Rochester City Wall and Medway Bridge

In the civil parish of Rochester. In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Medway, 1974 county of Kent).

Good sections remain of city wall built along line of Roman wall and incorporating some Roman work, unfortunatley the mighty East gate has long vanished. Roman walled repaired in 1193, murage granted 1225,1262. Further building and repairs done in C14. 4 surviving stretches are distinguished on the map as 7/2A (off The Common), 9/2B (off Free School Lane), 9/2C (enclosing City Ditch) and 9/2D (off St Margaret's Street. None have post office addresses. 7/2A runs N/S for about 30m and is in a fragmentary state with little facing stone surviving, some parts underpinning later structures. 9/2B is the most impressive and upstanding section incorporating the NE circular bastion (of 2 storeys with 3 lancets to upper stage). The upper courses of the wall attached are largely rebuilt; a short stretch retains coped merlons. 9/2C, rebuilt when the city walls were pushed further out in the Mid C14 retains the SE bastion, much reduced. 9/2D is short and much renewed.
The stone bridge across the Medway, built between 1383 and 1393, had a drawbridge and winding house between the sixth and seventh piers. The bridge was privately funded but the windinghouse and drawbridge was funded by Richard II.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ743683

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 416085
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is TQ 76 NW 357 and others 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Books
  • 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
    Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p22, 23, 40, 46, 47, 55-6, 65, 70, 147, 163, 180, 261
    Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern) p65
    Bragard, P., Termote, J. and Williams, J., 1999, Walking the walls: historic town defences in Kent, Côte d'Opale and West Flanders (Maidstone)
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p124-6
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p239
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p66
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p158-9
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p814-5
    Becker, M.J., 1930, Rochester Bridge 1387-1856 Chap1
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p205-7
    Hasted, Edward, 1798 (2edn), A History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Vol4 p45- http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53798
• Journal Articles
  • Flight, C. and Harrison, A.C.,1986, ‘The southern defences of medieval Rochester' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol103 p1–26
    Bacchus, D., 1986, ‘Excavations at the south-east bastion, Rochester city wall' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol110 p129-138
    Harrison, A.C.,1981, 'Rochester, 1974-5' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol97 p95-136
    Harrison, A.C. and Williams, D., 1979, 'Excavations at Prior's Gate House, Rochester, 1967-77' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol95 p19-36
    Harrison, A.C., 1972, ‘ Rochester East Gate, 1969' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol87 p121-158
    (Harrison), 1970, Medieval Archaeology Vol14 p182 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Harrison. A.C. and Flight, C., 1968, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol83 p55-104
    1965, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol80 p.lv-lvi
    Livett, G.M., 1895, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol21 p38-72 [theories of Norman extensions now made untenable]
    Poste, 1859, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol2 p65-72
    1854, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol9 p424-5
    Poste, 1849, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol6 p30-7
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Pipe Roll 5 Richard I, 166 [repair of walls in 1193]
    Rot. Litt. Claus., II, 56 [grant of money for walls in 1225]
    Cal. Lib. Rolls, 104 [grant of money for walls in 1262]
    CPR (1396-1399) p137 [Writ of aid to arrest workmen to work on walls]
• 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