Remains from the Neolithic Age 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. During the
Roman conquest of Britain, a decisive battle was fought at the Medway somewhere near Rochester. The first bridge was subsequently constructed early in the Roman period. During the later Roman Period, the settlement was walled in stone.
King Æthelberht of Kent (560–616) established a legal system which has been preserved in the 12th-century
Textus Roffensis. In AD 604, the bishopric and Rochester Cathedral were founded. During this period, from the recall of the legions until the
Norman Conquest, Rochester was sacked at least twice and besieged on another occasion. The
medieval period saw the building of the current Rochester Cathedral (1080–1130, 1227 and 1343), the building of two castles and the establishment of a significant town.
Rochester Castle saw action in the sieges of 1215 and 1264. Rochester's basic street plan was set out, constrained by the River Medway, Watling Street, Rochester Priory and Rochester Castle. Rochester has produced two martyrs:
St John Fisher, executed by
Henry VIII for refusing to sanction the divorce of
Catherine of Aragon; and
Bishop Nicholas Ridley, executed by
Queen Mary for being an
English Reformation protestant.
Military history (engraving, G.F. Sargent c. 1836) Rochester has for centuries been of great strategic importance through its position near the confluence of the
Thames and the
Medway.
Rochester Castle was built to guard the river crossing. In 1667, the city was
raided by the Dutch fleet as part of the
Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch, commanded by
Admiral de Ruijter, broke through the
chain at
Upnor and sailed to Rochester Bridge, capturing and burning part of the English Fleet. The founding of the
Royal Navy Dockyard at
Chatham witnessed the beginning of the long supremacy of the
Royal Navy. The town, as part of the
Medway Towns, is surrounded by two circles of
fortresses; the inner line built during the
Napoleonic Wars consists of
Fort Clarence,
Fort Pitt,
Fort Amherst and
Fort Gillingham. The outer line of
Palmerston Forts was built during the 1860s in light of the report by the
Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom and consists of
Fort Borstal,
Fort Bridgewood,
Fort Luton, and the
Twydall Redoubts, with two additional forts on islands in the Medway, namely
Fort Hoo and
Fort Darnet. During the
First World War the
Short Brothers'
aircraft manufacturing company developed the first plane to launch a
torpedo, the
Short Admiralty Type 184, at its seaplane factory on the River Medway not far from Rochester Castle. During the
Interwar Period between the First World War and the
Second World War the company established a worldwide reputation as a constructor of
flying boats with aircraft such as the
Singapore,
Empire 'C'-Class and
Sunderland. During the Second World War, Shorts also designed and manufactured the first four-engined
bomber, the
Stirling. The decline in the naval power of the
United Kingdom and shipbuilding competitiveness led to
HM Government decommissioning the Royal Navy Shipyard at Chatham in 1984, which led to the subsequent demise of much local maritime industry. Rochester and its neighbouring communities were hit hard by this and have experienced a painful adjustment to a
post-industrial economy, with much social deprivation and unemployment resulting. On the closure of Chatham Dockyard on 31 March 1984 the area experienced an unprecedented surge in unemployment to 24 percent; this had dropped to 2.4 percent of the local population by 2014.
Civic history and traditions Rochester was recognised as a City from 1211 to 1998. The City of Rochester's ancient status was unique, as it had no formal council or Charter Trustees nor a Mayor, instead having the office of Admiral of the River Medway, whose incumbent acted as
de facto civic leader. Since Norman times Rochester had always governed land on the other side of the
Medway in
Strood, which was known as
Strood Intra; before 1835 it was about wide and stretched to Gun Lane. In the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835 the boundaries were extended to include more of Strood and Frindsbury, and part of Chatham known as
Chatham Intra. Like many of the medieval towns of England, Rochester had civic
Freemen whose historic duties and rights were abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. However, the
Guild of Free Fishers and Dredgers continues to the present day and retains rights, duties and responsibilities on the Medway, between Sheerness and Hawkwood Stone. This ancient corporate body convenes at the Admiralty Court whose
Jury of Freemen is responsible for the conservancy of the River as enshrined in current legislation. The City Freedom can be obtained by residents after serving a period of "servitude", i.e.
apprenticeship (traditionally seven years), before admission as a Freeman. The annual ceremonial
Beating of the Bounds by the River Medway takes place after the Admiralty Court, usually on the first Saturday of July.
Ecclesiastical parishes There were three medieval
parishes: St Nicholas',
St Margaret's and St Clement's. St Clement's was in Horsewash Lane until the last vicar died in 1538 when it was joined with St Nicholas' parish; the church's last remaining foundations were finally removed when the railway was being constructed in the 1850s.
St Nicholas' Church was built in 1421 beside the
cathedral to serve as a parish church for the citizens of Rochester. The ancient cathedral included the
Benedictine monastic priory of
St Andrew with greater status than the local parishes. Rochester's pre-1537 diocese, under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome, covered a vast area extending into East Anglia and included all of Essex. As a result of the restructuring of the Church during the
Reformation the cathedral was reconsecrated as the
Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary without
parochial responsibilities, being a diocesan church. In the 19th century the parish of St Peter's was created to serve the burgeoning city with the new church being consecrated in 1859. Following demographic shifts, St Peter's and St Margaret's were recombined as a joint benefice in 1953 with the parish of St Nicholas with St Clement being absorbed in 1971. The combined parish is now the "Parish of St Peter with St Margaret", centred at the new (1973) Parish Centre in The Delce (St Peter's) with St Margaret's remaining as a
chapel-of-ease. Old St Peter's was demolished in 1974, while St Nicholas' Church has been converted into the diocesan offices but remains consecrated. Continued expansion south has led to the creation of an additional more recent parish of St Justus (1956) covering The Tideway
estate and surrounding area. A church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin at
Eastgate, which was of Anglo-Saxon foundation, is understood to have constituted a parish until the Middle Ages, but few records survive. ==Governance==