A Day Trip To Rochester: A Town Steeped In History

I love my historical day trips from London and Rochester was one of my all time favourites.

It took just over an hour on the train from London Bridge and you arrive right into the centre of the town. Rochester I found to be the perfect day out because everything is in quite a small area, so very manageable in a day, as well as it being absolutely packed with history. 

Here is a map of the locations that I visited:

Rochester Castle

My first stop was Rochester Castle. This impressive castle was originally built in stone in the 1080s, not long after the Battle of Hastings, to defend the River Medway. 

It was built by Bishop Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, who had come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror. He was very skilled at building in stone and was also the overseer and surveyor during the construction of the White Tower of the Tower of London.

In 1127 the castle was given by King Henry I to William de Corbeil, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The dramatic keep was built at this time and, according to English Heritage, it is the tallest such building to survive in Europe. 

In 1215 King John laid siege to the castle during the First Barons War. The King’s soldiers brought down the south-east corner of the keep by mining under it and then burning the timbers, apparently, by burning the fat of 40 pigs.

It fell into disrepair over the following centuries and became redundant in the 17th century, with it then stripped of its interior and other materials. 

Today you can wind your way up through the atmospheric keep.

You get great views from the top. 

They also have a few little fun bits and bobs. For example, you can find out what a medieval cesspit would have smelt like (spoiler: not pleasant). 

Find out more about visiting Rochester Castle here.

Rochester Cathedral

I then visited the stunning Rochester Cathedral. 

It is, in terms of its origin date, the second oldest cathedral in England, second only to Canterbury Cathedral. It was established on the site in 604AD, by Bishop Justus, sent by Pope Gregory to convert the people of West Kent to Christianity.

The current building was built, also by Bishop Gundulf, from 1080. 

Make sure to spot the rare medieval wall painting. It is called the Wheel of Fortune and dates from the 1200s.

It shows a wheel controlled by Queen Fortuna, who turns the wheel, with people gradually climbing their way upwards. 

As you can see, it is only half of the painting that remains, because the other half was erased during the Reformation. This section was hidden behind a heavy item of furniture and therefore survived. 

This carved doorway from 1350 once led to the Chapter House and is one of the best surviving of its kind. 

You may be wondering why Rochester is a town and not a city, despite having a cathedral. It was a city until 1998 but due to an administrative error when the council failed to appointee trustees, it lost its city status. It has tried a couple of times to regain its city status, but unsuccessfully.

Find out more about visiting Rochester Cathedral here.

A Russian Submarine

I then walked over the river to check out, very bizarrely, a Russian submarine called Black Widow. 

The submarine was built in Leningrad in 1967 and was active during the Cold War. It was decommissioned in 1993 and sold.

Now in private hands, it was, for a period, moored near the Thames Barrier and open as a museum. It has been in its current location since 2004. 

Guildhall Museum

I then visited the Guildhall Museum, which is all about local history. 

The building itself is lovely, built in 1687. It has a golden ship weathervane, added in 1780 and a green Victorian penfold postbox outside.

For about ten years when postboxes were first introduced in the 1860s, they were green rather than red but people complained they couldn’t see them, so they ended up being painted red. 

They have a whole section on Charles Dickens because Dickens visited Rochester many times as a child and in 1856 he bought a nearby manor house called Gads Hill Place as a country escape from London. He based many of the locations in his book on places in Rochester and there are plaques all over the town. 

They have a couple of items once owned by Charles Dickens.

They also have an amazing section about prison hulks. These were ships, many of which were once moored in the Medway, in which prisoners were kept, usually before transportation to penal colonies such as Australia. 

Prisoners in the Napoleonic Wars often made ‘straw-work’, i.e. items such as workboxes out of straw, on the prison hulks. Some of them are beautifully constructed.

They also have an incredibly intricate model of a ship, made from bone and wood, by a French prisoner of war in the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815). The rigging is made of plaited human hair. 

Find out more about visiting the Guildhall Museum here.

Baggins Bookshop

I also could not resist visiting Baggins Book Bazaar.

It is England’s largest rare and second-hand bookshop. It doesn’t look that big from the outside but is a bit of an Aladdin’s cave. 

The George Vaults

I had read whilst researching the trip that this pub, The George Vaults, sits over a 14th century vaulted undercroft. A member of staff was kind enough to show me. 

It is thought to be from a house or religious dwelling that was once on the site. 

Dickens House Wine Emporium

I had a quick look around this wine shop because, it was once, in the 19th century, an apothecary/chemist. It is thought to be where Charles Dickens would have collected his medicine whilst in Rochester. 

Huguenot Museum

Another interesting small museum in Rochester is the Huguenot Museum. 

The Huguenots were French Protestants who came to Britain as refugees. They left France in large numbers after the Bartholomew Day massacre in France in 1572 and again after the Edict of Nantes, which had given Protestants some freedoms of religion, was revoked in 1685. 

The history of the Huguenots links London to Rochester because in 1718 The French Hospital was founded in the Finsbury area of London for poor French Protestants. It moved to Hackney in the 1860s and then to Rochester in the 1940s. 

The Huguenots often came with just their clothes on their backs and their skills: silver-smithing, clock-making, but most notably silk-weaving. Many were able to set up prosperous businesses for themselves in Britain. 

In the museum they had an amazing Georgian doll’s house, made in the 1730s for a lady called Sarah Lethieullier, a French Huguenot.

This doll’s house was given to the young Sarah to teach her how to manage a great house and its servants. 

A friendly staff member told me that the museum is due to be expanded towards the end of this year, so watch this space. 

Find out more about visiting here.

City wall 

I passed by a little alleyway, just before a barber shop on the high street which teased me with the promise of a section of the old city wall.

The walls largely date from the 13th and 14th centuries today but sit on original Roman foundations.

Restoration House 

I then had a look at Restoration House.

It was created in the 1660s out of the amalgamation of two medieval houses and is said to be one of the finest historic townhouses of that period in England. The name comes from the fact that Charles II stayed here on the 28th May 1660 after landing at Dover a few days before, on his journey to be restored to the throne. 

It is also said to have been the inspiration for Miss Havisham’s Satis House in Great Expectations. 

It wasn’t open when I visited but is open in the summer months. Find out more here.

Eastgate House

Finally, I went to Eastgate House. It was built in 1590, with later 17th century additions and changes. 

Before going inside I went around the back of the building. Here you will see this unusual wooden chalet.

This was a Christmas present given to Charles Dickens in 1864. It arrived flat-pack, to his home in Gads Hill Place, from Switzerland. 

It was in here that he did a lot of writing and he was working in it just a day before he died in 1870, working on his unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The chalet was moved here in the 1960s.

In the garden they also have a horse-powered well pump installed by Dickens at Gads Hill Place and  a section of medieval road. 

The house was built for Peter Buck, who held a senior position within the Royal Navy. The turret was a watchtower, looking out over the Medway. The Buck family were here until 1697, in 1791 it became a boarding school and remained so until the late 19th century.

The house is said to feature in both Dickens’ Pickwick Papers and the Mystery of Edwin Drood. 

Find out more about visiting Eastgate House here.

So, there we have it! Rochester was such a genuinely fun, varied and fascinating day out. I would highly recommend paying the town a visit.

Thank you for reading, more day trips below…