ROCHESTER, a port and city (ancient), having separate jurisdiction, locally in the lathe of Aylesford, county of KENT, 8 miles (N.) from Maidstone, and 29 (E. S. E.) from London, on the road to Dovor, containing, with the precinct of the Cathedral Church, part of Chatham, and Stroud Intra, 9309 inhabitants. This place, the Durobriva of the Romans, and one of their stipendiary towns, was by the Saxons called " Hrove ceaster," from which by contraction its present name is derived. The Roman Watling-street from Canterbury passed through the city, which was defended by walls built, according to the Roman custom, in the direction of the Cardinal points, and extending for half a mile from east to west, and about a quarter of a mile from north to south. Little of its history has been recorded previously to the Saxon era, in the early period of which, Ethelbert, King of Kent, having been converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Augustine, to whom he gave large possessions at Canterbury, founded a church in this city, which he erected into a see, and thus laid the foundation of its subsequent importance. In 676, Etheldred King of Mercia, having made an irruption into Kent, plundered and nearly destroyed the city, which also suffered severely from repeated attacks of the Danes, who committed the most barbarous outrages. In 839, these ferocious invaders having landed at Romney, and defeated the troops sent to oppose them, plundered the city, and massacred the inhabitants; and, in 885, another party of them, under their leader Hasting, sailed up the Medway, and laid siege to Rochester, before which they threw up a strong intrenchment; the inhabitants opposed a vigorous resistance, and defended their city till Alfred coming to their assistance obliged the enemy to raise the siege, and retire to their ships with considerable loss. Athelstan, about the year 930, established three mints at Rochester, which at that time was one of the chief ports in the island, of which two "were for the use of the king, and one for the bishop. On another invasion of the Danes, who in 999 appeared in the Medway, with a large fleet, the inhabitants, struck with terror at their approach, abandoned the city to their fury, and fled into the interior of the county. At the time of the Conquest, Rochester was given by William to his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, whom he created Earl of Kent, and who, in the reign of William Rufus, having headed a conspiracy against that monarch, in favour of Robert, Duke of Normandy, was besieged in the castle, and deprived of his possessions, which reverted to the crown. In 1130, Henry I., with several of his nobles, attended at the consecration of the church of St. Andrew, in this city, by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury; during the ceremony a dreadful fire broke out, which raged with such fury that the city was nearly reduced to ashes; in 1137, it was again burnt, and it had scarcely recovered from that calamity, when a third destructive fire spread with such rapidity and to such an extent, that traces of its devastation were visible for ages. In 1141, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, chief general and counsellor of Matilda, after having effected that queen's escape, was himself taken prisoner at Winchester, and confined in the castle of this city, but was exchanged for King Stephen, who was soon afterwards made prisoner by Matilda's party. In 1215, the barons seized Rochester castle, which they held against King John, who having invested it with his troops, obtained possession after an obstinate defence, and ordered many of the garrison to be hanged. In the reign of Henry III., the castle was considerably repaired, and the walls strengthened, and the city was, by that monarch's liberality, greatly restored from the dilapidation it had previously suffered; Henry held a grand tournament here in 1251, in which the English knights entered the lists against all foreigners, without exception. In 1254, the castle wag besieged by Simon de Montfort, on the part of the confederate barons, and successfully defended for the king by Edward, Earl Warren; during thjs siege, the bridge, with, the tower upon it, which were both constructed of wood, was burnt. On the insurrection of Wat Tyler, in the reign of Richard IIV a party of the rebels assaulted the castle, and took away by force one of their comrades, who had been placed there in confinement. Edward IV. repaired the castle and the walls of the city, and bestowed several privileges upon the inhabitants. In 1522, Henry VIII., accompanied by the Emperor Charles V., visited Rochester; and, in 1573, Queen Elizabeth, during her tour in Kent, remained here for five days, and conferred many marks of her favour on the citizens, by whom she was hospitably entertained. On the restoration of Charles II., that monarch, on his arrival from the continent, passed through the city on his route to the metropolis, and was joyfully received by the mayor and corporation, who presented him .with a silver basin and ewer; and, in 1688, James II., on his retreat from the capital, embarked privately at this port on board a tender lying in the Medway, which conveyed him to France. The city is pleasantly situated on rather a low point of land, bounded on the west by the river Medway, which, pursuing a northerly course till it has passed the city, suddenly bends to the south-east, thus environing it nearly on three sides. On the river is a handsome stone bridge of eleven arches, connecting the city with Stroud, which was built on piles, chiefly at the expense of Sir Robert Knolles and Sir John de Cobham, who, with several other gentlemen, bequeathed estates now fully adequate for keeping it in repair. They are vested in two wardens and twelve assistants, chosen annually from the commonalty, and incorporated by patent of Richard II., their powers having been afterwards enlarged by charter of Elizabeth; it is a handsome