Priory wall, c.1225-1340
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When King Æthelberht donated the land on which the Cathedral is constructed in 604 AD he included in his gift the entire south-east quadrant of the walled city. The Cathedral foundation charter in the Textus Roffensis, though a twelfth-century retrospective document, possibly contains the genuine Old English land bounds of Æthelberht’s gift:
‘…from South Gate, west along the wall as far as North Lane, to Street, and so east from Street as far as Doddinghyrne opposite Broad Gate…’
This large portion of land was enclosed on the east by Doddinghyrne, roughly corresponding to the site of Boley Hill, on north by Street (the High Street) and to the south and east by the Roman city wall. This land was probably relatively clear of structures, comprising the portion of the city that abbutted the city wall. The land was supplemented by charters in 762, 765, 789, 811 and 868 until the Cathedral was in possession of all the land within the walled city.
The Roman city wall appears to have served as the priory wall until a charter of 1225 granted the priory the land to the south of the wall.
The north-west corner
The low wall around the cemetery on Boley Hill is nineteenth century, but was built on a wider predecessor, revealed during archaeological excavations during the 1998 repaving project (Ward 2002).
[Reproduction permission pending]
Photographs from the 1992 repaving project showing a wider wall and a gate, although of indeterminate date.
King’s Orchard
An aerial topographic survey of the south-east corner of the Precinct known as King’s Orchard shows the Great Ditch of 1225 outside the line of the priory wall of 1225.
Topographic survey of King’s Orchard showing the ditch running perpendicular to the line of the 1225 wall before its demolition. Aerial Imaging South East.
The ditch is a major feature in the landscape of King’s Orchard and is also evident on the 3D model of the area.
The wall enclosed by the ditch was then superseded (perhaps demolished and reused) in the 1340s during the bishopric of Hamo de Hythe in the construction of the priory wall as we find it today. It is this fourteenth-century wall that is preserved particularly in the south-east corner of the Priory known by its post-medieval name King’s Orchard.
3D model of the fourteenth-century round defence at the south-east corner of the priory wall. Photography by Aerial Imaging South East.
Please note the land outside the priory wall is the property of the King’s School, Rochester and is not publicly accessible.
Jacob Scott
Heritage Officer
This post is part of a series on the Medieval Priory of Saint Andrew at Rochester Cathedral.
Priory and Precinct
The Benedictine Priory of Saint Andrew at Rochester Cathedral was founded in 1080 by Bishop Gundulf and dissolved in 1540 by order of King Henry VIII. The ruins of the priory survive on the south side of the Cathedral, centred on the Cloister Garth.
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