ROCHESTER, a city of Kent, Eng land, 33 miles E. S. E. of London; chiefly on the right bank of the Medway, contiguous to Chatham, and joined to Strood by an iron swing bridge con structed in 1850-1856 at a cost of $850, 000. The castle or keep, which crowns a steep eminence near the bridge, was the work of Archbishop William de Cor beuil (1126) ; but the wall overlooking the river contains Norman masonry of earlier date, built upon Roman founda tions. It is 104 feet high and 70 feet square, with walls 12 feet thick, and is a very fine specimen of Norman archi tecture; it was taken by John (1215, the S. E. corner being rebuilt shortly afterward), vainly attacked by De Mont fort (1264), and taken again by Tyler (1381). Both castle and grounds were purchased in 1883 by the corporation from the Earl of Jersey. The Episcopal see was founded in 604 by St. Augustine, and the foundations of the cathedral then built have been discovered. Bishop Gun dulf (1077-1107) built a new cathedral, of which part of the crypt remains. This cathedral was rebuilt by Ernulf and John of Canterbury (1115-1137), whose nave remains; and the choir was again rebuilt and enlarged in the 13th century in part out of offerings of pilgrims at the shrine of St. William of Perth, a Scotch baker, who, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was murdered near Rochester by his companion and adopted son; the tower rebuilt by Cottingham (1825-1827), the choir and transepts restored by Scott (1871-1877), and the W. front being restored by Pearson in
1891. It measures 306 feet in length, and has double transepts; and special features of interest are the Norman west doorway and nave, the Early English choir, of singular plan and early char acter, the spacious crypt, and a fine dec orated doorway leading to the modern library. The ruins of an early Norman keep or residence built by Gundulf, the architect of the Tower of London, stand on the N. side of the choir. St. Bar tholomew's Hospital, founded by Gundulf in 1078 for lepers, was refounded in 1863; the Norman chapel remains. Watts' Charity House, founded in 1579 to lodge "six poor travelers, not being rogues or proctors," has been immortal ized by Dickens, whose home, Gadshill, is 3 miles distant, and who introduces Rochester into "Pickwick," "Edwin Drood," and others of his novels. Three schools are the cathedral grammar school (Henry VIII.), Williamson's mathemati cal school (1704; reopened under a new scheme, 1880), and a grammar school for girls (1888) ; and other buildings are Satis House, Restoration House (Charles II. slept here in 1660), the guild hall (1687), and the corn exchange (1871). Rochester—the Roman station Durobrivw and Anglo-Saxon Hrofe-ceas tre—was made a municipal borough by Henry II. James II. embarked here in his flight (1688). Pop. about 32,000.