Market Tower is a Grade II listed building in the South Downs National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 25 February 1952. A C18 Market tower. 5 related planning applications.
Market Tower
- WRENN ID
- dim-chalk-harvest
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- South Downs National Park
- Constituency
- Lewes MP: James MacCleary (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 25 February 1952
- Type
- Market tower
- Address
- Market Tower, High Street, Lewes, BN7 2NB
- OS grid reference
- TQ 415 101
- Coordinates
- 50.87369, 0.01106
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Market Tower is a structure built in 1792, featuring red and brown brick with stone bands and window dressings. The tower stands four stories tall, with lower and narrower two-story side wings. It has plat bands over each floor and a crenellated parapet. Diagonal buttresses are present on the first and second floors of the tower, which are cut back in squinches at their bases.
At the third floor level, there is a round-headed window with Y-tracery, and below it, on the second floor, is a clock. The first floor features two quatrefoil windows with a swagged crest above and a plaque below. The ground floor has a round-arched gateway with a stone key and impost-blocks. The two-story side wings have a single window each and crow-stepped gables, with terracotta-dressed three-light windows that have cusped arched lights.
The Town Bell, named 'Gabriel', was newly cast in 1555 and was originally hung in the tower of the old Church of St Nicholas, which was located on the site of the war memorial. After the old tower was demolished in 1761, the bell was placed in the new tower in 1792. The crest, made of terracotta, displays the Town Arms and is attributed to Jonathan Harmer of Heathfield.
Local climate
Market Tower receives an average of 850 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 59% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 90% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 15 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 85% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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