Rochester and Yorkshire
/For over a century there was a strong link between Rochester and Westminster Abbey.
Nine Bishops of Rochester were deans of Westminster.
The frst was John Dolben. Dean of Westminster consecrated bishop in 1666. The reason for this was economic. 'By such pluralism an impovershed bishopric was provided with an income and a London house; which accounts for the fact that eight of his successors assumed this double responsibility (Ed. Edward Carpenter A HoUse or Ainss, D 189)
The two buildings, the Abbey and Rochester Cathedral, also have architectural features of the 13th century in common, Rochester's bishops and deans have gone north to be Archbishops of York; and from Rochester history and on
Perhaps it all began with Paulinus, the Apostle of the North.
Consecrated as Bishop of Northumbria by Justus he went north with Queen Ethelburga on her marriage to Edwin.
The Venerable Bede
describes vividly in his History of the English Church and People the conversion of the heathen priest Coifi, and how he hurled a spear at the pagan idol in its temple at Goodmanham, a little village in Humberside. Paulinus converted Edwin and baptised him on the site of what is now York Minster. He continued his missionary work and frequently baptised by running water. A little beck runs alongside Pocklington church where a stone records 'Here Paulinus, preached and celebrated 624. Paulinus is not unique in returning to Kent as DishOD, for some Rochester bishops
became
Archbishops
Canterbury; but he alone returned to be buried in the Cathedral.
Here a shrine was erected and today his bones are believed to rest
beneathete rot
in recent vears
Stuart Blanch residentiary canon of the
Cathedral,
went to Liverpool and later to York.
in this he was
following a line of a number of bishops of Rochester. John Kemp. bishop 1419, Archbishop of York 1426 and later of Canterbury (born at Wye, he built the church and founded the grammar school there);
Thomas Savage 1495, York 1501; Nicholas Heath 1540 (deprived by Oueen Mary beer restored Vork 1555. lohn Piers 1576, York 1589,
Richard Neile
1608,
Dolben 1666 (the doughty
fichter forehe Able tOlk nose. outrity from episcopal control)
York 1683
• Amongst the deans. Thomas Herring
1745. Canterbury
1747:
William Markham 1765, York 1777.
Of those who came south there is the first Abbot of Selby AbDe
He was thought to have too savagelv bunished some fellow monks accused of theft and had to resign He loined the community here
Bishoo Willam Wells.
formerly Abbot of St Mary's Abbey,
York, lies beneath the wens, formery A0Dot orre Presbytery. He
died at Trottiscliffe in 1444. Bishop John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535, was a forkshireman, born at Beverley, the son of a prosperous merchant, Robert Fisher.
This vear we commemorate
the 450th anniversary of the death of this saintly man. In the last quarter of the last century, considered to be less ecumenical than today, his statue was carved and put on the memorial screen to Dean Scott. Another Yorkshire link is to be found in the north aisle.
There the fine memorial to Francis Barrell, who died in 1772, records his first wife Ann 'by whome he left issue only two Daughters, who married two Brothers, the sons of JOHN DODSWORTH Esqre of Yorkshire. Ann and Catherine married respectively, Francis and Frederick Dodsworth.
The Dodsworths were an old county family,
numbering amoung their spouses Matthew Mutton, Archbishop of Canterbury and an earlier Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of York.
Then at the east end of the north aisle is the ledger stone of Mary Johnson, who died aged 20 in 1/04, The inscription proudly records that she was the daughter of George Collins 'Eborac.Y. Eboracum is the Latin name for York.
And finally in the north transept are laid the mortal remains of Captain William Cayley. Nearby, there was once a tablet on the wall with the following inscription.
'Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM
CAYLEY, Third Son of the late Sir George Cayley Bart. at Brompton in Yorkshire. Who was made Captain of his Majesty's Navy on the 1st of May 1782. He departed this Life at Chatham the 3rd of Janry
1801. Aged 58 years'. (Thomas Shindler The Register of the Cathedral Church of Rochester, page 7). The Cayleys were also well-known in Yorkshire and one member was later to fly the first aeroolane in this
country. Willam cavley was a bachelor but his niece Ann was the wite of
George Worsley, rector of Stonegrave,
Yorks
They are the
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'That's where I spent some of the happiest years of my life' said Jane
Smethurst as she stood
King's Orchard.
grandchildren were unimpressed by the old brick house, but their eyes lit up when Jane began to tell them about Great Grandfather They had heard about him in the Deanery at Fulchester but
somehow had not pictured him as the voung sprightly Canon at
Rochester fifty years ago.
'This is the way he walked every morning, Granny continued as they strolled into the Precinct. There, even she was surprised at the full view of the Cathedral across
• lovely gardens where once
stood Garth House Minor Canon Row seemed even more splendid with the space around it.
They walked down the steps past the carefully preserved ruins of the old Benedictine Monastery and turned right into the Chapter
House. Twenty vears ago
had been the subject ot great
controversy when the ancient Chapter House root was restored and a gallery of books known as the Welsby Library now occupy the upper storey while the Dean and Chapter enjoyed their modern luxuries on this ancient site. The children loved walking round the ever spiralling staircase by which visitors reached the time capsule hidden in the heart of the Old Deanery. After donning their Monks habits and tonsures the excited children climbed aboard and were whisked first down and then along the corridors of time
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able to participate in the life of a Norman Monastery, to sense its wav and they heard the clank of gates and the shout of armoured primitive ways and its high aspirations. he time capsule sped on Its soldiers as they appeared from under the road in the depths of tho Norman deep. Even a uranny.decame excited, thought Jane, as they were taken through the Kings Banqueting Hall and met the figures of Bishop Gundulph and king William poring over their maps of
fortitications in London and beyond
On the top of the Norman Keep the children had a marvellous view of the Cathedral and the ancient town in all its splendour. The
beautifully restored West Front gleamed in the sunshine and beckoned the little party in through the Great West Doors. They were quickly there and walked through the Glass Screen.
Immediately Jane pointed out to the children the bosses on the roof newly painted and strikingly lit with lazer beams creating evocative patterns. They were soon on the large platform which separated the Nave from the Quire and walking through the screen
even the children's breath was taken away by the sheer beauty of the canopied stalls and the huge tapestries occupying seven bays on either side which lent neignt and majesty to te splendour of the Gothic arches. Jane forebore to tell the children about the primitive Quire of fifty vears ago before the new seating and central Altar were in place. She looked around at the many visitors enjoying a view of the Cathedral from the clerestory level and wondered what her father would have said about it all
Where all was bustle and yet beauty in the Cathedral itself the crypt created a pool of calm. The ancient wall paintings led sombre colour and the ever echoing archways seemingly uninterrupted by the glass screens which enclosed the Chapels and other places of praver and Christian eaucation
The need for tea and cream cakes dominated the minds of the children and lane had reluctantly to retreat from the Cathedral and into the High Street musing as she went how each generation has its own contribution to make to the
• life and witness of a great building
She momentari
for the perseverance of those of her
Tathers generation and those since that time who had enhanced the Cathedral. It seemed to her that the Friends of Rochester Cathedral of any generation were not just Friends of the Cathedral but Friends of time and Friends of the generations
eternal truths and virtues for which the Cathedral was built.
of any generation were not just Friends of the Cathedral but Frienas of time and Friends of the generations - an earthly reminder of the eternal truths and virtues for which the Cathedral was built.
Michael Turnbull
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.
Explore the stories of the many hundreds of officials and members of staff from bishops and deans to monks and organists.
