Neil Arnold - Haunted Rochester

HAUNTED

ROCHESTER

HAUNTED

ROCHESTER

Neil Arnold & Kevin Payne

You dont believe in me, observed the Ghost.

I dont, said Scrooge.

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

Neil Arnold would like to dedicate this book to great-grandparents, Lily Lydia Arnold and William George Arnold

Kevin Payne would like to dedicate this book to father, Peter, mother, Mina, and sister, Claire. Thank you for your support, help and patience

First published 2011

Reprinted 2013

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2014

All rights reserved

Neil Arnold & Kevin Payne, 2011, 2014

The right of Neil Arnold & Kevin Payne to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 5990 2

Original typesetting by The History Press

Contents

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

T HE 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 Rochesters 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 Kings 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 didnt 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 Gads 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 Chancellors 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 citys 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.

Youll find that Rochester boasts a huge number of ghost stories unpublished until now. Its 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 Shrubsoles 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 youll be a little more observant when looking up at those old windows, and down those dark alleyways.