Heritage Officer Jacob Scott traces a large stone crucifix featuring prominently in historic photos of the Lapidarium collection, now tentatively identified as the finial once adorning the apex of the South Quire Transept overlooking the High Street.
Read MoreJacob Scott investigates five odd stones around the Precinct Gardens that were possibly amongst the earliest features of the site. Part of the physical and cultural landscape from before Roman occupation, Sarsen stones have been reused and reinterpreted for thousands of years and yet still hold many mysteries.
Read MoreThe Chapter House was constructed in the twelfth century and survives in ruin, having lost its roof in the 18th century. It was where the monks met daily to discuss the business of the day.
Read MoreThe ruins of a camponile (detached bell tower), to the north of the Cathedral has been known as ‘Gundulf’s Tower’ since the 18th century. Though it actually dates from the early thirteenth century, it may be constructed from reused material from Gundulf’s Tufa Stone transept.
Read MoreUnlike most monastic establishments where the cloister (‘enclosed'/’seperate’ - the monastic part of the medieval Cathedral Precinct) ranges are to the south of the nave the cloister at Rochester is situated to the south of the presbytery and quire.
Read MoreArchaeologist Alan Ward reviews the archaeology of the Cathedral Precinct. Featured in The Hidden Treasures, Fresh Expressions Project Archaeology Report, Keevill Heritage 2021.
Read MoreRochester Cathedral Archaeologist Graham Keevill discusses the results of a Ground-Penetrating Radar survey of the Cloister Garth in 2017 revealing what is thought to be the foundations for Bishop Gundulf’s short-lived cloister.
Read MoreA previously unrecorded thirteenth-century altar slab identified within a garden feature at King’s Orchard.
Read MoreDendrochronological analysis undertaken on timbers of the roof over what is now the Chapter Library suggests felling of the timber around the time of, and possibly paused by, the Black Death.
Read MoreSeveral references contemporary references are made to an infirmary, where the ‘smaller brothers’, the sick and infirm monks were cared for. It is thought to be situated to the east of the main cloister and forming a smaller infirmary cloister itself.
Read MoreArchaeological investigations of the fifteenth-century Deanery Gate to the north of the Cathedral were conducted during the conversion of Deanery Gate House from office use into three flats in 2007-8.
Read MoreChris Hebron reports on archaeological investigations at the late-medieval Phelip’s Lodge to the north of the Cathedral.
Read MorePhilip McAleer studies the west range of the cloisters, thought to have been the cellerers range where food and drink for the priory was stored in cool, sunken vaults.
Read MoreDavid A. H. Cleggett reviews the period when the Cathedral priory buildings were appropriated and served as a residence of King Henry VIII.
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Rochester Cathedral
The Chapter Office
Garth House, The Precinct
Rochester
Kent, ME1 1SX
Telephone 01634 843366
Email info@rochestercathedral.org
Registered Charity Number 1206900
Cathedral opening hours 10am - 4pm Monday to Saturday 1pm - 3pm Sunday
