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ROCHESTER THE PRECINCT TQ 7468 NW, TQ 7468 SW 7/193, 9/193 Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Rochester (formerly Priory of St Andrew was included) 24-10-50 GV I Cathedral Church. (For cloister buildings see refs 9/188 and 9/189; for associated medieval buildings, see 7/187, 7 and 9/199, 7 and 9/200, 9/201). C7 origins (reverted in excavations). Re- established as a cathedral-priory by Bishop Gandulf and rebuilt by him (1078-1108); parts of his cathedral survive within the present walling of the nave aisles along with the formerly detached Gandulf's tower and parts of the crypt. Mid-C12 rebuilding (W front no earlier than the late-1140s). E end (including E 2 bays of nave) c.1210-40. Alterations (mainly refenestration) in C14 and C15. Early C16 Lady Chapel. Major restorations by Cottingham (1825), Scott (1870s, mainly E end repairs and internal refurbishing), Pearson (1888, especially the W front), and C Hodgson-Fowler (1904-5 rebuilding of central tower). Ragstone with limestone ashlar and dressings; slate and lead roofs. Nave and aisles of 8 bays; Lady Chapel in angle formed by S aisle and transept, central crossing (with tower), aisled choir (with Gandulf's Tower to N), E transepts, aisleless presbytery with library and chapter room to S. Crypt. The cathedral is fully described and evaluated in Newham (1980, pp 470-88); detailed descriptions given there are not duplicated in this account which is cross-referenced to Newman throughout. Of particular importance note Gandulf's Tower (p 473): the original ashlar lining has been replaced in brick but enough survives at 2nd-floor level to confirm the existence of a doorway that must have led by way of a wooden bridge into the N transept. The nave gallery (p 475) is unusual in that it possesses no floor. W front (carefully restored by Pearson) retains important carving to the central portal (left untouched by Pearson) influenced by St Denys of the 1140s. The design of the E parts is of great interest and quality: the presbytery has no aisles and its elevation is of 2 storeys (unique in an English cathedral, Newman p 478); the choir is unusual in having solid walls dividing it from the N and S aisles (p 479). Not mentioned in Newman is the library, entered through the Decorated doorway in the SE transept (p 479): C15 with wall plate (wavy and oncave moulding), C17 (possibly re-worked) doorcase to S, C18 panelled shutters with HL hinges; fireplace with eared architrave with cyma moulding. Fittings and Furnishings. Nave. Font, by Earp, 1893: stone, circular bowl on clustered shafts; figures under arcade with larger baptismal scenes at cardinal points. Glass. W window (8 lights), 1880s, Clayton & Bell, upper tier of OT figures (Joshua, David, Jeptha etc) with scenes from their lives in lower lights. This, with the mosaic tablets below, form a monument to the Royal Engineers who fell in the Italian and South African campaigns. Aisles. Monuments: Francis Barrell (1676), Francis Barrell (1724), Ann Spice (1795), all N (see Newman, P 485), with minor C19 tablets, many to military men. Richard Somer (1682), An Henniker (1792), John Lord Henniker (1806), all S (see Newman, p 485) with , in addition, an early C18 pedimented tablet to Daniel and Francis Hill (1729) and a substantial mural war memorial (dated 1903) to the fallen of the South Africa War, foliated marble frame frame with raised script epitaph. Glass: interesting Romanesque Revival glass (1880s) and Christian Warriors, to W end of N and S aisles; N aisle, NE, by Kempe, signed. One S aisle window with a fiture of St Luke in the C17 manner, not dated or signed. Pulpit: woden, large, polygonal, with canopied facets, on a stem with open arcaded stair. Lady Chapel. Glass. An interesting and large-scale sequence of Flemish-style windows, C.1910-18, possibly by Burlison & Grylls, scenes from the Life of Christ with various saints. S transect. Jacobethan revival screen, c.1928, into Lady Chapel. Monuments: Sir Richard Head (1689), Richard Watts (1736), Sir Edward Head (1798), Sir William Franklin (1833), James Forbes (1836), all mural, and effigy of Dean Hole (1905), see Newman, p 484. Glass: clerestory windows, Kempe, 1898; S window, 1888, Clayton & Bell, various saints, a memorial to Royal Engineers who fell in Egypt and Sudan Wars. N transept. Monuments to Augustine Caesar (1677) and John Parr (1792), Newman, p 484. N and S choir aisles. Bishop John de Bradfield (1283) and Hamo de Heth (1352) described by Newman, p 484. Choir: pulpitum, organ frontal, stalls, Bishop's throne all by Scott; pulpitum figures by Pearson. Medieval furnishings survived in part and were incorporated in the new work and provided the model for Scott's designs. The mural decoration is a copy of the medieval scheme which had also survived concealed behind later panelling. E end. The important C13 and C14 tombs are described and assessed in Newman pp 481-3, as are the monuments to Bishops Lowe (1467), and Warner (1666), Archdeacon Warner (1679) and Lee Warner (1698). Altar with reredos (Last Supper in relief) Caen stone; openwork wooden pulpit; mosaic on E wall to rear of altar (possibly modelled on medieval decoration uncovered in 1825), and the entire titled floor design, al by Scott. Glass. Presbytery windows by Clayton & Bell (1873); NE transept also by Clayton & Bell, but later (1880s); SE transept glass by Gibbs and Hardman (transept aisle) and Clayton & Bell (transept proper); details of glass from Palmer (1897). References. John Newman, West Kent and the Weald, Buildings of England (2nd ed, reprinted with corrections, 1980), pp 470-88. Much extra detail in G H Palmer, The Cathedral Church of Rochester (Bell's Cathedral Series, 1897).

Listing NGR: TQ7427368521