The City of Rochester

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[Rochester lost its city status in the course of local government reorganisation in 1998. But it was a city during the period covered by this blog, and therefore I shall refer to it as a city.]

Rochester has a long history; it was the Roman town of Durobrivae. The reason for Rochester's existence was the bridge which carried the Watling Street, the Roman road running from Rutupiae (Richborough) and Dubris (Dover) to London, across the River Medway.

The medieval bridge at Rochester; print from the early nineteenth century

Watling Street, or the Dover Road, is famous in history and in fiction. All kinds of people, from royalty to rebels, crossed the bridge. Chaucer's pilgrims passed that way on their journey to Canterbury. Later, the 'Dover Mail' carried the Continental mails, and passengers, to catch the Calais packet, and stagecoaches too plied up and down the road, bringing business to Rochester innkeepers. 


A Norman Castle guards the Medway crossing, and parts of the Roman and medieval city walls survive. A cathedral was founded in Rochester in 604 AD, the second in England after Canterbury. 


River traffic was also important to Rochester. In the eighteenth century agricultural produce, and paper from the paper mills at Maidstone, passed down the Medway towards the Thames. Coal and general goods came back. Shipbuilding, for the Royal Navy and for private owners, was carried on in shipyards on both sides of the river. There was also an oyster fishery on the Medway at Rochester. 

Rochester was governed by a Mayor and eleven aldermen. It had a weekly market on Fridays. A monthly cattle market was established in 1787. There were also two annual fairs, held in May and December. 

In the eighteenth century, Rochester had two parishes; St Nicholas, which served the High Street, and St Margaret, 2,500 acres, the bounds of which included the hamlet of Borstal to the south, and extended eastwards for about a mile from the river at the narrowest part. 

Map date 1894-1904
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

In the map above, St Margaret's parish is the brown area in the centre. St Nicholas is the smaller mauve area to the north, above the brown. 

There were two principal roads leading south from the High Street: St Margaret's Street, towards Borstal and Wouldham, and the turnpike road to Maidstone. 

Andrews and Dury's map, 1769. 
'Bostle' is wrongly placed; it should be on the road from Wouldham to Rochester, close to the river.

In 1769 the parish of St Nicholas, with Strood parish, obtained an Act of Parliament to carry out improvements. 

'WHEREAS the High Streets and Lanes in the Parish of Saint Nicholas within the City of Rochester and Parish of Strood in the County of Kent, are very ill paved and cleansed, and are not lighted and watched: And whereas the present Methods prescribed by Law for paving and cleansing the said Streets and Lanes are insufficient for those Purposes; and if Power was given to new pave and regulate the same Streets and Lanes, and to preserve and maintain the Pavements thereof for the future, and to cleanse, light, and watch the same, and to remove all Obstructions, Projections, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein, and to prevent the same for the future, and to make a Road through Star Lane, across the Fields and Grounds there leading to Chatham Hill, it would tend greatly to the Safety and Advantage of the respective Inhabitants of the said Parishes, and be of publick Utility.'

This proposed road was to be New Road, intended to bypass the narrow High Street east of 'Star Lane'. The Improvement Commissioners planned to borrow money to carry out the work of paving, lighting and cleaning and making the new road, which would be repaid by rates and tolls. It was originally proposed that Chatham should join with Strood and Rochester in the Act, but Chatham refused, fearing that a new road would take business away from the town. 

St Margaret's parish was mostly open country or farmland.  The author of a guide published in the 1790s wrote 'should the traveller have time to lengthen his walk [beyond St Margaret's church], he may have a very pleasing one in the fields beyond... nor indeed can he walk in any quarter of the environs of this city, without being struck with the beauty and variety of the prospects'. At the time this was published, however, the development of Troy Town had begun - the start of the process of covering most of St Margaret's with streets and houses. 


Next: The beginnings of 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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