Mary Elizabeth and John Griffith, Canon of Rochester 1827-1879
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T. H. James introduces Rev. Dr John Griffith and his wife Mary Elizabeth Griffith, benefactors to the Cathedral in the 19th century.
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Portraits, 17th-20th century
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The Chapter Library and Cathedral collections features a number of painted and printed portraits of former bishops, deans and Cathedral clergy.
Read MoreSarah Baker and her Kentish Theatres, 1737-1816
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A brief outline by Dr Jean Baker of the life and times of a remarkable but little-known woman (not an ancestor of hers) who played a significant role in the political, social and cultural evolution of Kent’s rapidly growing towns at the end of the eighteenth century.
Read MoreEarly photographs, 19th-20th century
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The Cathedral architecture has featured in photographs since the mid-19th century, opening fascinating windows onto previous forms and arrangements of the building and Precinct.
Read MoreColonial heritage at Rochester Cathedral
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A reinvestigation of the Early Modern history and collections of the Cathedral was spurred by the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests and ensuing debate on memorialisation in public spaces.
Read MoreCharlotte Boyd (1837-1906)
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Revd. Lindsay Llewellyn-MacDuff, author of Bertha’s Daughters, explores the life and work of Charlotte Boyd, one of the greatest benefactors to the Diocese of Rochester in modern times.
Read MoreBaptisms, marriages and burial registers
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Facsimile and transcriptions of the baptism, marriage and burial registers of Rochester Cathedral.
Read MoreArchaeologia Cantiana
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Rochester Cathedral has featured in dozens of articles in the county archaeological journal Archaeologia Cantiana, now available on the Kent Archaeological Society website.
Read MoreThe Last Stand of Lieutenant Henn and his Sappers
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The story behind the names of the ‘Native Sappers and Miners’ commemorated in the 1888 Royal Engineers memorial mosaic at the west end of the Nave.
Read MoreChrist statuette, 19th century
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A battered plaster statuette of Christ bearing the crucifix would once have sat atop a tomb, although its provenance is currently unknown.
Read MoreCayley family herald, 18th/19th century
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These arms belong to the Cayley family of Brompton Yorkshire, who were created baronets in 1661.
Read MoreHistory of the Lapidarium
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Sculptural fragments revealed by excavations and works over the 19th century were the genesis of the Lapidarium collection today.
Read MoreIsabella Gilmore and the deaconess movement
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Bishop’s Chaplain Lindsay Llewellyn-MacDuff discusses the life and work of Isabella Gilmore and the genesis of the Deaconess Movement in the early 19th century.
Read MoreDean Reynolds Hole (1819-1904)
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Dean of Rochester Philip Hesketh introduces the life and work of Samuel Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester 1887–1904, a celebrated gardener notable for his expertise with roses. First of a two-part series.
Read MorePeople, animals and beasts graffiti
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Humans are the most common subjects in the pictorial graffiti record, comprising dozens of cartoons and caricatures. Fauna, a small collection of flora and two or three cryptozoological examples lurk among the earlier graffiti clusters.
Read MoreGraffiti in restricted spaces
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Several of the largest graffiti clusters occur within the non-public, seldom-used or inaccessible areas of the cathedral, entered by only a few hundred people over the last 500 years.
Read MoreKings, Queens and Consorts
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The medieval equivalent of a datestone, dozens of regal sculpted heads adorn the Cathedral architecture, from the House of Normandy to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Read MoreDean Reynolds Hole: King of the Roses→
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The Old Deanery was built in 1640 over the east part of the Chapter house of the Priory. A plaque records 'The deanery is situated where the prior's lodging formerly stood with its gardens extending south-eastward'. Dean Samuel Hole laid out a garden and planted a rose collection in the 1890s.
Read MoreThe Oxford Movement at Rochester Cathedral, 1895-1930
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David Cleggett examines the times of Bishop Edward Talbot, Bishop John Harmer and Dean John Storrs over the late 19th and early 20th century, a High Church period in the history of the Cathedral.
Read MoreCottingham's Crossing bosses, 1840
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The crossing ceiling was rebuilt several times in the C19th. The crossing bosses designed by Lewis Cottingham in 1840 are based on medieval Green Men and grotesques in the Nave Transept and the North and South Quire Aisles and are painted as vividly as they would once have been.
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