Inner Ward to Cooling Castle is a Grade I listed building in the Medway local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 November 1966. A C14 Castle inner ward.
Inner Ward to Cooling Castle
- WRENN ID
- former-sill-yew
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Medway
- Constituency
- Rochester and Strood MP: Lauren Edwards (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 November 1966
- Type
- Castle inner ward
- OS grid reference
- TQ 753 759
- Coordinates
- 51.4553, 0.52273
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The inner ward to Cooling Castle dates from 1381 to 1385 and has been in ruins since 1554. Henry Yevele was the Surveyor, with Thomas Wrek and William Sharnhale as masons. The structure is built of ragstone and features a rectangular enclosure that is moated, with round angle-turrets that were originally machicolated. There is a turretted gateway located near the center of the east wall. Inside, there is a three-bay vaulted undercroft with quadripartite vaults and stop-chamfered ribs on short wall-shafts. The walls in this area are faced externally with knapped flint and some stone chequer work. Cooling Castle became the seat of the de Cobham family after 1214, but the license to crenellate was granted only in 1381, partly to defend the sea-access to London. This historical context is commemorated on a copper plate in the east tower, which was formerly on the gate-house, and reads: 'Knouwyth that beth and schul be/ That I am mad in help of the cuntre/ In knowyng of whyche thyng/ Thys is chartre and wytnessyng.' The castle was abandoned after Wyatt's rebellion in 1554, when the family moved to Cobham. Cooling Castle is scheduled as an Ancient Monument.
Local climate
Inner Ward to Cooling Castle sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 71% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 18 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 82% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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