In Dickens' footsteps

Childhood home to one of our most celebrated authors, with a riverside setting and ancient landmarks, here’s what to look out for when you can next visit Rochester

- Caroline Read

HISTORY

It can be hard to imagine how some of our modern towns would have looked in the past, but this is not a problem in the heart of historic Rochester.

If the old cobbled High Street doesn’t make enough of an impact, there’s a 900-year-old castle and a similarly ancient cathedral just steps away from the town’s busy shops and restaurants.

Set on an easy bridging point on the River Medway, the area was first settled during the Neolithic period, and later went on to become an important stronghold of the Cantiaci tribe.

When the Romans invaded in AD 43, the settlement became known as Durobrivae and a bridge was built to create a road connecting the coast with London. Even after the Romans had abandoned the country in the fifth century, Rochester remained an important Saxon town and was chosen by Augustine to house only the second cathedral in the country.

But it’s a Victorian resident that Rochester is probably best known for. Having spent much of his life in the area, and been inspired by Rochester’s atmospheric streets and buildings, Charles Dickens incorporated his childhood home into some of his most iconic novels.

June is the the 150th anniversary of the death of the great writer and the Medway Towns had always planned to mark the occasion with an array of events running throughout the year, the highlight being the Dickens Festival on 13 and 14 June.