St Leonard's Tower is a Grade I listed building in the Tonbridge and Malling local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 November 1993. A Medieval Castle.
St Leonard's Tower
- WRENN ID
- spare-basalt-martin
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Tonbridge and Malling
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling MP: Helen Grant (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 30 November 1993
- Type
- Castle
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- St Leonard's Tower, St Leonard's Street, West Malling
- OS grid reference
- TQ 675 570
- Coordinates
- 51.28821, 0.40207
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
St Leonard's Tower is a former castle built by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, between 1077 and 1108 as his fortified residence. It is one of the best-preserved examples of an Early Norman Keep. Constructed of stone with tufa dressings, the tower measures 32 feet square at the base and reaches heights of 60 feet on its north and east faces, and 70 feet on the other two faces, reflecting the sloped surface of the rocky shelf on which it stands.
The tower features corner buttresses and is divided into three stages. The first stage shows traces of herringbone work, with a central buttress on the left side elevation. The second stage has five round-headed arches on the east side, with only the central arch open and the others blank. Additionally, there are two round-headed arches on the east side and one on the south side. The west side includes a round-headed entrance to the ground floor, round-headed arches to the first and second floors, and loop lights in the buttresses. The north side has one round-headed window.
Internal evidence suggests that there were upper and lower floors, with the lower floor situated about 5 feet above ground level.
Local climate
St Leonard's Tower receives an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 75% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 75% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 63% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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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- 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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