Home | Books | Links
| Fortifications and Castles | Other
Information | Help | Downloads
| Author Information | Contact
Rochester Castle
In the civil parish of Rochester.
In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Medway, 1974 county of Kent).
Rochester Castle dominates the point where Watling Street crosses the River Medway. The western curtain wall overlies an earlier Roman wall, making it likely that the area of the castle was once within the Roman town of Durobreve. The earliest references to the castle are in the Domesday Book and the first fortification of the site in stone is generally accredited to Bishop Gundulf after the siege of 1088. The wording of the agreement for work to be carried out also implies that an earlier castle, not built of stone, originally occupied the site. In 1127 Henry I gave permission to Archbishop William to construct a fort or tower (Municio wel turris) [This has been considered by some to be a licence to crenellate]. The four-storeyed stone keep, one of the largest in England, is 21m square with walls up to 3.5m thick and 34.5m high to the top of the parapet. This was damaged in siege of 1215 and repaired 1221. Damaged following siege of 1264 not repair until 1367. Castle abandoned in C15.
This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Major remains.
A supposed Royal licence
to crenellate was
granted in 1127 {Jan}.
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 172927)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ74136856
PastScape number;
416269
- Web site links
- Books
- Worssam, B.C. with an appendix by Ashbee, J., 2006, 'The building stones of Rochester Castle and Cathedral' in Ayers, T. and Tatton-Brown, T. (eds), Medieval art, architecture and archaeology at Rochester (Leeds: British Archaeological Association and Maney Publishing) p238-49
Ashbee, J., 2006, 'The medieval buildings and topography of Rochester Castle' in Ayers, T. and Tatton-Brown, T. (eds), Medieval art, architecture and archaeology at Rochester (Leeds: British Archaeological Association and Maney Publishing) p250-64
Goodall, J.A.A., 2006, 'The great tower of Rochester Castle' in Ayers, T. and Tatton-Brown, T. (eds), Medieval art, architecture and archaeology at Rochester (Leeds: British Archaeological Association and Maney Publishing) p265-99
Tatton-Brown, T., 2006, 'The topography and buildings of medieval Rochester' in Ayers, T. and Tatton-Brown, T. (eds), Medieval art, architecture and archaeology at Rochester (Leeds: British Archaeological Association and Maney Publishing) p22-37
Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern) p60-5
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p1246 [plan]
Rowlands, I.W., 1989, ‘King John, Stephen Langton and Rochester Castle, 1213–15' in Harper-Bill, C., Holdsworth, C.J. and Nelson, J.L. (eds), Studies in medieval history presented to R. Allen Brown (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p267–79
Drage, C., 1987, 'Urban castles' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p117-32
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p232-3
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p286-8
Guy, John, 1980, Kent Castles (Meresborough Books)
Smithers, David Waldron, 1980, Castles in Kent (Chatham)
Newman, John, 1976, The buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (Harmondsworth) p490-1
Brown, R.Allen, 1976 (3edn), English castles (Batsford) p15, 40-2, 45-6, 72, 99
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p806-14
Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p81-2
Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p10,18
Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p195-201
Evans, Herbert A., 1912, Castles of England and Wales (London) p98-113
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Chalkley Gould and Downham, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Kent Vol1 p419-20
Sands, Harold, 1907, 'Some Kentish Castles' in Ditchfield and Clinch, Memorials of Old Kent (London) p23-7
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p32-4
Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p405-23
Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol1 (London) p286-90
Britton, John, 1835, The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain (London) Vol4 p129-31
Hasted, Edward, 1778-99, A History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Vol2 p12-15
King, Edward, 1782, Observations on Antient Castles (London) p5-27
Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p138-9
Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol3 p94-107
- Journal Articles
- Renn, Derek, 2004, ‘Refortification at Rochester in the 1220s: a Public/Private Partnership?' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol124 p343-364
Ward, A., 1998, 'The castles of Kent no3: Rochester Castle' Kent Archaeological Society Newsletter Vol40 p1-3
Coulson, C., 1994, 'Freedom to Crenellate by Licence - An Historiographical Revision' Nottingham Medieval Studies Vol38 p104n50
Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106
Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p310
Wilcox, R.P., 1982, Timber and iron reinforcement in early buildings (Society of Antiquaries of London occasional papers Vol2) p15, 17, 33-4
Harrison, A.C., 1981, ‘Rochester 1974-75' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol97 p95-136
Coulson, C., 1979, 'Structural Symbolism in Medieval Castle Architecture' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol132 p83
Flight, C. and Harrison, A.C., 1978, ‘Rochester Castle, 1976' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol94 p27-60 and plates following
Winter, J.N. Guy, 1972-3, Cantium p78-85
(Rigold), 1966, Medieval Archaeology Vol10 p191
Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p249-280]
Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
1926, Archaeological Journal Vol83 p314-5
Livett , Rev. Grevile M., 1905, ‘The Reparation of Rochester Castle' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol27 p177-192
Payne, George, 1895, ‘Mediaeval Rochester' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol21 p21-3
Arnold, 1889, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol18 p196-9
Clark, G.T., 1875, Archaeological Journal Vol32 p204-28 [reprinted in MMA]
Hartshorne, C.H., 1863, Archaeological Journal Vol20 p205-23 [history only]
Larking, 1859, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol2 p11-32 [history only]
Beattie, W., 1854, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol9 p215-30 [history]
Duesbury, 1854, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol9 p339-48
Denne, S., 1782, Archaeologia Vol6 p381-91
King, E., 1777, Archaeologia Vol4 p367-89 [reprinted in Antient Castles]
- Guidebooks
- Brown, R. Allen, 1999, Rochester Castle Handbook (English Heritage)
Port, Graham, 1987. Rochester Castle (English Heritage)
Brown, R. Allen, 1986 [2edn], Rochester Castle, Kent (English Heritage)
Brown, R. Allen, 1969, Rochester Castle (HMSO)
Taylor, 1951, Rochester Castle (Rochester)
- Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents
- This section is far from complete and the secondary
sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum Vol2 p203
The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Laud Chronicle AD1088
- Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities24.htm]
William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/kenteng.html#kent15]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p250
Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol4 p45
Most of the sites or buildings
recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission
to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant |
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations. |
It is an offence to disturb a
Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of
everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site
without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation. |
Please help me to make this as
useful a resource as possible by contacting
me if you see errors
or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with
this site. |
*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
|
¤¤¤¤¤
