Download Fact sheet - Medieval Medway

Fact sheet - Medieval Medway
The Norman invasion of 1066 had an almost immediate and lasting impact on
the area. William I gave Kent to his half-brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux,
who was to fall from grace during the reign of William’s son, William II. A
stone castle and a larger cathedral in Rochester were two prominent new
landmarks erected by the Normans within a few years of the Conquest.
People’s lives were dominated by the church and a feudal system which
meant that each individual owed service or labour to a superior. At the top of
this system was the king, who technically owned all the land in the country
and could dispose of it as he wished. Most ordinary people would have
worked on large farms, producing food for the profit of their lord but also for
their own survival. Increasingly, the larger landowners began to offer the king
money in place of military service and often maintained a considerable armed
following themselves.
Wars, civil and foreign, were a feature of the period and played their part in
the history of Medway. Both Cooling Castle and the 1387 version of
Rochester Bridge were built from money made as a result of the Hundred
Years War with France, while the sieges at Rochester Castle have become
nationally famous.
Places like Rochester began to grow in importance as they obtained rights
and privileges from the king and held markets which attracted people from the
surrounding countryside. As the towns grew larger, skilled workers formed
guilds to protect their own interests and men educated in the new universities
gave a boost to emerging professions such as law and medicine.
Resources
Rochester Castle, Kent (An English Heritage Handbook) by R. Allen Brown,
Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, 1985.
History of Rochester by Frederick Smith. John Hallewell Publications, new
edition 1976.
Rochester, the Past 2000 Years: a Chronology by the City of Rochester
Society, 1999.
A History of the Richard Watts Charity by E.J.F.Hinkley. Richard Watts and
the City of Rochester Almshouses Charity, 1979.
Temple Manor, Rochester by Stuart E. Rigold. English Heritage, 1990.
The City of Rochester
Becoming a city has nothing to do with building a cathedral
or a university or any similar institution. It is a status which
is granted by the governing power of the time. Today this is
Parliament; in the Middle Ages it was the king.
Over the years, Rochester has been granted many
charters outlining municipal privileges. One of the most
important was that allowed by Henry III in 1227. This was probably the
occasion for the manufacture of the city seal now on display at the Guildhall
Museum. This depicts Rochester Castle on one side, St Andrew on the other
and would have been used to authenticate official documents.
The privileges granted in these charters would have included the right to levy
duties and taxes. This was especially important for Rochester. The town quay
would have been an ideal place to unload imported goods for distribution
throughout north Kent.
In 1446 the city was given jurisdiction over the River Medway stretching all the
way from Hawkswood out to Sheerness. Charters also provided for the
election and appointment of city officials. It was in 1461 that Edward IV first
granted Rochester the right to elect its own mayor.
Rochester Castle
There was a castle at Rochester by the time
Domesday Book was compiled in 1086 but no trace
of this structure now survives. The bailey wall that
exists today was built in 1088 for William II by
Gundulf, the bishop of Rochester. It cost £60.
In 1127, Henry I gave custody of the castle to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
William de Corbeil. The Archbishop built the huge central keep which still
dominates the view of the city from the river. Standing 34.5 metres high, with
walls up to 3.5 metres thick, it is the tallest Norman keep in the country.
In 1215, this custodial arrangement was to lead to conflict at Rochester during
the wars between King John and his barons. The castle fell into the hands of
the king's enemies after the Archbishop argued with him and then fled the
country. John began by laying siege to the castle but brought the situation to a
rather speedier conclusion by digging a tunnel under the keep's south-eastern
tower. When the timber pit props were burnt in a fire kindled in the tunnel with
the fat of forty pigs, the tower collapsed, bringing down with it almost a quarter
of the entire keep. The tower was eventually rebuilt to a more robust circular
design, explaining the irregular appearance of the keep today.
The castle saw action again later in the 13th century and much repair and
rebuilding took place during the reign of Edward III. It is this period which is
largely represented by the detailed model on display in the keep. The steps
that today lead down onto the Esplanade where it meets Castle Hill were
added in the 19th century when the water bastion was restored. When it was
first built, this fortified tower looked over the entrance to the medieval bridge,
which was situated further upstream than its modern counterpart.
Rochester Castle passed into private hands in the 17th century and gradually
fell into disrepair. The grounds were turned into a public pleasure garden after
the Corporation of Rochester bought the site in 1884.
Temple Manor
Much of Strood was a royal manor until Henry II
gave it to the Knights Templar around 1159. This
was an order of monastic soldiers that had been
established to protect Christian pilgrims journeying
to the Holy Land. The order became extremely
wealthy and, after the Pope made it independent of
the authority of his bishops in 1128, extremely
powerful too. Its fall in 1307/8 was correspondingly
spectacular and violent, as the order was suppressed throughout Europe and
its leaders imprisoned and executed.
The Templars had assembled a range of buildings in Strood by 1185, which
included a timber hall, barns, kitchens and stables. The stone building, which
has survived to the present day, was added around 1240. It consists of a
vaulted undercroft supporting a large, undivided first-floor hall, approached by
an external staircase. This was probably a part of the range of facilities
designed for the temporary accommodation of travelling Templar dignitaries.
Over the years this hall was altered and enlarged as
it passed through the hands of a number of owners.
Many additions have been lost but two fine, 17th
century brick extensions can still be seen today.
These and the massive internal chimney were built
by the Blake family, perhaps the richest in Strood at
that time.
The estate was inevitably sold off bit by bit until the City of Rochester acquired
what was left in the 1930s and decided to use the site for industrial
development. The debate over the future of the house was interrupted by the
war and it was not until 1951 that work began to save the building and
preserve it in the condition in which it can be seen today.