Rochester Castle, Kent: One Of The Best Preserved In England
The 12th century stone tower at Rochester Castle, Kent is one of the best preserved in England.
Strategically placed astride the London Road, guarding an important crossing of the River Medway, this imposing fortress has a complex history of destruction and rebuilding.
Today, it stands as a proud reminder of the history of Rochester, along with the cathedral and cobbled streets.
The castle, built in stone by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester in the 1080s, was one of the earliest such buildings in England.
In 1127, Henry I entrusted it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who began to build the great keep – a masterpiece of medieval architecture, and the tallest such building to survive in Europe.
The keep is one of the most impressive surviving medieval castle buildings on account of its height of 38 metres (125 feet).
The main exterior walling consists of courses of irregular Kentish ragstone, but the corners of the building and the arched windows were made of finely shaped Caen stone from Normandy.
Though many window mouldings have been eroded, enough survive to show that the windows at the higher levels were larger and more elaborate, with distinctive chevron carvings around the arches, than those lower down.
These differences reflected the relative importance of the different floors.
The interior of the keep has stood since the 17th century as a vast, roofless space. An east–west spine wall divides the interior into two halves and contains the shaft of the keep’s well.
The castle endured three sieges, including a famous assault by King John in 1215, when one corner of the keep was destroyed.
Although it became redundant as a royal stronghold in the late Middle Ages and fell into ruin in the 17th century, it remains a potent symbol of medieval secular power.
Construction of the stone tower (The Keep)
In 1127, Henry I entrusted the castle to William de Corbeil, Archbishop of Canterbury, on condition that the archbishop build fortifications there.
This led to the construction of the great keep, described by contemporaries as ‘outstanding’ and ‘noble’.
Subsequent archbishops of Canterbury retained control of the castle on the king’s behalf throughout the 12th century, including during the troubled period of conflict between Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket.
In the early 13th century new disputes between king and archbishop culminated in the famous siege of 1215.
Between October and December 1215 King John laid siege to Rochester Castle in a bid to retake it from rebels.
Having broken Rochester Bridge and captured the castle bailey, the royal army used siege engines to bombard the rebels inside the keep with stones, while miners attacked the building’s south-east turret.
Burning the fat from ‘40 pigs too fat to eat’ to fire the timber props they had used to support the undermined masonry, the attackers brought down the south-east corner of the keep and forced the rebels to retreat to the northern half of the interior.
Starvation soon forced the rebels’ surrender.
Chroniclers left vivid descriptions of the siege, which was clearly an action of outstanding ferocity, even if the king’s victory was short-lived as he died the following year.
John’s son Henry III (r.1216–72) repaired the keep and added a complex of residential buildings in the bailey, described in many detailed writs.
One wall of the king’s chamber survives in the west curtain wall.
The royal court frequently visited the castle in the mid-13th century, but during a further siege in 1264, by Earl Simon de Montfort and barons rebelling against the king, the king’s hall and other bailey buildings were burned.
The rebels captured the bailey but were unable to take the keep, and were eventually driven off by royal reinforcements.
Soon after, however, the garrison was forced to surrender after a royal army was defeated in battle at Lewes.
The damage of 1264 had a lasting impact - the royal hall and chambers in the bailey were never rebuilt, and the castle went into a long period of decline.
Unusually the keep, by then redundant in many other royal castles, became the principal residential building.
Elizabeth (d.1327), wife of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland (r.1306–29), was briefly a prisoner in Rochester Castle in 1314.
In the 14th century Edward III (r.1327–77) and Richard II (r.1377–99) ordered some repairs to reverse years of decay and pilfering of materials.
The two rectangular towers of the east curtain wall and the remains of the north-west tower date to this period.
From the 15th century, however, the bailey was let to tenants.
By the second half of the 16th century the castle was entirely redundant, and Elizabeth I (r.1558–1603) licensed the removal of stone from the curtain wall to build the new fort at Upon.
Today, Rochester Castle remains one of the most impressive Norman fortresses and continues to attract visitors from far and wide.
Recently, three smelling stations have been installed at the castle.
The smelling stations will give visitors the chance to step back in time and get an even better sense of what the historic building would have been like hundreds of years ago.
Visitors will be able to get a whiff of the food store.
This was one of the most important rooms in the castle and would have been filled with fish, poultry, cheese, herbs and spices as well as ale and wine.
Moving on to the chapel, you can expect strong incense smells like myrrh, ambergris, cinnamon, saffron, rosemary and more.
This smell sensation is inspired by 11th century medieval manuscripts.
The last stop is the cess pit, which is definitely one for braver visitors.
This is where all of the castle’s waste, both human and animal, would have ended up – so be prepared!
Someone who recently visited the castle said: “I was initially concerned about getting to the top, but it can be done in stages.
”It has a fascinating history and the views from the top are wonderful. Sat in the grounds afterwards with a coffee from the little kiosk - though there are a shortage of benches!”
Another person added: “What a hidden gem! We loved the adventure of the climb, as well as the staff's enthusiasm for their local history!
”Would recommend to anyone visiting Rochester or their surrounds!”
The castle is open from Tuesday to Sunday, between 10am and 4pm, with last admission 45 minutes before closing.
If you’d like top visit, the address is: Castle Hill, Rochester ME1 1SW.
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