Home | Books | Links
| Fortifications and Castles | Other
Information | Help | Downloads
| Author Information | Contact
Gundulfs Tower, Rochester Cathedral
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; Gundulph's Tower
In the civil parish of Rochester.
In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Medway, 1974 county of Kent).
Small defensible keep or tower next to Rochester Cathedral. This was formally detached from the nave. Gundulf's Tower, alongside the early cathedral at Rochester, has been recently argued to be a strong, defensible tower. Recent excavation suggests a building date close to 1100. It has similarities with St Leonard's Tower, West Malling, also on an episcopal estate. Both these three-storey towers are strongly built. They have windows at a high level, but there is little to indicate high-status accommodation internally; only St Leonard's Tower has external arcading on two faces, which points to an element of public display. This form of defensive structure has similarities with two strong towers at Oxford: the late-Saxon St Michael's Tower, beside a gate through the town defences, and St George's Tower, within the confines of the Norman castle. Renn suggests this was just a bell tower.
This site has been described as a;
Tower House.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Major remains.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 173125)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ74266852
PastScape number;
416281
Books
- Worssam, B.C. with an appendix by Ashbee, J., 2006, 'The building stones of Rochester Castle and Cathedral' in Ayers, T. and Tatton-Brown, T. (eds), Medieval art, architecture and archaeology at Rochester (Leeds: British Archaeological Association and Maney Publishing) p238-49
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p126
Guy, John, 1980, Kent Castles (Meresborough Books)
Newman, John, 1976, The buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (Harmondsworth) p473
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
Knowles, David and Hadcock, R Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p74, 435, 480
Page, Wm (ed), 1926, VCH Kent Vol2 p121-6
Palmer, G.H., 1897, The Cathedral Church of Rochester (Bell's Cathedral Series)
Journal Articles
- McAleer, J.Philip, 1998, 'The So-Called Gundulf's Tower at Rochester Cathedral. A Reconsideration of its History, Date and Function' Antiquaries Journal Vol78
McAleer, J.Philip, 1993, ‘ Rochester Cathedral: The north choir aisle and the space between it and 'Gundulf's' Tower’, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol112 p127-166
Most of the sites or buildings
recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission
to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant |
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations. |
It is an offence to disturb a
Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of
everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site
without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation. |
Please help me to make this as
useful a resource as possible by contacting
me if you see errors
or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with
this site. |
*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
|
¤¤¤¤¤
