Bridge Chambers Bridge Chapel

The building comprises a chapel with associated offices, Bridge Chambers, dating back to 1386-7 and 1879 respectively. The chapel was originally built and endowed as a chantry by Sir John de Cobham at the southern end of the bridge he and Sir Robert Knowlles constructed across the Medway, a bridge later demolished in 1856. It fell into ruin and was restored and partially rebuilt in 1937. Bridge Chambers replaced an earlier building from the 18th century. The construction materials are ragstone, with Kent tile roofs.

The chapel’s west end features a 1937 three-light window. A medieval central door, with a hood mould flanked by three-light, straight-headed windows, also under hood moulds and with cusped lights, have been much renewed. An old roof line is visible beneath the parapet. The north side has a blocked window and a doorway, now visible internally, which once connected to the garden of the Castle Club. The interior contains a west gallery, incorporating reused medieval fragments, two piscinas to the south, and a blocked north doorway with a tall, pointed, single-chamfered inner arch. Two-light windows are either blocked or have renewed tracery, but retain original inner arches in part. The roof is from 1937. A weathered string course, formerly external, is now visible from within the adjoining Chambers.

Bridge Chambers presents a formal composition with a symmetrical front to the Esplanade. It features a parapet with coping and cornices, rising to form a stepped gable above a central porch and oriel. A canted porch has a large doorway with half-glazed double doors and tracery bars, along with a single-light, square-headed side window. A narrower four-light oriel, with a transom and leaded roof, is also present. A later two-light ground floor window is located to the left. The right return (to Castle Hill) shows an irregular elevation with a canted wing to the right, with single-light windows under hood moulds to the first floor and without hood moulds to the ground floor. This wing is connected by a plain, angled stair turret to a bay with three-light windows to each floor. The parapet, with a central stepped gable over the bay, continues over the wing. The rear elevation includes a stair turret and a large, three-light transomed window, illuminating the stairs. Internally, Bridge Chambers boasts good joinery, an open well staircase, panelling in the Board Room, and ceilings. A stone fireplace in a 16th-century style is also present.