St Leonard's Tower, West Malling
A stark Norman stone tower above West Malling that lost its front-door key for the best part of fifty years
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
In 1973 someone made off with the large brass key to this tower, and it turned up again, unannounced, in the post in December 2020, apologetic note included, by which time English Heritage had already changed the locks. The tower itself is far older: probably raised between 1077 and 1108 for Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester and founder of the abbey nearby, though it may instead be the work of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the Conqueror’s half-brother. Its exact purpose isn’t recorded - no old fireplaces or drains survive inside to suggest anyone lived there, so it may have gone up to defend the site, or simply to run the bishop’s local estate. Its top storey came down during the Civil War, deliberately destroyed to stop the tower ever serving as a military lookout again; later the truncated tower spent time drying hops, and locals nicknamed it the Old Jail, believing its vaulted basement had once held prisoners. These days you can walk up and look round the outside any time you like; the interior stays closed to visitors. West Malling tower keep stands just a few hundred metres north.