building, five hundred and sixty feet long, and is defended by a stone parapet and balustrade. The bridge chamber, in which the records of the Bridge Company are kept, and the business of that trust transacted, is a neat building of Portland stone, with a handsome portico, occupying the site of an ancient chapel, erected near the east end of the bridge, by Sir John de Cobham. The approach from the bridge is peculiarly striking; the magnificent remains of the stately castle, on an eminence rising abruptly from the Medway, and the view of that npble river, which expands to a considerable breadth, immediately beyond the bridge, with Chatham lines, and the martello towers ranged along the shores, contribute to heighten the effect. The town, within the ancient walls, consists principally of one spacious street, intersected by several smaller, and is bounded by the bridge on the west, and on the east by St. Margaret's bank, connecting it with Chatham; the houses are in general respectable and of ancient appearance, interspersed with several timber and brick buildings; the city is well paved, lighted with gas, and amply supplied with water, conveyed to the houses by pipes from an excellent spring near a field called the Vines. The environs are extremely pleasant, and contain several handsome villas; and on the northwest, on an easy ascent, are several streets of neat modern houses, called, from the owner of the estate, Troy Town: the air is salubrious, and the scenery pleasing, and 011 the banks of the Medway are extensive and beautiful promenades. The city is strongly fortified on the south side, and most of the works are of modern construction, having been erected since the peace of Amiens. Fort Pitt, partly in the parish of St. Margaret, and partly in Chatham, now used as a military hospital, and Fort Clarence, to the west of St. Margaret's church, now appropriated as a uaval lunatic asylum, in conjunction with Chatham Lines, form a regular series of defensive works, commanding the river Medway from Gillingham fort to Rochester bridge. The theatre, a small neat building, is open occasionally; assemblies are held in a suite of rooms well fitted up, and there are floating baths, supplied with every requisite accommodation. The Rochester and Chatham Literary and Philosophical Institution is of recent establishment, and in concert with it, exertions are being made to erect a public library and museum. As regards mercantile pursuits, Rochester enjoys a favourable situation on the river Medway, and possesses a considerable share of commerce, but is not distinguished by any particular branch of manufacture. The number of registered vessels belonging to the port, in 1828, amounted to about two hundred and forty-three, averaging a burden of forty-two tons, most of them are colliers, or coasting vessels, which bring supplies for the dock-yards at Chatham. The average number of vessels entering the port annually is about three hundred and twenty foreign, and one hundred and twenty British. The trade of the town principally arises from the great number of persons employed in the dock-yards and victualling-office, and temporary residents connected with the army and navy, in addition to a small degree of ship-building. The oyster fishery is carried on to a considerable extent, and is a great source of profit to the inhabitants; large quantities of oysters are sent to London, Holland, and Westphalia. The market, on Friday, is well supplied with fish and provisions of every kind; a corn market, recently esta- Wished, is held on Tuesday: the fairs, formerly on May 30th and December 11th, have nearly fallen into disuse, but there is a cattle market monthly on Wednesday. The city received its first charter of incorporation from Henry II., in 1165, and its privileges have been ratified and extended by succeeding monarchs to the time of Charles I., by whose charter the government is vested in a mayor, eleven aldermen, and twelve common council-men, assisted by a recorder, town clerk, two chamberlains, a water-bailiff, a principal Serjeant at mace, and two under-serjeants, with subordinate officers. The mayor is annually elected by the citizens, from among the aldermen, who, with the common council- men, fill up vacancies in their bodies as they occur; the recorder is chosen by the mayor and aldermen. The mayor, recorder, late mayor, and senior alderman, are justices of the peace within the borough and liberties; the freedom is inherited by birth, and obtained by servitude, purchase, Or gift. The corporation hold quarterly courts of session for all offences within the city and liberties, which include part of Chatham; and a court of portmote, every fifteen days, for the determination of all pleas, and for the recovery of debts to any amount. A court of requests is held for the recovery of debts not exceeding £ 5, the jurisdiction of which extends over the parishes of Stroud, Frindsbury, Cobham, Shorne, Higham, Cliffe, Cooling, High Halstow, Chalk, Hoo, Burham, Wouldham, Hailing, Cuxton, Chatham, Gillingham, and the ville of Sheerness, in the county of Kent. The corporation have jurisdiction over the oyster fisheries in the creeks and branches of the Medway; and the mayor and aldermen, assisted by a jury of free dredgers, hold a court of admiralty, in which they make regulations for the opening, stocking, and shutting of the oyster beds: the free dredgers are governed by an act passed in the 9th of George II., and no one can be free who has not served an apprenticeship of seven years to one of that, body. The town hall, erected in 1687, is a handsome brick building, supported on duplicated columns of the Doric order; the hall is commodiously fitted up for holding the several courts, and for the transaction of the public business of the city, and is forty-seven feet long, and twenty-eight feet wide: the ceiling is enriched with trophies, and with the city arms, together with those of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, at