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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"ROCHESTER, comprising the parishes of St. Nicholas, and St. Margaret, a city, market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, locally situated in the lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 8 miles Prom Gravesend, 26 N.W. of Canterbury, and 29 from London by road, or 30 by the North Kent railway, and 33 by the London, Chatham, and Dover line. It is situated on the right bank of the Medway, about 15 miles from the Nore, and is a place of considerable trade, having Sheerness and Maidstone as subports. On the land side it is sheltered by a range of chalk hills, rising almost perpendicularly from the river, which is here crossed by an iron bridge, connecting this town with Strood, on the left bank of the Medway. The borough, as extended by the Reform Act, includes, besides the two parishes forming the City of Rochester, parts of Chatham, Frindsbury, and Strood. These places, being all immediately adjacent, form as it were one continuous town, though differing widely in appearance, and each having many objects of interest, requiring separate notice under their several heads.

Rochester is of very ancient date, and was once of more importance than at present. By the Romans it was called Durobrivis, and by the Saxons Hroffe-ceastre. King AEthelbert first raised the place into importance by enclosing it with a well-built wall; he also founded a priory, and made it the seat of a bishopric, to which St. Augustin ordained Justus in 604 as first bishop. It was frequently destroyed before the Norman conquest, having been besieged by Ethelred, and sacked and burnt several times by the Danes. William the Conqueror rebuilt the castle, the ruins of which still remain, and gave it to Bishop Odo, his brother, but he rebelling against William Rufus, this king besieged and took the castle into his own hands. In the three following reigns of Henry I., Stephen, and Henry II., Rochester was nearly destroyed by fire. In 1215 King John took the castle from the insurgent barons; in the following year it was retaken by Louis, Dauphin of France, but again retaken in 1217 by King John. In 1264 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, held possession of the city and castle for a short time. It was attacked by Wat Tyler at the time of his insurrection. The last king who took any interest in keeping the castle in proper repair was Edward IV. The Protestant martyrs were burnt here in 1556. Henry VIII., his daughter Elizabeth in 1573, and Charles II. soon after his restoration, paid visits to Rochester; and here it was that his brother, James II., embarked for France after his abdication. It was devastated by the plague in 1665. In consequence of the attack made on Rochester by the Dutch in the reign of Charles II., when they sailed up the Medway, it was fortified.

The chief object of interest in the town is the cathedral, which in parts is one of the most ancient churches in the kingdom. Originally a priory, founded about the year 604, it was rebuilt by Bishop Gundulph about 1076, and although partly burnt some fifty years afterwards, was restored and has now many portions of the old structure remaining. The tower on the N. side of the choir is called Gundulph's tower, the walls of which are 6 feet in thickness, and the nave is likewise part of the ancient building. The W. part is of the enriched Norman style of architecture. Bishop Gundulph's statue is in one of the towers. The extreme length of the cathedral, including the nave and choir, both of which are about the same length, is 306 feet; the principal transept is 122 feet, and the smaller transept 90 feet; the Norman W. front is 81 feet; the eastern part is chiefly of plain early English architecture; the tower which intersects the transepts is modern, having been erected so recently as 1825; and the whole building has within the last thirty years undergone thorough repair, at a cost of above £20,000. The crypt, which is ancient, is extensive. The original Chapter House has perished, but a modern one, though of mean pretensions, now answers the double purpose of Chapter House and library, in which there are some ancient MSS., among them the register of the diocese, the Textus Roffensis and the Custumale Roffense. The bishop holds his consistory court in one of the many chapels, called St. Mary's, or Henry VII.'s chapel. There are many monuments, tombs, and brasses of an ancient date, including that of St. Paulinus, who converted Edwin the Saxon King of Northumbria, and died here in 644. Lord Chancellor Merton, founder of Merton College, Oxford, has a monument of Limoges enamelled work.

The diocese of Rochester, until the recent alterations made pursuant to the Commission of Inquiry issued 4th February, 1835, comprised the western part of the county of Kent and the peculiars of Iselham and Freckenham, but by Order in Council 8th August, 1845, so much of the county of Kent as was in the diocese and archdeaconry of Rochester, except the city and deanery of Rochester, was subtracted from this diocese, and added to those of Canterbury and London; and the county of Essex, except the parishes of Barking, Great Ilford, East Ham, West Ham, Little Ilford, Low Layton, Walthamstow, Wanstead, Woodford, and Chingford, was added, together with the whole county of Hertford. The whole of this diocese was under the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of Rochester until the Order in Council just mentioned; that order places the new district or see of Rochester under the jurisdiction of the several archdeacons of Essex, Colchester, and St. Alban's, and suppresses the archdeaconry of Rochester upon its next avoidance.

The peculiars were abolished by Orders in Council dated 8th August and 23rd December, 1845. Until these alterations the members of the cathedral body were the bishop, dean, archdeacon, and six prebendaries, one of these last being annexed to the provost-ship of Oriel College, Oxford, and another to the archdeaconry. At present there are, besides the bishop, the dean, archdeacons of Rochester, St. Alban's, Colchester, and Essex, with four canons and eight honorary canons.

The city is straggling, and extends for a considerable distance along the river banks. The principal street leads direct from the bridge into Chatham. Many improvements have been made during the last few years. The streets, though irregularly laid out, are well paved and lighted with gas. There are many good houses, especially in the environs and on the heights. The population in 1851 was 14,938, with 2,649 inhabited houses, which in 1861 had increased to 16,562, with 3,074 inhabited houses. It is well supplied with water from a reservoir at Gillingham. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in the general trade and in the oyster fisheries. Rochester owes much of its prosperity to being contiguous to the large naval and military station of Chatham. The borough returns two members to parliament, the parliamentary bounds being co-extensive with the municipal. It was first chartered by Henry II., and under the new Act is divided into three wards, and is governed by a mayor, who is also the returning officer, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, with the style of "mayor and citizens of the city of Rochester." The corporation revenue is about £5,500, partly derived from rents of the manor. There is a large manufactory of patent steam-engines, for agricultural and other purposes.

