Visit Rochester, Kent Places

Welcome to Visit Rochester, Kent Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Rochester, Kent

  

Rochester, Kent Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Rochester, Kent

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Rochester, Kent history

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Neolithic remains have been found in the vicinity of Rochester. Over time it has been variously occupied by Celts, Romans, Jutes and/or Saxons. During the Celtic period it was one of the two administrative centres of the Cantiaci tribe. In AD 604 the bishopric and cathedral were founded. The medieval period saw the building of the current cathedral.

Military history

Rochester has for centuries been of great strategic importance through its position near the confluence of the Thames and the Medway. In 1667, the city was raided by the Dutch fleet as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Royal Navy Dockyard’s establishment at Chatham witnessed the beginning of the Royal Navy’s long period of supremacy.

Civic history and traditions

Rochester was recognised as a City from 1211 to 1998. It had no formal council or Charter Trustees nor a Mayor, instead having the office of Admiral of the River Medway. Since Norman times Rochester had always governed land on the other side of the Medway in Strood, which was known as Strood Intra.

Ecclesiastical parishes

Rochester’s pre-1537 diocese covered a vast area extending into East Anglia and included all of Essex. There were three medieval parishes: St Nicholas’, St Margaret’s and St Clement’s. St Nicholas’ Church was built in 1421 beside the cathedral to serve as a parish church for the citizens of Rochester.

Rochester, Kent culture & places

Sweeps Festival

Since 1980 the city has seen the revival of the historic Rochester Jack-in-the-Green May Day dancing chimney sweeps tradition. The festival has since grown from a small gathering of local Morris dance sides to one of the largest in the world. The association with Dickens is the theme for Rochester’s two Dickens Festivals.

Library

A new public library was built alongside the Adult Education Centre, Eastgate. This enabled the registry office to move from Maidstone Road, Chatham into the Corn Exchange on Rochester High Street (where the library was formerly housed)

Huguenot Museum

A new Huguenot Museum, which includes items from the collections of the French Hospital, was opened in Rochester on 13 May 2015, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and individual donations.

Theatre

Medway Little Theatre opened its first season in 1958. Hundreds of plays have been presented ranging from Shakespeare to Ayckbourn. Every summer the Duncan Rand One-Act Play Festival attracts groups from far and wide.

Media

The local commercial radio station for Rochester is KMFM Medway, owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station Radio Sunlight. The area receives broadcasts from county-wide stations BBC Radio Kent, Heart and Gold.

Sport

Rochester United F.C. was its old football club but has been defunct for many decades. Holcombe Hockey Club enter teams in both the Men’s and Women’s England Hockey Leagues. Medway R.F. play their matches at Priestfields.

Film

The 1959 James Bond novel Goldfinger describes the A2 through the Medway Towns from Strood to Chatham. The War Game depicts the town’s destruction by a nuclear missile. The 2011 adventure film Ironclad is based upon the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle.

Notable people

Charles Dickens lived within the diocese at nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham. Descriptions of the town appear in Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dame Sybil Thorndike and her brother Russell were brought up in Minor Canon Row adjacent to the cathedral.

Rochester, Kent toponymy

Bede mentions the city in c. 730 and calls it Hrofes cæster, mistaking its meaning as Hrofi’s fortified camp. Bede also mentions it as a fortified camp in 730. From this came the name Durobrivis, which is the latinisation of Dourbruf meaning “swiftstream”

Rochester, Kent geography / climate

Rochester lies within the area known to geologists as the London Basin. The low-lying Hoo peninsula to the north of the town consists of London Clay, and the alluvium brought down by the two rivers—the Thames and the Medway—whose confluence is in this area. As a human settlement, Rochester became established as the lowest river crossing of the River Medway, well before the arrival of the Romans.

You can visit Rochester, Kent places with Walkfo Rochester, Kent to hear history at Rochester, Kent’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Rochester, Kent has 84 places to visit in our interactive Rochester, Kent map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Rochester, Kent, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Rochester, Kent places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Rochester, Kent & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 84 audio facts unique to Rochester, Kent places in an interactive Rochester, Kent map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Rochester, Kent Places Map
84 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Rochester, Kent historic spots	Rochester, Kent tourist destinations	Rochester, Kent plaques	Rochester, Kent geographic features
Walkfo Rochester, Kent tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Rochester, Kent

  

Best Rochester, Kent places to visit

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Rochester, Kent has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Rochester, Kent’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Rochester, Kent’s information audio spots:

Medway The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council to form Medway Council . It is one of the boroughs included in the Thames Gateway development scheme .

Royal Marine Barracks, Chatham The Royal Marine Barracks, Chatham was a military installation occupied by the Royal Marines and located at the Gun Wharf at Chatham in Kent. The barracks were situated immediately to the south of the Dockyard, just above the Ordnance Wharf. They were closed in 1950 and demolished in 1960.

Gillingham bus disaster The Gillingham bus disaster occurred outside Chatham Dockyard, Kent on 4 December 1951. A double-decker bus ploughed into a company of fifty-two young members of the Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps. Twenty-four of the cadets were killed and eighteen injured; at the time it was the highest loss of life in any road accident in British history.

Diocese of Rochester The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in the English county of Kent and the Province of Canterbury. It was established with the authority of King Æthelberht of Kent by Augustine of Canterbury in 604 at the same time as the see of London. The current diocesan boundaries roughly match its pre-19th century extent. The diocese is subdivided into three archdeaconries.

Rochester Guildhall The Rochester Guildhall is an historic building located in the High Street in Rochester, Kent, England. It is a Grade I listed building.

Fort Clarence Fort Clarence is a now defunct fortification that was located in Rochester, Kent, England. Fort Clarence was located on the Kent coast of Kent.

Fort Horsted Fort Horsted is a scheduled monument (Monument Number 416040) that lies in the Horsted Valley to the South of Chatham, Kent, England. It is a late 19th-century Land Fort, and one of six constructed around Chatham and Gillingham, Kent to protect HM Dockyard Chatham from attack.

HM Prison Rochester HM Prison Rochester (formerly known as Borstal Prison) is a male Young Offenders Institution, founded in 1870, and located in the Borstal area of Rochester in Kent. The prison is operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service, and is located next to HMP Cookham Wood.

HM Prison Cookham Wood HM Prison Cookham Wood is a male young person’s’ prison and Young Offenders Institution in the village of Borstal (near Rochester) in Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty’s Prison and probation Service.

Ranscombe Farm Ranscombe Farm, in Cuxton in North Kent, is a Plantlife Nature Reserve, country park and working farm. Part of the site is included in the Cobham Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole farm is within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Visit Rochester, Kent plaques