Tonbridge Castle

Heritage listing

Details The monument includes a motte and bailey castle dating from the years soon after the Norman Conquest, as well as the later remains of the curtain wall and the 13th century gatehouse. The principle feature of the earliest castle on the site is the earthen motte, circular in plan and 20m high. At its summit the motte measures 24m by 20m. Around the flattened top a wall was built to form a shell keep. The foundations of a number of buildings which backed onto the shell keep wall and a well were located during excavations in 1912 which resulted in the 7m wide depression visible today. The shell keep wall has been partially rebuilt in recent times to a height of ca.1m. The motte was originally encircled by a moat of some 14m width but this was infilled on the eastern side in the 12th century to ease access to and from the motte. Below the motte and to the east was a bailey, the line of which was consolidated by a tall stone curtain wall added in the 12th century which was in turn strengthened by a now-infilled outer moat on the east and north-east sides and to the south by the river. Inside the bailey the foundations of a number of buildings including a chapel are considered likely to survive. In the later 13th century, the original gatehouse was replaced with another with drum towers flanking a strongly-defended gateway. A wall-walk connected the new gatehouse with the keep. Many architectural details survive in the gatehouse, including sculpted windows and arrowloops. The Georgian buildings east of the gatehouse are excluded from the scheduling along with all service trenches, modern paths, steps and display boards, but the ground beneath is included. MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around th

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.