Rochester Blind Bowling Group is open to visually impaired people from in and around the Medway Towns, here in Kent. Most of our matches, on the greens, involve travelling to some of the most beautiful villages, in Kent. Our base, however, is in Rochester itself, with an abundance of attractions for any tourists, looking for religious, historical and literary sights to see and places to visit. What’s more, all that is just five minutes’ walk away from where we meet, every week! This article gives a brief outline of the main attractions you might find, on a walk through our historic city. (Where is Rochester?)

During the Roman occupation and in Norman times, the city was protected by a high, stone wall. Today, very little evidence remains, but there are two short stretches still standing.

  Rochester High Street

Some of the many attractions can be found in the compact high street, running northwest from Star Hill to the bridge that crosses the River Medway (to nearby Strood). Most of the high street is dedicated to pedestrians on weekends and festival days.

    Eastgate House

  Making your way towards the bridge, the first building of note is Eastgate House, built in 1591 by Sir Peter Buck, Mayor of Rochester and Earl of Northumberland, which was home to the Charles Dickens Centre, with an exhibition about the author and his life. (Sadly, after 2004, the centre moved to its new home, near to the Chatham Docks). In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it had been used as a school. Charles Dickens featured the building in the Pickwick Papers, changing its name to ‘Westgate House’, and in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, it became The ‘Nun's House’. In the small garden at the rear of the building you can see the Swiss Chalet, which was moved from Dickens’ home at Gad's Hill Place, in Higham, just four miles west of Rochester.

  La Providence

  A little further along, set back from the High Street, is La Providence. In 1708, a trust was set up, providing for a 'Hospital for French Protestants and their Descendants Residing in Great Britain', thanks to a bequest from Jacques de Gascony, a Huguenot refugee and Master of the King's Buckhounds. In 1960, Theobald's Square was bought and converted into private housing for elderly people of Huguenot descent.

  Next, importantly, is the Visitor Information Centre & Art Gallery, where apart from details about local attractions, maps, guided tours and events, there is a small coffee bar and, upstairs, the Rochester Art Gallery. Opposite the centre is one of the best views of the Rochester Cathedral, behind the War Memorial Garden.

  The Poor Travellers' House

  The Poor Travellers House was founded by Watt's Charity. Richard Watts, at his death on September 10th, 1579, had the existing almshouse upgraded with 'six good matrices of Flock Bedds and other good and sufficient furniture to harbour and lodge in poor Travellers.' Travellers were allowed to stay, for just one night, and were given four pence, when they departed the next morning. This generosity continued, until 1934, when it was increased to a shilling! Temporary lodgings were made available, until the Second World War, and it was finally closed, in 1940. Then, in 1979, the building became a museum. Charles Dickens was inspired to write his short Christmas story The Seven Poor Travellers, after a visit in 1854.

  A few steps further, the High Street meets up with Boley Hill and North Gate. Looking left, you should get your first glimpse of Rochester Castle.  At this crossing, a famous, popular inn, the King's Head hotel, can be found, as well as Jasper's Gate, dating from the early 15th century, when it was constructed to guard the cathedral precincts. The wooden house was added to the top of the gate, about 300 years later.

 Just up from the crossroads, Two Post Alley, portrays a little of what Rochester must have looked like, in years gone by.

  Baggins Book Bazaar

  Further along, but on the opposite side of the road, is Baggins Book Bazaar, famed for being the largest second-hand bookshop in England, where the book lover can lose himself or herself in the many rooms and shelves that fill the two higgledy-piggledy floors of this wondrous building.

  Guildhall Museum

  Before the end of the High Street, is the Guildhall, now a museum, which also occupies the neighbouring Medway Conservancy Board Building. It charts the history of the Medway area from the Neolithic to the present day. There are exhibits showing, for example, a model of Rochester Castle keep and the techniques, used by King John, to destroy one of the towers. Another exhibit displays extracts from Samuel Pepys’ diary, from his time as Clerk to the Navy Board, at the time when the Dutch Fleet threatened to attack the naval dockyards at Chatham and Upnor. On display, too, are several models of vessels from shallow-hulled sailing barges to Nelson's Trafalgar flagship, HMS Victory, which was built in the dockyards, at Chatham. Also exhibited is some of the brilliantly delicate artwork, crafted by prisoners, kept in abominable conditions during the Napoleonic Wars. The museum is a must for any visitor!

  The Bridge Wardens

  At the end of the High Street is the iron bridge. It is on the London-bound, southern side, and was built in 1856 and modified in 1914. It is maintained by the Bridge Wardens Trust, which has ensured endowments for the upkeep of a crossing, since 1391. In 1970, the trust built the more modern, but less imposing bridge alongside the older structure.

   Just around the corner, on the Esplanade, is the Bridge Chapel, fourteenth century home of Sir John Cobham, mainly responsible for the founding of the earlier, medieval bridge; the house is still used, as the meeting place of the Rochester Bridge Trust to this day.