Exceptional Travel Writing
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The
stranger's description of Rochester's Norman castle and cathedral in Charles
Dickens's early and popular novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick
Club, written in 1837, the very first year of the great Victorian
age, is still accurate today.
The City of Rochester Upon Medway, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast
of London, sits on the River Medway just before that vital waterway empties
into the estuary of its larger sister, the Thames. The City is comprised
of the towns of Rochester, Chatham and Strood, the last being on the north
side of the river. Chatham is rich in naval history. Sir Francis Drake,
who was instrumental in defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588, grew up
near here and learned to sail on the Medway. The Victory, Admiral Lord
Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, was launched at Chatham
in 1765.
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Sitting
midway between London and the Channel ports on the old Roman road
called "Watling Street," Rochester can boast of two thousand
years of history, dating from the time of the original Roman town,
Durobrivae, meaning "the stronghold by the bridge." |
Since
then the city, has been attacked by and played host to Vikings, Normans,
Crusaders and Canterbury pilgrims. All have left their historical stamp
upon the city, but today it is the Victorian heritage from Rochester's
great literary lion, Charles Dickens, that is most celebrated.
The eminent English novelist spent his early childhood at No.2 (now 11)
Ordnance Terrace and St. Mary's Place, The Brook. He returned as a successful
and popular writer in 1856, at the age of 44, to live at Gads Hill Place
in the village of Higham between Rochester and Gravesend.
"This is Falstaff's own Gads Hill, and I live on the top of it ....
my house .... is one I was extraordinarily fond of when a child,"
he wrote in 1860. Here he spent the last 12 years of his life, writing
some of his most celebrated novels and setting two of them, Great Expectations
and the unfinished, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in the area. The
Swiss-style chalet where Dickens wrote his last books now stands in the
grounds of the Dickens Center in Rochester. Unfortunately, because of
the fragility of the chalet, it is not open to the public.
Dickens mania reaches a peak each year during the first week of June when
the City of Rochester holds its annual Dickens Festival. Local inhabitants
and visitors alike get into the Dickensian spirit by dressing up as characters
from Dickens' novels. Many of them arrive on the special noon train from
London, on which you are only allowed to ride if you are dressed in Victorian
garb. The train's arrival kicks off the parade down Rochester High Street
to the 400-year old Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel, mentioned in both Pickwick
Papers and Great Expectations.
The focal point of Dickensiana in Rochester is the Charles Dickens Center
in Eastgate House. Open all year round except for Christmas Day and New
Year's Day, the center is an award-winning attraction that uses the latest
audio visual technology to bring to life the vivid characters and scenes
from Dickens' novels, depicting much of the grim reality of Victorian
England.
The center contains a dramatic tableau in which state-of-the-art special
effects are used to depict "Dickens Dream," based on the famous
painting in which many of his characters visit him while he dozes in his
study. Visitors will also want to attend the theater, which shows video
presentations of Charles Dickens' life and work.
Eastgate House itself dates from Elizabethan times. The house acquired
its name from Eastgate Street, the former name of the section of the High
Street in which it stands. It was built in 1590 for Sir Peter Buck, once
Alderman and Mayor of the City of Rochester and Clerk of the Cheque at
Chatham Dockyard.
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Visitors should be sure to see Restoration House in Crow Lane. Although not generally open to the public, conducted tours are sometimes arranged during the Dickens Festival. The house has strong ties with both King Charles II and Charles Dickens. The house was owned by Sir Francis Clarke, an ardent Royalist who played a vital role in securing the king's return from exile in France. On May 28th, 1660, on the eve of his restoration to the throne, Charles stepped into an English house for the first time in 11 years. The following day, the king formerly ordered Sir Francis to "henceforth call this house Restoration House." |
Dickens used this imposing, but bleak residence as his model for Satis
House, the home of Miss Havisham in his wonderful novel, Great Expectations.
 Dickens' chalet in Rochester where he wrote his last words |
On
the day before Dickens' death, he was reported to have been seen "staring
through the gates" of Restoration House. Was he reliving some
scenes from Great Expectations or planning a new identity for
the ancient building in the novel he never finished, The Mystery
of Edwin Drood? The love and enthusiasm for Charles Dickens, one of Britain's greatest writers, is so infectious during the annual Rochester Dickens Festival that even the most cynical visitor will want to rush home to read again all those magnificent stories. |
One is truly awed by the degree of participation on the part of Rochester's
citizens.
As Charles Dickens himself asked in his last and unfinished novel, The
Mystery of Edwin Drood: "Stranger, pause and ask thyself the
question, canst thou do likewise? If not, with a blush retire."
Charles
Dickens' Rochester:
City of History and Great Expectations
was first published in HolidayMaker
magazine
