Section of wall running west from Bargate to Arundel Tower and then south to point just south of Castle Water Gate. It includes Arundel Tower, Catchcold Tower, Garderobe Tower, The 40 Steps, Castle Water Gate and Castle Vault is a Grade I listed building in the Southampton local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 July 1953. A C13 City wall.
Section of wall running west from Bargate to Arundel Tower and then south to point just south of Castle Water Gate. It includes Arundel Tower, Catchcold Tower, Garderobe Tower, The 40 Steps, Castle Water Gate and Castle Vault
- WRENN ID
- rooted-quartz-dale
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Southampton
- Constituency
- Southampton Itchen MP: Darren Paffey (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 July 1953
- Type
- City wall
- Address
- Section of wall running west from Bargate to Arundel Tower and then south to point just south of Castle Water Gate. It includes Arundel Tower, Catchcold Tower, Garderobe Tower, The 40 Steps, Castle Water Gate and Castle Vault, Town Walls, City of Southampton
- OS grid reference
- SU 418 115
- Coordinates
- 50.90228, -1.40602
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
This section of the medieval city walls runs west from Bargate to Arundel Tower and then south to a point just south of Castle Water Gate. It includes several notable structures: Arundel Tower, Catchcold Tower, Garderobe Tower, The 40 Steps, Castle Water Gate, and Castle Vault.
Arundel Tower is a round tower built in the early to mid-13th century, with an additional stage likely added around 1377-79 when Sir John Arundel was the governor of the Castle. Catchcold Tower, constructed in the early 15th century, features three gunports, making it one of the earliest examples of such fortifications in Europe. South of Catchcold Tower are The 40 Steps, a series of stone steps added to the wall in 1850.
The Castle Vault is a 12th-century rectangular tunnel-vaulted undercroft located between two buttresses, originally built to store the King's wines, allowing barrels to be unloaded directly from the quay. It has some corbels and a single round-headed window to the south of the entrance. Just to the south is the Castle Water Gate, which features a blocked segmental-headed doorway from the 14th century. This site is scheduled as an ancient monument.
Local climate
Section of wall running west from Bargate to Arundel Tower and then south to point just south of Castle Water Gate. It includes Arundel Tower, Catchcold Tower, Garderobe Tower, The 40 Steps, Castle Water Gate and Castle Vault receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 78% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 18 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 82% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 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.
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