Cathedral Gardens
A vineyard is recorded as early as the 1340s in the area now known as King’s Orchard. This green heritage was taken up by Dean Samuel Reynolds Hole, keen horticulturalist and rose grower, in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The ruins of the cloister of the Benedictine Cathedral Priory of Saint Andrew priory survive on the south side of the Cathedral, forming an area known as the Cloister Garth.
The first project funded by the Friends of Rochester Cathedral in the 1930s was the demolition of the 19th-century Prependal House, the restoration of the Norman Cloister and the landscaping of the Cloister Garth.
The gardens today are cared for by the Cathedral Gardeners and a team of Garden Volunteers, providing a stunning seasonal setting for the Cathedral and Precinct and remaining an integral part of the heritage of the site. The Cathedral Gardens Project is enhancing and improving the gardens and green spaces of the Cathedral Estate to deliver the overall mission of the Cathedral.
Cathedral Gardens
The open spaces and garden areas of Rochester Cathedral have been occupied since the 7th century. Today they cover a considerable area within the limits of the historic city and today are a ‘green lung’ in the heart of Rochester.
Head Gardener Graham Huckstepp explores the herbs of use in the Priory Infirmary.
The Cathedral Gardens Project is specially designed to enhance and improve the gardens and green spaces of the Cathedral Estate to deliver the overall mission of the Cathedral.
The planting of 100 vines by the Cathedral’s Head Gardener, assisted by Simpson Wine Estate, is recreating the medieval vineyard once within the area now known as King’s Orchard.
In their duty to care and maintain the Gardens the Cathedral Gardeners employ a range of conservation practices to keep the gardens a key part of the biodiversity of Rochester.
Rochester Cathedral has been awarded a Silver Eco Award for our sustainability and conservation efforts.
The Cathedral has a new knot garden designed and created by Head Gardener Graham Huckstepp.
“He who would have beautiful Roses in his garden must have beautiful Roses in his heart”. So wrote Samuel Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester from 1877 until his death in 1904.
We are grateful to the Revd Melvyn Matthews, Senior Anglican Chaplain to Bristol University and the BBC World Service to quote extracts from the broadcast when he talked of a postcard the Dean sent him of the statue by John Doubleday in the Garth.
Cathedral Architect W. A. Forsyth reports on the repairs to the Cathedral and claims to the War Damage Commission. Featured in The Eighth Annual Report of the Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual, published May 1950.
W. A. Forsythe reports on the restoration of the Norman Cloister in advance of its opening as the Cloister Garth gardens in the 1930s, the first project sponsored by the Friends.
Architecture & archaeology
The ruins and grounds of the Cathedral Priory have been the subject of many archaeological excavations and investigations.
Heritage Officer Jacob Scott traces a large stone crucifix featuring prominently in historic photos of the Lapidarium collection, now tentatively identified as the finial once adorning the apex of the South Quire Transept overlooking the High Street.
Jacob Scott investigates five odd stones around the Precinct Gardens that were possibly amongst the earliest features of the site. Part of the physical and cultural landscape from before Roman occupation, Sarsen stones have been reused and reinterpreted for thousands of years and yet still hold many mysteries.
The ruins of a camponile (detached bell tower), to the north of the Cathedral has been known as ‘Gundulf’s Tower’ since the 18th century. Though it actually dates from the early thirteenth century, it may be constructed from reused material from Gundulf’s Tufa Stone transept.
Archaeologist Alan Ward reviews the archaeology of the Cathedral Precinct. Featured in The Hidden Treasures, Fresh Expressions Project Archaeology Report, Keevill Heritage 2021.
Rochester Cathedral Archaeologist Graham Keevill discusses the results of a Ground-Penetrating Radar survey of the Cloister Garth in 2017 revealing what is thought to be the foundations for Bishop Gundulf’s short-lived cloister.
A previously unrecorded thirteenth-century altar slab identified within a garden feature at King’s Orchard.
Dendrochronological analysis undertaken on timbers of the roof over what is now the Chapter Library suggests felling of the timber around the time of, and possibly paused by, the Black Death.
Archaeological investigations of the fifteenth-century Deanery Gate to the north of the Cathedral were conducted during the conversion of Deanery Gate House from office use into three flats in 2007-8.
Philip McAleer studies the west range of the cloisters, thought to have been the cellerers range where food and drink for the priory was stored in cool, sunken vaults.
David A. H. Cleggett reviews the period when the Cathedral priory buildings were appropriated and served as a residence of King Henry VIII.
Farming & food
Medieval records such as the Custumale Roffense reveal the history of farming and food at the heart of the Cathedral Priory of St Andrew.
Dr Christopher Monk explores details about animals and animal products consumed at Rochester Priory emerging from a section in Custumale Roffense concerning the monastery’s lay servants (folios 53r-60v).
Head Gardener Graham Huckstepp explores the herbs growing in the Infirmary Herb Garden.
Dr Christopher Monk explores the role of animals and animal products at the Priory of Saint Andrew at Rochester, for everything from manuscripts to candles and transport to food.
The master miller of Rochester Priory received a food gift at Easter for his services to the community of monks there. That gift was a flan. In this video, Dr Christopher Monk recreates a medieval recipe for a sweet creamy flan: silky smooth and delicious!
Dr Christopher Monk introduces the ‘Custumal of Rochester’, a thirteenth-century customs book from the Cathedral Priory of St Andrew full of vivid details not just of the lives of the monks but also offering valuable insight into the servants of the priory.
Medieval medicine
Explore the records of the medieval Priory of Saint Andrew relating to the infirmary and medieval medicine.
Head Gardener Graham Huckstepp explores the herbs growing in the Infirmary Herb Garden.
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