Discover Rochester, Kent

Rochester, Kent, England: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastgate,_Rochester_-_geograph.org.uk_-_897893.jpg
Author: Danny Robinson


Rochester is a town in the Medway unitary authority area of Kent, England. Located on the River Medway, about 48 km (30 mi) to the southeast of London, Rochester has a population of 27,000 people (2012 estimate).

Human habitation in the Rochester area goes back to the Stone Age, as evidence is the discovery of Neolithic remains in the surrounding area. It was one of the main settlements of the Cantiaci tribe of Celts until the Romans conquered the area. Apart from the Romans, the Rochester area was also occupied by the Jutes and the Saxons at various times.

Rochester Cathedral was established in 1080, and was rebuilt in 1227 and 1343. There are also two castles established in the town. Rochester is one of the few former cities of the United Kingdom. It lost its city status through oversight, an error not noticed by the borough council until 2002, four years after the error was made.

Rochester Castle: Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rochester_Castle_Keep_and_Bailey_0038stcp.JPG
Author: Clem Rutter


The City of Rochester underwent mergers with a number of surrounding towns and districts, first with the borough of Chatham and part of the Strood Rural District in 1974, then with the Medway towns in 1998 to create the Medway unitary authority. When outgoing council neglected to appoint ceremonial Charter Trustees to continue representing the historic Rochester area, Rochester lost its city status as a result. This technical error was only discovered four years after it was made.

Visiting Rochester

Take the A2 road out of London to reach Rochester.

Rochester Cathedral: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rochester_Cathedral_from_west.jpg
Author: Raggatt2000

Places of Interest in Rochester

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.