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    Haunted Rochester
    Haunted Rochester
    Haunted Rochester
    Ebook181 pages2 hours

    Haunted Rochester

    By Neil Arnold and Kevin Payne

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    About this ebook

    Rochester is riddled with tales of phantom monks, eerie tunnels, romantic spirits, dark apparitions, and ancient history, but pick up any book pertaining to ghostlore and you will find only a handful of tales from Rochester, which has become a much ignored haven of spiritual activity. Now, however, comes a unique volume which proves that Rochester is in fact one of the most haunted places in Kent. Its High Street alone harbours over forty ghost stories, whilst its surrounding schools, houses and pubs are home to many obscure spectres. The atmosphere described by Charles Dickens many years ago can now be seen in a more chilling light, so read on to discover the ghosts of Rochester’s past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe History Press
    Release dateApr 1, 2011
    ISBN9780750959902
    Haunted Rochester

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      Book preview

      Haunted Rochester - Neil Arnold

      ’The figure was tall and thin, and the countenance expressive of care and anxiety; but there was something in the hue of the skin, and gaunt and unearthly appearance of the whole form, which no being of this world was ever seen to wear.’

      Charles Dickens – The Lawyer and the Ghost

      THE town and former city known as Rochester was first settled upon around 100 BC when the Belgae, who crossed from the Channel, left the first evidence. Of course, much has changed since the Roman invasion of ad 43: they called the settlement Durobrivae – ‘The Stronghold by the Bridge’ – after building the first bridge to fortify the place. The City of Rochester booklet entitled Rochester’s Heritage Trail states: ‘The earliest records, dating from ad 960, relate to a bridge of nine stone piers connected by wooden beams and planks’. Rochester was once a walled town, such defences erected by the Romans, and these fortifications survived into the Middle Ages. In the High Street, the City Wall Wine Bar at No. 120 has the remains of a Roman wall on its premises, possibly dating back to ad 193. A medieval wall can also be observed between the High Street and the north-east bastion in Corporation Street.

      In AD 604 the first Christian church was established. A few years after, the King’s School was founded. However, in 676 Ethelred, King of the Mercians laid siege upon Kent and destroyed Rochester, yet within a few decades Rochester was recognised as a trading city (although several more attempts would be made by an enemy to lay siege upon the city). The castle constructed in the area, according to A Chronology Of Rochester, ‘…was probably built (in 1085); a motte-and bailey construction at Boley Hill’. Three years later King William Rufus attacked the castle; in reaction, Gundulf, appointed as Bishop of Rochester in 1077, built the first stone castle.

      In 1127 William de Corbeil proceeded to erect the great square castle keep. This huge keep measures over 110ft in height and some 12ft in thickness at its base. However, this didn’t prevent further sieges in 1215 and 1264.

      In 1387 the stone bridge, measuring over 500ft in length, was erected over the River Medway to replace the cumbersome and deteriorated previous structure. It was completed in 1392. Between 1850 and 1856 a new bridge was built based on the design of Sir William Cubitt. This replaced the medieval bridge which a year later was demolished by the Royal Engineers. In 1914 the Victorian bridge was rebuilt – and then, during the 1960s, a second bridge was built to carry the eastbound traffic. It has housed a railway since 1891.

      Kings and Queens have delighted in visiting Rochester. Queen Victoria (as Princess) even stayed at the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel, in the High Street. This was recorded in the Rochester Gazette of Tuesday 6 December 1836. A severe storm confined her to the Royal Bull Inn after it was deemed unsafe to cross the bridge. After this visit the hotel altered its name. Years earlier, in September 1573, Elizabeth, sister of Queen Mary, was said to have visited Rochester and The Crown Inn (now The Crown). She was also said to have stayed in a house at Bully Hill (Boley Hill).

      Of course, the best known resident of the area was Charles Dickens, who, although growing up around Chatham during childhood, and living close by to Rochester at Gad’s Hill, in Higham (four miles west of Rochester), is often connected to Rochester, as it remains, alongside London, the most featured place in his books. To celebrate his works, each year a Dickens Festival takes place during the summer and in the winter. Rochester also puts on a Sweeps Festival in May.

      Rochester existed as a city from 1211 to 1998. It lost its coveted title after an apparent administrative error, a blunder which was brought to light in 2002 when The City of Rochester Society noticed that the city was missing from the Lord Chancellor’s list of UK cities (although the original error occurred four years previously when Medway became a unitary authority). The status was lost when, according to the BBC News website of 16 May 2002, ‘The old Rochester-upon-Medway City Council was asked if it wanted to employ charter trustees, who would protect the city’s status. That was deemed unnecessary, resulting in the loss of status.’

