St Leonard's Tower
Our third site on that showery Sunday afternoon. It had just started to rain and we could hear thunder in the distance, but we did up our raincoats and marched on. We knew that this tower was going to be a short trip as it was on the main road, exterior only, and not very well advertised. This seemed one of those sites that English Heritage were eager to forget as it was open to all and fairly robust, but none the less a victim to modern times around it.
Now this is another site that has its history lost to the past. There isn't any information around as to who built the tower and why, just a lot of speculation and 'probably' which English Heritage like to throw around when there is no evidence to support their claims. In this case, it is rumoured that St Leonard's Tower was part of a church and is all that remains, others believe that it was part of a small Norman keep as the structure is in keeping with other sites of the time.
In the event it was indeed part of St Leonard's Church, then the historical experts reckon that it was Gundulf, disappointingly not Gandalf, the Bishop of Rochester who ordered the construction as he owned the manor and had also constructed Malling Abbey, the nearby Nunnery. The tower would have likely housed the bell. It's said that it was more than likely Gundulf constructed the tower due to his ownership of the surrounding land at the time of construction and that he would have been the only one likely to have the motivation for such a building at the time. Following his death ownership of the tower (probably still connected to the church) went to the nuns.
The reason why scholars dispute this being part of a church is because the tower itself is not in keeping with the religious buildings and would have literally towered over any house of god, we've seen it in person and to be fair this seems likely as the structure is huge. There are also remnants of a wall nearby which in our opinion indicates this would have been part of a keep, unsure of Norman origin, but certainly castle origins. That and the placement on a hill like the typical Motte & Bailey structures we like to visit. On the other hand the tower height is a reminder of Glastonbury Tor and the tower there being huge, but that was adorned with imagery while this one is stone, so we are still leaning towards keep and not church.
As we hit the Medieval ages and the wars which came with it, the tower was slighted in order to keep it from being used for military operations. Evidence supports this happening at some point during the English Civil War as it would have been a good look out for oncoming forces and was owned by the Royalist, Sir John Rayney of Wrotham Place at the time. Gunpowder was used at the base of the staircase to try and bring the structure down from the inside, but this failed due to the strong design of the stair turret. When this failed, the upper storey was removed instead leaving the structure open to the elements.
Later on, around the 18th Century, the tower became known as The Old Jail. This was noted as such by Francis Grose in 1783 (the antiquarian), and would have been in with the tradition of the abbey using the basement as a dungeon and the upper floors for criminals with lesser offences. Later on in this period the tower switched to housing hops, drying them before they were taken to local kilns. It was in 1863 that repairs on the tower took place as a new entry way was made in order to disguise the hole left by the gunpowder debacle of decades prior. Why they never bothered to restore the upper storey is lost to history, but it meant the lower part of the tower could be used more easily for sure.
As the tower entered the 1900s it was under negotiation for sale and then later in the 1930s destruction as the local magistrates thought it posed a danger to life for the nearby asylum in the unlikely event that it toppled over. Of course we dont know the state the tower was in during the 1930s, but in 2025 it seemed like nothing was knocking that thing over, so it was likely just a power play back then to gain more land. As a compromise, it was taken in by the Office of Works in 1937 in order to be upkept before going on to be looked after by English Heritage.
While of course there is no history of any bloodshed here, and if it was a church building then you'd really hope not, that doesnt mean that there isn't a ghostie or two lurking nearby. We didn't see anything, and there isn't any stories out there about apparitions seen in the middle of the night, but the atmosphere there certainly inspires the imagery of ghostly nuns or runaway inmates from the asylum lurking within the overgrowth. We aren't sure if it was just the weather, or the fact that the tower is referred to as the 'Haunting Tower of West Malling', but there were spooky vibes. We stood at the base of the structure and looked up at the tower before us as lightning cracked at the sky and the thunder rumbled overhead and the grey stone just sucked the colour out from our surroundings and left us feeling pleasantly cold. It was one of those places that inspires that haunted feeling, but in a comforting way, there's no fear. The tower is so haunting because it doesn't belong to anything anymore, an orphan building in the off skirts of a village that has moved on. It is vastly out of place in its surroundings, but we think that makes it so very beautiful, especially as nature is working hard to claim the tower. It is a nice picnic site for sure, when you aren't at risk of being washed away that is!
Would we go back? Absolutely, we'd love to see how the tower looks when it isn't raining and if there was ever an opportunity, then to see inside. As it stands it is a lovely little side quest when walking the routes of the country park opposite which we also did in the pouring rain in order to get our steps up. By the time we had returned to the car the rain had stopped and we were ready for our last stop of the day.
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images our ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
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