A UK high street that immerses you in an atmosphere of centuries gone by was a famous setting for several novels by a British author. The town was once a city, but an admin mistake caused the status to be reverted despite it being home to England’s second oldest cathedral.
Rochester in Kent is also home to an imposing yet beautiful Norman castle that was founded after the Norman Conquest and Battle of Hastings. Rochester Castle stands on the River Medway’s east bank – and it’s been there for over 900 years. Visitors describe the historical building as a ‘fine castle’ with ‘amazing views’ across the town and river.
In the year 1211, Rochester was first recognised as a city, and as history went on the settlement was raided by Dutch fleets in the 1600s along with other invasions leading to the surrounding area becoming circled by fortresses.
Victorian author Charles Dickens also walked the streets of Rochester in Kent from 1837 until his death in 1870, with most of his novels being set in the area and inspired by people of the time that lived there. In this century, Rochester was still a city.
It was over 120 years later, in 1998, when an admin error led to Rochester becoming a town instead of a city, despite holding a city status for nearly 800 years.
An oversight by officials at the time had failed to appoint the trustees that were necessary to maintain Rochester’s city status in 1998, but the mistake took four years to come to light.
New unitary authority, Medway council was created in 1998 – and it was this changeover that led to the error, with the newly formed council blaming its predecessor organisation at the time.
The City of Rochester Society spotted the lost city status after discovering it was missing from the Lord Chancellor’s list of UK cities, in 2002 – four years after the initial slip up.
Mayor Ted Baker was horrified at the time (in 2002) when the error came to light, he commented then saying: ‘Rochester received city status in 1211. A city is a city’.
However, the mistake was never rectified and in current times Rochester remains a town.
For Charles Dickens too, a plan for his burial also saw an upheaval in the hands of burial organisers at the time in Rochester.
At death, it was Dicken’s wish to be buried in the cemetery of Lady Chapel of Rochester Cathedral, however, his remains were ‘whisked away’ in June 1870.
Instead he was laid to rest at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, leaving an empty grave with no body at his planned place of rest in Rochester.