The bridge over the Medway was designed by Sir William Cubitt; it is of iron, with three arches, and was completed in 1858 at a cost of £200,000, defrayed in part from the bridge estate, the remainder being borrowed on mortgage. In the course of the building the wooden piles of the first bridge of the time of Henry I. were discovered. The second bridge, of stone, was built in the reign of Richard II., and was only destroyed when the present one, of iron, was begun. The London, Chatham, and Dover railway bridge is close to the new bridge, and entirely destroys the view on one side. The approach from the London side is striking. Rochester Castle, from its great antiquity, is an interesting ruin, though only the outer walls and towers remain. Bishop Gundulph's keep, which is yet standing, was in the south-eastern angle of the court; it is 104 feet high, 70 feet square, and about 12 feet thick, with four towers at the corners 20 feet higher-three square, and the one at the south-eastern angle round. All the walls are very thick, consisting of Kentish ragstone, bound together by Roman mortar or cement. The principal parts of the building remaining are the ruins of a gateway, the winding staircase, dungeon, fireplaces and galleries.

The city has several public buildings, as the townhall, built in the reign of James II., and containing portraits of William III. and Queen Anne, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; the gaol, with a clock-house, built by Sir Cloudesley Shovel; and the County Court house, in the Elizabethan style of architecture, erected in 1862; besides these are the gasworks, customhouse, bank, theatre, assembly rooms, the Medway union workhouse, floating baths, and several commercial hotels. The general sick hospital, known as St. Bartholomew's, is situated in the New-road, and only just completed at a cost of above £20,000, a fourth of which was defrayed by the government, and the remainder by the Watt's charity and the St. Bartholomew estates. The revenues of the latter charity are to be in future devoted to its maintenance. Rochester is the seat of a customs port of entry, and of an excise district. It is also a coastguard station, and one of the polling-places for the county elections. There is a separate commission of the peace for the city of Rochester. Quarter sessions are held here, as also a new County Court for the district, comprising the superintendent registries of Medway, Hoo, and North Aylesford, with the parishes of Burnham, Hartlip, Rainham, Upchurch, and Wouldham. It is chiefly comprised with Chatham within the Medway poor-law union, but the districts of Strood and Frindsbury are included in the North Aylesford union.

The city of Rochester comprises the two parishes of St. Margaret, and St. Nicholas with St. Clement's annexed. They are both vicarages in the diocese of Rochester, the former, value £389, in the patronage of the dean and chapter, and the latter, value £150, in the patronage of the bishop. St. Margaret's church, with the exception of the tower, was partly rebuilt in 1824 on the site of an ancient foundation, and completed with considerable enlargements in 1840, and contains several old monuments. St. Nicholas church was originally built in 1420, but was partially rebuilt in 1624, and thoroughly restored a few years since. It contains a carved octagonal font. Some remains of St. Clement's church, which once stood on the N. side of High-street, near the bridge, were recently discovered and removed. Besides the two parish churches and cathedral within the city of Rochester there are several district churches, viz: St. Peter's, a Gothic structure, situated in Troy Town, erected in 1859 at a cost of £6,000; Strood church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, and rebuilt in 1812, with the exception of the tower; also the parish church of Frindsbury, an ancient structure, dedicated to All Saints. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, a Jewish synagogue, and a meeting-house belonging to the Society of Friends.

The local charities and bequests produce near £5,000 per annum, exclusive of school endowments. The cathedral grammar school is the principal of the numerous educational establishments in the town. It was founded by Henry VIII. in 1542, and is richly endowed, besides having four exhibitions at Oxford or Cambridge, value £40 yearly, during residence, two restricted to University College, Oxford, value £45, during residence, and one of £5, in the gift of the head master, who is appointed by the dean and chapter, but not removable at their pleasure, as shown by the legal proceedings against the Rev. R. Whiston, M.A., which several years since attracted so much interest. The average number of scholars is about 60, a third of whom are King's scholars, receiving a free education and an annual allowance of £21 13s. 4d. Williamson's free mathematical school was founded in 1701 by Sir Joseph Williamson, who bequeathed £5,000, in perpetuity, for its support, but the income of which has now increased to above £11,000 per annum. It is free to the sons of freemen of Rochester, and has now about 70 pupils. While Colson was head master Garrick was a pupil. The Poor Travellers' House was founded and endowed by Richard Watts, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, for six poor travellers, who are entitled each to four-pence, a supper, and a night's lodging. It bears an inscription stating that "neither rogues nor proctors will be admitted." The income is now nearly £4,000 per annum.

The almshouses in the Maidstone-road cost about £10,000. St. Bartholomew's Hospital was founded originally for lepers at the time of the Crusades, but there being fortunately now no special applicants the revenues are appropriated to the general hospital. Besides the foundations above alluded to there are several National, British, and infant schools, a dispensary, savings-bank, and numerous minor charities. Roman coins, and other antiquities have been found. Two newspapers are published in the town, the Rochester and Chatham Journal and the Rochester Gazette. It gave the title of earl to the Wilmots and Hydes, but is now extinct. Market days are Tuesdays and Fridays. Fairs are held on 30th May and 11th December, and a large cattle market on the first Monday in each month. Races take place in September on a 1.125 mile course.

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]