24 Facts About Rochester Kent

Rochester Kent was a city until losing its status as one in 1998 following the forming of Medway and failing to protect its status as a city.

Rochester Kent was for many years a favourite of Charles Dickens, who owned nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, basing many of his novels on the area.

Rochester Kent Castle, built by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester Kent, has one of the best preserved keeps in either England or France, and during the First Barons' War in King John's reign, baronial forces captured the castle from Archbishop Stephen Langton and held it against the king, who then besieged it.

Romano-British name for Rochester was Durobrivae, later Durobrivis c 730 and Dorobrevis in 844.

King Æthelberht of Rochester Kent established a legal system which has been preserved in the 12th-century Textus Roffensis.

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Rochester Kent has produced two martyrs: St John Fisher, executed by Henry VIII for refusing to sanction the divorce of Catherine of Aragon; and Bishop Nicholas Ridley, executed by Queen Mary for being an English Reformation protestant.

Rochester Kent has for centuries been of great strategic importance through its position near the confluence of the Thames and the Medway.

The Dutch, commanded by Admiral de Ruijter, broke through the chain at Upnor and sailed to Rochester Kent Bridge capturing part of the English fleet and burning it.

Since Norman times Rochester Kent had always governed land on the other side of the Medway in Strood, which was known as Strood Intra; before 1835 it was about 100 yards wide and stretched to Gun Lane.

However, no trustees were appointed and the city status was therefore lost when Rochester Kent-upon-Medway was abolished as a local government district.

The incoming Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when, in 2002, it was advised that Rochester Kent was not on the Lord Chancellor's Office's list of cities.

At its most limited geographical size, Rochester Kent is defined as the market town within the city walls, now associated with the historic medieval city.

However, Rochester Kent historically included the ancient wards of Strood Intra on the river's west bank, and Chatham Intra as well as the three old parishes on the Medway's east bank.

Diocese of Rochester Kent is another geographical entity which can be referred to as Rochester Kent.

Rochester Kent has an oceanic climate similar to much of southern England, being accorded Koppen Climate Classification-subtype of "Cfb" .

North and North West Rochester Kent continue to record higher temperatures in summer, sometimes being the hottest area of the country, eg.

Local newspapers for Rochester Kent include the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group, and free papers.

Rochester Kent is part of the ITV Meridian and BBC South East area, receiving television signals from the Bluebell Hill transmitter on the crest of the North Downs to the SE, supplemented by a low power relay transmitter in central Chatham.

The local football club is Rochester United F C Rochester F C was its old football club but has been defunct for many decades.

Rochester Kent is the setting of the controversial 1965 Peter Watkins television film The War Game, which depicts the town's destruction by a nuclear missile.

Medway council run a selective system of education, similar to other local authorities in Rochester Kent, but call their secondary modern schools secondary schools.

Rochester Kent is on the A2, which crosses the Medway at Rochester Kent Bridge – the route roughly follows the ancient road known as Watling Street, first paved by the Romans, but used by earlier Britons for centuries before the Roman invasion.

Rochester Kent Airport began in September 1933 when Rochester Kent City Council purchased some land as the site for a municipal airport.

The inaugural flight into Rochester Kent was from Gravesend, John Parker flying the Short Brothers Short Scion G-ACJI.