The Rochester Guildhall is an historic building located in the High Street in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The first guildhall in Rochester was located further south along the High Street on a site where the Clock House is now situated. The current building, the second guildhall, was constructed in 1697. The design for the main frontage involved four bays: the ground floor was left open, apart from some paired

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with ...

columns, to allow markets to be held; the first floor was designed with four windows with white plaques in the middle commemorating the completion of the building in 1697 and also the financial contribution made by Sir Stafford Fairborne. At roof level a large round-headed

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

was erected above which was a bell-turret was placed. A

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

in the form of an 18th-century warship was added in 1780. Wings were added on the right in 1838 and on the left in 1893. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom which, in time, was also used as a council chamber. The magistrates' bench was curved so that attention was focussed on all the members of the bench and not just the chief magistrate. Both the council chamber and the staircase have magnificent plaster ceilings, which were given in 1695 by Admiral

Sir Cloudesley Shovell Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c. November 1650 – 22 or 23 October 1707) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and then at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. ...

, who was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the City of Rochester at the time. The council chamber featured in the novel Great Expectations by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

published in 1861. In the 1930s, in anticipation of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, a civil defence headquarters was established in the basement of the building. For much of the 20th century, the council chamber was the meeting place of the City of Rochester but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

Borough of Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to fo ...

was formed in 1974. The guildhall became the home of the Guildhall Museum in 1979.2000 Great Days Out (1998) AA (UK)

The Guildhall Museum

The museum was originally established at Eastgate House, further south along the High Street, to commemorate

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

in 1897. The collection includes artefacts associated with Rochester from prehistoric times to the present day. Works of art in the museum include a painting by

Hendrik Frans van Lint Hendrik Frans van Lint (1684 – 24 September 1763) was a Flemish landscape and ''vedute'' painter who was part of the group of Flemish and Dutch painters active in Rome. He was one of the leading landscape painters in Rome in the first half ...

depicting a classical Italian landscape, a portrait of Sir Cloudesley Shovell by

Michael Dahl Michael Dahl (1659–1743) was a Swedish portrait painter who lived and worked in England most of his career and died there. He was one of the most internationally known Swedish painters of his time. He painted portraits of many aristocrats and s ...

and a portrait of Sir Stafford Fairborne by Godfrey Kneller.

References

External links

Museum website
{{Great Expectations Grade I listed buildings in Kent Museums in Medway History museums in Kent Local museums in Kent Great Expectations City and town halls in Kent Government buildings completed in 1697

History

The Guildhall Museum

See also

References

External links