Cathedral Church Of Christ And The Blessed Virgin Mary Of Rochester (Formerly Priory Of St Andrew Was Included)

Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Rochester

This cathedral has origins in the 7th century, confirmed by excavation. It was re-established as a cathedral-priory by Bishop Gandulf and rebuilt by him between 1078 and 1108. Parts of Gandulf's cathedral survive within the present walling of the nave aisles, along with the formerly detached Gandulf's Tower and parts of the crypt. A mid-12th-century rebuilding followed, with the west front no earlier than the late 1140s. The east end, including the eastern two bays of the nave, dates from approximately 1210 to 1240. Alterations, mainly refenestration, occurred in the 14th and 15th centuries. An early 16th-century Lady Chapel was added. Major restorations were undertaken by Cottingham in 1825, Scott in the 1870s (mainly to the east end and internal refurbishing), Pearson in 1888 (especially the west front), and C. Hodgson-Fowler in 1904-5 (rebuilding of the central tower).

The cathedral is built in ragstone with limestone ashlar and dressings, with slate and lead roofs. The plan comprises a nave and aisles of eight bays, a Lady Chapel in the angle formed by the south aisle and transept, a central crossing with tower, an aisled choir with Gandulf's Tower to the north, east transepts, and an aisleless presbytery with library and chapter room to the south. A crypt is present beneath.

Gandulf's Tower originally had ashlar lining, now replaced in brick, but enough remains at second-floor level to confirm a doorway that must have led by wooden bridge into the north transept. The nave gallery is unusual in possessing no floor. The west front, carefully restored by Pearson, retains important carving to the central portal, left untouched by Pearson and influenced by St-Denis of the 1140s.

The east parts are of great interest and quality. The presbytery has no aisles and its elevation is of two storeys, unique in an English cathedral. The choir is unusual in having solid walls dividing it from the north and south aisles. A library, entered through a Decorated doorway in the southeast transept, dates to the 15th century with wall plate of wavy and concave moulding, a 17th-century (possibly re-worked) doorcase to the south, 18th-century panelled shutters with HL hinges, and a fireplace with eared architrave with cyma moulding.

In the nave, a font by Earp (1893) of stone with circular bowl on clustered shafts features figures under arcade with larger baptismal scenes at cardinal points. The west window (eight lights) dates to the 1880s by Clayton & Bell, with upper tier depicting Old Testament figures (Joshua, David, Jeptha and others) with scenes from their lives in lower lights. This window, with mosaic tablets below, forms a monument to the Royal Engineers who fell in the Italian and South African campaigns.

The aisles contain numerous monuments of varying periods. In the north aisle: Francis Barrell (1676 and 1724), Ann Spice (1795), and other 19th-century tablets, many to military men. In the south aisle: Richard Somer (1682), An Henniker (1792), John Lord Henniker (1806), an early 18th-century pedimented tablet to Daniel and Francis Hill (1729), and a substantial mural war memorial dated 1903 to the fallen of the South Africa War, with a foliated marble frame and raised script epitaph. Glass in the aisles includes interesting Romanesque Revival examples from the 1880s, Christian Warriors subjects, and a signed window by Kempe in the northeast of the north aisle. One south aisle window features St Luke in the 17th-century manner, unsigned and undated. A large polygonal wooden pulpit with canopied facets on a stem with open arcaded stair stands in the nave.

The Lady Chapel contains a large-scale sequence of Flemish-style windows dated circa 1910-18, possibly by Burlison & Grylls, depicting scenes from the Life of Christ with various saints. A Jacobethan revival screen of circa 1928 leads into the Lady Chapel from the south transept.

The south transept houses monuments to Sir Richard Head (1689), Richard Watts (1736), Sir Edward Head (1798), Sir William Franklin (1833), James Forbes (1836), and an effigy of Dean Hole (1905). Its clerestory windows are by Kempe (1898); the south window (1888) by Clayton & Bell depicts various saints and forms a memorial to Royal Engineers who fell in the Egypt and Sudan Wars.

The north transept contains monuments to Augustine Caesar (1677) and John Parr (1792). The north and south choir aisles hold monuments to Bishop John de Bradfield (1283) and Hamo de Heth (1352). The choir furnishings—pulpitum, organ frontal, stalls, and Bishop's throne—are all by Scott, with pulpitum figures by Pearson. Medieval furnishings survived in part and were incorporated in the new work, providing the model for Scott's designs. The mural decoration is a copy of the medieval scheme, which had survived concealed behind later panelling.

The east end contains important 13th- and 14th-century tombs, and monuments to Bishops Lowe (1467) and Warner (1666), Archdeacon Warner (1679), and Lee Warner (1698). An altar with Caen stone reredos depicting the Last Supper in relief, an openwork wooden pulpit, a mosaic on the east wall to the rear of the altar (possibly modelled on medieval decoration uncovered in 1825), and the entire tiled floor design are all by Scott. Glass in the presbytery windows dates to 1873 by Clayton & Bell; the northeast transept also has Clayton & Bell glass but from the 1880s; the southeast transept contains glass by Gibbs and Hardman (transept aisle) and Clayton & Bell (transept proper).