This page is about Rochester in Kent in the UK, not to be confused with other copied, and quite frankly inferior Rochesters¹. It's situated not far from London and right next to Gillingham (well worth a look).

Touristy Stuff

Rochester is a historic city in the South East of England, with it's Cathedral (founded in 603 AD), it's Norman Castle, the King's School, Rochester (founded in 604 AD) and many other things. It even has a wine bar with part of the old Norman City Wall running through the middle of it (imaginatively called the City Wall Wine Bar).

Charles Dickens lived here for a number of years (along with just about everywhere else in the South East) and based a number of his books on the area and it's buildings. You can still see Satis House (on Boley Hill), and Restoration House (just off the High Street) amongst other local locations used in the his books. You can tour the Charles Dickens museum or the town museum (both on the High Street).

Rochester is situated on the River Medway and has a proud naval history, just downriver is the old Chatham Naval Dockyard, a working dockyard from Tudor times until recent times. It built Nelson's HMS Victory as well as a few of the nuclear submarines and quite a lot of other ships in between. It recently closed down and is now tourist attraction as the World Naval Base. Slightly further down stream are Upnor Castle and Folly and Darnett Forts all built to protect the bridge at Rochester and the naval dockyard from whichever countries we were at war with at any time.

The 'don't read this if you're tourist' Bit

As a resident of this fine town, I feel that I should present a balanced view of the town.

One thing that should be mentioned is that lovely though Rochester High Street is, it only has 3 types of shop; restaurants, barbers/hairdressers and antique shops. It may look picturesque, but it's a little useless for the locals.