About this blog

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This blog is intended to be a study of the area of Rochester in Kent known as Troy Town. It is not intended to be an academic project - hence 'stories' in the blog's name.

Published 1896
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

I started looking at Troy Town in a small way some years ago, but the research grew, and seemed to be becoming a long term project, so I thought I ought to share the results. I have known many local historians who have spent years researching, but no-one else has ever seen their work.

Over time I'll be looking at the physical development of Troy Town, the people who created it, the people who lived there, and outside events that had an impact on their lives. 

I'll be looking at the period from the beginning of Troy Town, around 1790, down to 1914. 

I will sometimes step outside Troy Town, or outside those dates, to look more generally at Rochester, not as a tourist destination with a historic cathedral and castle, but as a working city. If something interests me I might look at people and places and events even further afield; going down some research rabbit holes has taken me a long way from Rochester at times.  


If one lives locally to the place one is researching, a project such as this adds interest as one is walking around. One notices features one hadn't noticed before, realises why places were built or named as they were, or thinks of streets and buildings that have gone and the families that once lived there.


Small scale projects such as this are sometimes called 'microhistory', focusing on small communities, families or events, rather than entire cities, nations or major events. 



This level of detail might not be to the taste of those who prefer their history drawn on a larger scale with a broader brush. But history consists of the life stories of many individuals over many generations. Study of those individuals, the houses and streets where they lived and worked, gives an understanding of how a place came to be what it is today. And microhistories studying communities as they grow and decay, prosper and decline, in peace and war, can together help to tell the story of the nation.


Next: Defining Troy Town

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See my historical mystery fiction on Amazon Kindle here



The author has lived all her life in Kent, apart from a few years elsewhere as a student. She has a lifelong interest in local history, especially the history of Kent, and has been researching family history for decades. This blog brings together those interests in an ongoing study of the history of a small area of a smallish English city. The author also writes historical mystery fiction, which can be found on Amazon Kindle: see links at the foot of each blog post.

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