whose expense it was embellished; at the upper end are full-length portraits of King William and Queen Anne, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; there are also portraits of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Sir John Jennings, Sir Thomas Colby, Sir Joseph Williamson, Richard Watts, Esq., and various other benefactors to the city: the area underneath is paved with Purbeck stone, and is appropriated to the use of the market; behind it is the gaol for the city, containing six wards, and adapted to the reception of sixteen prisoners. The clock-house was erected on the site of the ancient guildhall (in which the assizes for the county were formerly held), at the sole expense of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, in 1706; it is a neat brick building, and over the dial of the clock are the arms of the founder. The city first exercised the elective franchise in the 23rd of Edward I., since which time it has regularly returned two members to parliament: the right of election is vested in the freemen generally not receiving alms, whether resident or non-resident, of whom the number is about one thousand two hundred; the mayor is the returning officer. The see of Rochester, which is the smallest in the kingdom, and the most ancient, except Canterbury, was established in 600, by Ethelbert, King of Kent, who, at the persuasion of St. Augustine, erected a church in this city, which he dedicated to St. Andrew, and establishing a monastery for Secular priests, appointed for their bishop, Justus, who had accompanied St. Augustine into Britain. The diocese comprehends the western division of the county, and includes ninety-one parishes, in the deaneries of Rochester, Mailing, and Dartford, separated from the see of Canterbury by the river Medway. The ecclesiastical establishment consists of a bishop, dean, an archdeacon, six prebendaries, six minor canons, a chancellor, eight choristers, a grammar master, twenty scholars, six poor bedesmen, and subordinate officers. The cathedral church, dedicated to St. Andrew, and rebuilt by Bishop Gundulph, in 1080, is a spacious and venerable structure, in the form of a double cross, with a central tower surmounted by a spire; the west front is a fine specimen of Novman architecture, elaborately enriched with sculpture, but the great window over the entrance is an insertion in the later style of English architecture, as are many of the windows in the nave and other parts of the building. On each side of the west door is a square tower; that on the north side has been lately rebuilt, and has a niche in which is a statue supposed to be that of Gundulph; a descent of several steps leads into the nave, which, with the exception of the windows, and a part near the transepts, is in the Norman style; the roof is supported on massive piers and circular arches,, and, though now flat, has evidently been much loftier, and is finely groined. From the nave an ascent of ten steps leads through the arch of the stone screen into the choir, which is in the early English style of architecture, the roof finely groined, and the columns of marble from the quarries near Petworth in Sussex: the altar-piece is decorated with a painting, by West, of the Angel appearing to the Shepherds, and on the north of the altar, within the railing, are two very ancient tombs, supposed to have been erected for Bishop Lawrence de St. Martin, and Bishop Gilbert de Glanville. There are several chapels, among which are the Lady chapel, where the bishop holds his consistory court; St. Edmund's, a square chapel, from which a door, now dosed up, formerly led to the chapter-house; a small chapel in the south aisle of the choir, in which is a beautiful window in the decorated style; and at the north end of the eastern transept, the chapel of St. William, whose shrine is still preserved in it. On the east side of the north transept is a building, called Gundulph's Tower, but the style scarcely warrants the supposition of its having been built by him. The crypt, under the eastern part of the cathedral, is a fine specimen of the early English style; the roof is plainly groined, and in that part of it which extends under the north aisle, the architecture is scarcely to be distinguished from the Norman style. The length of the cathedral from east to west is three hundred and six feet, and the breadth along the greater transepts is one hundred and twenty-two feet, and along the smaller ninety feet. There are numerous ancient monuments, but they are much mutilated, and the inscriptions for the most part obliterated; among them is a statue in red-veined marble of Walter de Merton, founder of Merton College, Oxford: there are also monuments to Lord Henniker and his lady, by Bacon, Jun. This was' anciently a priory of Secular .priests, who were removed in 1087, by Bishop Gundulph, who placed in their stead Benedictine monies, whose revenue, at the dissolution, amounted to £486. 11. 5. The ancient chapter-house, now in ruins, has been a magnificent structure, and still displays the remains of several fine Norman arches; and the prebendal houses contain many relics of the monastic buildings. The city comprises the parishes of St. Margaret and St. Nicholas, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester. The living of St. Margaret's is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £ 10, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter: the church is an ancient structure with a tower, and contains several ancient monuments and an antique font: five hundred and seventy additional sittings, of which three hundred are free, have been erected, at an expense of £ 600, defrayed by grant from the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels. The living of St. Nicholas' is a vicarage, with that of St. Clement's, rated in the king's books at £20. 8. 9, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the church, which has been extensively repaired at different times, is a substantial and commodious edifice, principally in the later style of English architecture, with a square embattled tower at the north-west angle: the roof of the nave is supported by a range of lofty columns and finely-pointed arches; there are some monuments of no great antiquity, and a very ancient stone font. The churches of St. Clement and St. Mary the Virgin have been demolished. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians. The Royal free grammar school, founded by Henry VIII., for the education of twenty boys, forms part of the establishment of the cathedral church, and is under the superintendence of the Dean and Chapter: there are four exhibitions of £5 per annum each, two to each of the Universities, which, on taking the degree of master of arts, are augmented to £6, and subsequently to £6. 13. 4. per annum; this school has also, with that of Maidstone, two of four exhibitions of £15 per ann. each, with chambers, in University College, Oxford, founded by the Rev. Robert Gunsley. A free school was founded, in 1701, by Sir Joseph Williamson, who bequeathed £5000 for its erection and endowment; the present income is about £600 per annum, and about one hundred boys are instructed in the ancient and modern languages, the mathematics, astronomy, and navigation; the head master receives a salary of £ 100 per annum, with a gratuity of £200; and the second master £40 per annum, with a gratuity of £110. Several distinguished naval characters have been educated in this establishment. Sir John Hayward having, in 1635, devised estates for charitable uses, his trustee, Mr. Francis Barrel, in 1718, appropriated £33 per annum to the payment of £ 12 annually to a master for teaching twenty poor boys, and £8 per annum to a mistress for teaching twelve poor girls, of the parish of St. Nicholas, and £10 per annum to a mistress for teaching thirty children of the parishes of Stroud and Frindsbury. Mr. Henry Barrel, in 1764, bequeathed funded property producing £4 per annum, for the support of a charity school; and Mr. John Baynard left £300 for the support of a Sunday school in the parish of St. Margaret. There are also a National school, and several Sunday schools, supported by subscription. Near the site of the ancient market cross are the custom-house, and a house for flie reception of poor travellers, founded by Richard Watts, Esq.: in this establishment six travellers, not being " rogues nor proctors," may claim a lodging for one night, and fourpence each; the term "proctor" was applied to concealed itinerant popish missionaries, who at that time were in the habit of wandering about the country to absolve the people from their allegiance; the funds originally left for the support of this institution, then amounting only to £36 per annum, now produce £ 1000 per annum; the surplus is, by a decree of the court of Chancery, appropriated to the support of the parochial poor. St. Catherine's hospital, founded in 1316, bySymond Potyn, for the support of lepers and other diseased persons, is now appropriated as an almshouse for the reception of twelve aged persons, among whom the sum arising from the endowment is divided. Dr. Lamplugh, Dean of Rochester, and Bishop of Exeter, bequeathed £50 in trust to the corporation, to be lent, without interest, in sums varying from £5 to £10, to young tradesmen for four years; and there are various other bequests for distribution among the .poor, and for other charitable uses. The remains of the castle, which was erected after the Conquest, on the site of the ancient Roman fortress,, consist principally of the keep, or great tower, in the south-west angle of an enclosed quadrangular area, three hundred feet in length: it was built by Bishop Gundulph, and is considered one of the most entire and curious specimens of Norman military architecture now remaining; it is a square tower with angular turrets, one hundred and four feet high, and seventy feet in breadth at the base; the walls are twelve feet in thickness, and a winding staircase in the east angle, communicating with every story, leads to the summit, from which a most extensive view of the surrounding country is obtained; the state apartments are on the second story, communicating with which is an arched gallery in the thick wall, extending round the whole tower; the walls of the castle and of the keep are of Kentish rag-stone, cemented with mortar, which by time has been rendered harder than the stone itself, and the whole fabric has acquired such a degree of solidity, as fo have baffled an interested attempt to demolish it, for the value of the materials, which was made about the beginning of the last century. Several estates in Kent being held by the ancient tenure of Castle guard, on St. Andrew's day, 0. S., a banner is displayed on the castle, when every tenant who does not attend and discharge his arrears, is liable to have his rent doubled on every return of the tide, till payment is made. Some parts of the city walls remain entire, and the north-east angle in particular displays its height, form, and embrasures. Near Minor Canon-row is a small embattled tower, through which was the entrance into the cloisters of the priory, of which some parts are still remaining. At Botey Hill, to the south of the city, the Romans are supposed to have had a cemetery, and sepulchral urns and lachrymatories have been found there in great numbers; a part of the hill is, however, supposed to have been thrown up by the Danes, when they besieged the city, in 885. Under an elm-tree on this hill the corporation hold a separate court leet for this small district, in which the recorder presides as steward, and appoints an officer, called the Baron of Boley, to whom it is supposed the custody of this place was entrusted by the governor of the castle; a court of piepowder is also held here, under the mayor and two " discreet" citizens. Rochester gave the title of earl to the facetious John Wilmot, in the reign of Charles II.