a city of Kent, in England, is situated on the Medway, seven miles and a half north of Maidstone, and 30 from London. It appears to have been one of the Roman stations, from the bricks in the walls, as well as the Roman coins that have been found about it. It has three parish churches built with stone and flints, besides the cathedral, which is but a mean structure. This little city, which was made a bishop's see by king Ethelbert, anno 604, has met with many misfortunes. In 676, it was sacked by Eldred king of Mercia; in 839 and 885, besieged by the Danes, but rescued by king Alfred. About 100 years after, it was besieged by king Ethelred, and forced to pay £100. Anno 999 it was taken and plundered by the Danes. Anno 1088 it was besieged and taken by William Rufus. In king John's time it was taken from the Barons, after three month's siege; and the very next year, viz. 1256, its castle, founded by William the Conqueror, was stormed and taken by several of the Barons, under the French king's son. In the reign of Henry III. it was besieged by Simon Montford, who burnt its then wooden bridge and tower, and spoiled the church and priory, and then marched off. This city has also been several times destroyed by fire, viz. in 1130, on June 3, in 1137, and in 1177; after which it is said to have continued desolate till 1225, when it was repaired, ditched, and walled round. In the Saxon heptarchy there were three mints in Rochester, two for the king and one for the bishop. In 1281, its old wooden bridge was carried off by the ice, in a sudden thaw after a frost which had made the Medway passable on foot. Another was built in the reign of Richard II. but pulled down again, on the rumour of an invasion from France. It was afterwards restored, but so often subject to expensive repairs, by reason of the rapid course of the river under it, as well as the great breadth and depth of it, that in the reign of Edward III. it was resolved to build a new bridge of stone; and the same was begun, and in a manner completed, at the expense of Sir John Cobham and Sir Robert Knolles, Edward III.'s generals, out of the spoils they had taken in France. It has 21 arches. The town is governed by a mayor, recorder, 12 aldermen, 12 common-councilmen, a town-clerk, three sergeants at Rochester; mace, and a water-bailiff. To its cathedral belong a dean and six prebendaries. Gundulph's tower stands on the north side of the cathedral, and is supposed to have been built by the bishop, as a place of security for the treasures and archives of that church and fee. Some suppose it to have been intended for a bell tower, and others for an ecclesiastical prison; but whatever might be its destination, its machicolations, its loop-hole windows, and the thickness of its walls, shows strength and defence were considered as necessary. This tower was 60 feet high, but some part has lately fallen down; the walls are six feet thick, and contain within them an area of 20 feet square: it was divided into five floors or stories of unequal height, and had a communication with the upper part of the church, by means of an arch or bridge, the steps of which are still visible. It is supposed to have been erected after the cathedral was built. For the maintenance of its bridge, certain lands are tied down by parliament, to which it has sent members from the first. The town-house, built in the year 1687, for the courts, affizes, and sessions, and the charity-school, are two of the best public buildings here.—A mathematical school was founded here, and an alms-house for lodging six poor travellers every night, and allowing them 4 d. in the morning when they depart, except persons contagiously diseased, rogues, and proctors. In the summer here are always six or eight lodgers, who are admitted by tickets from the mayor. The Roman Watling-street runs through this town from Shooters-Hill to Dover. The mayor and citizens hold what is called an admiralty-court once a-year for regulating the oyster-fishery in the creeks and branches of the Medway that are within their jurisdiction, and for prosecuting the cable-hangers, as they are called, who dredge and fish for oysters without being free, by having served seven years apprenticeship to a fisherman who is free of the fishery. Every licensed dredger pays 6s. 8d. a-year to the support of the courts, and the fishery is now in a flourishing way. Part of the castle is kept in repair, and is used as a magazine, where a party of soldiers do constant duty. The bridge was repaired in 1744, and palliaded with new iron rails. Rochester contains about 700 houses, and 2000 inhabitants. It consists of only one principal street, which is wide, and paved with flints. The houses are generally well built with brick, and inhabited by tradesmen and innkeepers. It has also four narrow streets; but no sort of manufactory is carried on here. Stroud is at the west end of this place, and Chatham at the east. It is 27 miles north-west by west of Canterbury, and 30 south-east by east of London. Long. 0. 36. E. Lat. 51. 23. N

(earl of). See WILMOT.