Tower and Walls 30 Yards East of the West Range at Sissinghurst Castle is a Grade I listed building in the Tunbridge Wells local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 June 1952. A Circa 1570 (for Sir Richard Baker) Tower, walls.
Tower and Walls 30 Yards East of the West Range at Sissinghurst Castle
- WRENN ID
- little-rampart-sepia
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Tunbridge Wells
- Constituency
- Weald of Kent MP: Katie Lam (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 June 1952
- Type
- Tower, walls
- Period
- Circa 1570 (for Sir Richard Baker)
- OS grid reference
- TQ 808 383
- Coordinates
- 51.1156, 0.58188
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The tower and walls, located 30 yards east of the west range at Sissinghurst Castle, were built around 1570 for Sir Richard Baker. The structure is made of red brick, featuring red brick, stone, and some cemented dressings, with bands between the first and second floors and above the third floor in the center. It has a coped parapet in the center and modillion cornices on the shingled roofs, which are topped with weather-vanes over the towers.
The central rectangular tower is flanked by octagonal stair-turrets, with the northern turret solely containing the staircase. The tower has four storeys, with three windows on the east and west sides of each stair-turret. The third floor features a six-light transom and mullion window, while the second floor has an eight-light window with a drip-mould above it. The first floor boasts a large eight-light window set in a pilastered surround with an entablature above. The bases of the first-floor pilasters rest directly on the entablature and pilasters of the round-arched entrance surround.
To the north and south of the tower, remnants of the courtyard enclosing walls, approximately 25 yards long, extend from the circa 1570 house. The southern wall returns to the west for about 40 yards and includes remains of windows and a doorway. Although these elements have been rebuilt, they rest on earlier parts below. Notably, Vita Sackville-West often wrote in the first-floor room of the tower.
Local climate
Tower and Walls 30 Yards East of the West Range at Sissinghurst Castle sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 55% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 26 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 72% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 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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