in chapter 55, the character of Mr Carker accidentally falls under a train at the station and is killed.
