Project: Kent - Rochester

No. 4 - 5:- Exploring Rochester - Rochester Castle

City of Great Expectations - Charles Dickens..

 

The Keep of the Castle.

The Mural Gallery.

This gallery, which looked down into the state apartments, round right round the building. It is hollowed out of the thickness of the wall and therefore greatly reduces the weight of the upper stories. At this height the walls do not need the massive strength of lower walls as they are out of reach of enemy battering rams.

 

The gallery had a number of uses and could be partitioned off to make extra rooms for guests, probably servants and less favoured visitors. When the great Hall was in use, guests could gather here to chat and look down on the festivities. This was also a good position for groups of minstrels to provide music for those below. Guidepost.

 

 

Rochester Castle.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Rochester Castle ( [show location on an interactive map] 51°23′22″N 0°30′05″E / 51.38944°N 0.50139°E / 51.38944; 0.50139) stands on the east bank of the River Medway, in Rochester, Kent. It is one of the best-preserved castles of its kind in the UK. There has been a fortification on this site since Roman times (c AD43), though it is the keep of 1127 and the Norman castle which can be seen today. With the invention of gunpowder other types of defence became more appropriate, and the military centre of the Medway Towns moved to Chatham.

 

History

The Romans under Aulus Plautius built a fort on the site of the present castle to guard the important river crossing, where they constructed a bridge. There is evidence of an earth rampart later replaced by a stone wall. The timber piles of the Roman bridge were rediscovered during the construction of the present road bridge.This is also a well known spa nowadays but when it was first built it was a massive kitchen.

 

The Norman period commenced with the victory of William of Normandy at Hastings. He appointed his half brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, as Earl of Kent. Rochester's first Norman castle was probably of the motte and bailey type – a wooden tower and with palisades – on Boley Hill. This was the castle that was besieged by William Rufus during the Rebellion of 1088.

 

As a result of this siege, Bishop Gundulf was persuaded to build a stone castle with a curtain wall. It is not known how much, if any, of the surviving keep is his. Gundulf was a talented architect: he had started the building work on Rochester's Norman Cathedral in 1080, and was also responsible for the White Tower of the Tower of London.

 

Henry I granted the custody of the castle to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Corbeil. Corbeil started to build the great stone keep in 1127, much of which survives today. It is the tallest in England and has dominated the city and river crossing for 800 years.

 

The siege of 1215

In 1206, King John spent £115 on repairs to the castle and moat. He even preemptively held it during the year of the negotiations leading up to Magna Carta, but its terms forced him to hand it back into the custody of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1215. The rebel barons then sent troops under William d'Aubigny to the castle, to whom its constable Reginald de Cornhill opened the castle's gates. During October, marching from Dover to London, John then found Rochester in his way and on 11 October began besieging it in person.

 

The rebels were expecting reinforcements from London but on hearing of the size of King John's army they turned back at Dartford. Robert Fitzwalter rode out to stop the king, fighting his way onto the bridge but eventually being beaten back into the castle. He also sacked the cathedral, took anything of value and stabled his horses in it, all as a slight to Langton. Orders were then sent to the men of Canterbury saying, "We order you, just as you love us, and as soon as you see this letter, to make by day and night, all the pickaxes that you can. Every blacksmith in your city should stop all other work in order to make them and you should send them to us at Rochester with all speed". Five siege engines were then erected and work carried out to undermine the curtain wall. By one of these means the king's forces entered and held the bailey in early November, and began attempting the same tactics against the keep, including undermining the south-east tower. The mine-roof was supported by wooden props, which were then set alight using pig-fat, on 25 November 1215 John had sent a writ to the justiciars saying "Send to us with all speed by day and night, fifty of the fattest pigs of the sort least good for eating so that we may bring fire beneath the castle" [2], causing the south-east tower of the keep to collapse. The rebels withdrew behind the keep's cross-wall but still managed to hold out. A few were allowed to leave the castle but on John's orders had their hands and feet lopped off as an example.

 

Winter was now setting in, and the castle was only taken (on 30 November) by starvation and not by force. John set up a memorial to the pigs and a gallows with the intention of hanging the whole garrison, but one of his captains (Savari de Mauleon) persuaded him not to hang the rebels since hanging those who had surrendered would set a precedent if John ever surrendered - only one man was actually hanged (a young bowman who had previously been in John's service). The remainder of the rebel barons were taken away and imprisoned at various royal-held castles, such as Corfe Castle. Of the siege - against only 100 rebels, and costing over a thousand pounds a day - the Barnwell chronicler wrote "No one alive can remember a siege so fiercely pressed and so manfully resisted" and that, after it, "There were few who would put their trust in castles".

 

King John died on October 19, 1216, so it fell to Henry III to repair the castle. He spent over a £1000 on rebuilding, with new stables and gateways, and a further ditch to strengthen the defences. A new chapel was built next to the Royal apartments in the bailey. The most notable surviving feature is the new south-east tower, which was rebuilt according to the latest defensive design and is three-quarters round better to deflect missile attack and work against attempts at undermining.

 

The siege of 1264

In 1264, the dissident barons, led by Simon de Montfort, attacked Rochester. They crossed the Medway under cover of the smoke from a fire-ship, and took the city. Like John before them, they quickly gained control of the castle bailey and then attempted to undermine the keep. This time the siege was not successful, being relieved after only a week by Henry himself. However, the rebels did burn down many of the buildings, including the Royal chambers. Repairs were not carried out until 1367, under Edward III, by which time much of the stone had been removed for other use.

 

The 15th century Wars of the Roses were not fought in Kent, so the castle was spared. It was briefly taken by Wyatt's men during his futile uprising of 1554. But with the invention of gunpowder and introduction of cannon, this form of castle was no longer so secure. It became expensive to maintain so fell into disrepair.

 

Later military history

Rochester remained of strategic importance, and the neighbouring Chatham Naval Dockyard grew in importance. In the Napoleonic wars, the dockyard was protected by a circle of Palmerston Forts, including Fort Luton, Fort Borstal, Fort Pitt, Fort Clarence, and Fort Amherst. HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship was built in Chatham (though now "exiled" in Portsmouth). During the twentieth century wars, Chatham has provided a home for the Royal Engineers, and Rochester built aircraft such as the Sunderland. The Dockyard also built and serviced nuclear submarines.

 

Today

The castle is now maintained by English Heritage and is open to the public. The wooden flooring in the centre of the keep is gone, but many of the passageways and spiral staircases within the thickness of the walls are still usable. Decorative chevrons ornament the archways and the water well in the cross-wall is clearly visible. Visitors with a head for heights can climb 111 ft (34 m) to the battlements and enjoy a commanding view of the river and surrounding area.

 

Since Victorian times, Rochester Castle Gardens have been an important leisure area for Rochester. They were a popular promenade, they have hosted a bandstand, and have become a centre point for festivals and summer concerts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Castle

 

 

'Magnificent ruin!...What a study for an antiquarian!'

The impressive Norman castle at Rochester had a humbling effect upon Dickens, reminding him perhaps of his own mortality. In Household Words he wrote: 'I surveyed the massive ruin from the Bridge, and thought what a brief little practical joke I seemed to be, in comparison with the solidarity, stature, strength and length of life.' In Dickens' time the castle looked very different. Houses and workshops filled much of the moat by the cathedral, the keep and towers were festooned with ivy and the waters of the River Medway lapped the base of the walls. - Guidemap

 

 

To see Large:-

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Taken on

July 18, 2007 at 11:31 BST

Done