      However, due to its historical nature the former city-council area was to continue to be styled the ‘city’ of Rochester. The only way for Rochester to once again officially exist as a city is if granted the honour by the Queen. On three occasions up until 2010, Medway Council applied for city status pertaining to Medway, but failed.

      You’ll find that Rochester boasts a huge number of ghost stories unpublished until now. It’s no surprise that the town is so haunted: several sieges took place at the castle, and the history of Rochester is littered with grim tales of death. In April 1556, according to Samuel Dene and William Shrubsole’s 1817 book The History and Antiquities of Rochester and its Environs, Rochester became the theatre of one of those horrid scenes that disgraced the reign and religion of Queen Mary: ‘John Harpole of St Nicholas Parish in this city and Joan Beach of Tunbridge were burnt alive as heretics, according to the sentence of Maurice Griffin, Bishop of Rochester, for denying authority of the church, and the transubstantiation of the sacramental elements’. Meanwhile, in 1665, during the plague, St Nicholas Church (next to Rochester Cathedral) listed that between April and Christmas more than 500 ‘corps’ were interred in the burying ground of the parish.

      Rochester – ghost capital of Kent?

      The authors – Kevin Payne and Neil Arnold.

      This book does not set out to prove whether ghosts exist. Belief is down to the individual. However, as you will read, many people have experienced strange things in the cellars, attics, courtyards, graveyards, corridors and halls of many of the buildings dotted throughout this historic place. We hope that Charles Dickens would have been proud to learn that his beloved Rochester continues to exude the delightful mystery he once wrote of many years ago. So, when you next visit this wonderful place, we hope you’ll be a little more observant when looking up at those old windows, and down those dark alleyways.

      If you’d like to visit Rochester’s haunted locations, try the Rochester Ghost Walk, run every month by Neil Arnold. For more information visit: www.hauntedrochester. blogspot.com

      Neil Arnold and Kevin Payne, Rochester 2011

      ‘He always said, what a curious thing it was that he should have found out, by such a mere accident as his climbing over the palings, that the ghosts of mail coaches and horses, guards, coachmen, and passengers, were in the habit of making journeys regularly every night.’

      Charles Dickens – The Ghosts of the Mail

      VERY little has been written about the ghosts of Rochester High Street. Hundreds of books on British ghosts have been published worldwide, but only a handful mention the more popular spook tales which Rochester harbours. Much of what you are about to read is previously unpublished material. Although Kent boasts many haunted locations, such as the village of Pluckley (reputedly England’s most spook-infested village), we believe that Rochester and its High Street is one of the most haunted places which has remained out of the public eye, until now. Medway Council’s pamphlet A Walk Around The City of Rochester states, ‘The High Street is part of the Roman Road (Watling Street) from London to the Kent coast. Countless travellers have passed this way since Roman times, because it remained the main highway to the Continent until the 20th century. The High Street formed part of the A2 trunk route up to 1980’.

      Each year thousands of visitors flock to view the historical buildings dotted along the High Street, as well as take in the shops, bars, restaurants and the castle and cathedral.

      We have written this chapter as a tour guide through the High Street so that when you next visit the town you can take in the atmosphere of ghostly tales along the way. We have written it as if you are walking to Rochester from the Chatham stretch. Every business listed in this chapter is correct at the time of writing. Please remember, should you wish to conduct your own ghost hunt, to respect the premises. All of these properties are privately owned, and owners would need to be contacted prior to any investigation.

      The Ship Inn

      Our first port of call is The Ship Inn public house at No. 347 in the High Street (on the right-hand side as you walk from Chatham to Rochester). It sits on the corner of Ship Lane and, compared to most of the properties and their stories you are about to read, it is far closer to Chatham than Rochester. It is also a very old location. In fact, a dwelling house was first built here in 1511; what you now see was erected in 1832. However, the sale of ales from the premises was first permitted in 1768, when the house registered as The Ship Ale House.

      The Ship inn.

      This friendly pub attracts a predominantly gay crowd. Although at the time of writing it’s under relatively new management, who have reported no paranormal activity, there is a story from The People newspaper of 3 February 2002 which suggests otherwise (albeit with an awful headline!): ‘Pub ghost is homosexuale – Locals at a historic pub are being haunted by a gay ghost.’

      The Medway Today of 5 May 2002 was less dramatic, but more atmospheric with its headline, ‘Ghost raises evil spirits at gay haunt’, stating: ‘A ghost may be haunting Britain’s oldest gay pub. Staff at the Ship Inn in Rochester High Street say they have felt an eerie presence in the pub. And they believe it could be the spirit of a man who hanged himself on the premises forty years ago after splitting up with his boyfriend.’

      Bar Manager Bea Torson told the newspaper:

      ‘Often when you go to the back bar after closing time you feel a strange presence there, as if someone is right behind you. It’s after closing time and you feel you’ve left a

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