Dean of Rochester, Philip Hesketh looks back at 2023 at Rochester Cathedral in this short video.

Rochester Cathedral will remain closed to visitors tomorrow (22nd December) to allow more time for specialist cleaning and ventilation following a small fire on the 20th December. Our morning services will take place in the Ithamar Chapel. Our Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service will start at 7.30pm with doors opening at 6.45pm. We will reopen to visitors on the 23rd December.

Every Church of England Cathedral is to benefit from the generosity of one man who so loved cathedrals he spent ten years of his life on pilgrimage visiting each one and has left them all a bequest in his will. But the legacy is more than financial. Frank Buzzard, who died last year at the age of 95, wrote his own guide to each of the cathedrals too, ranging from short reports to what he called an “epic poem.”

Recently consultations took place with members of the Cathedral community. The aim of these consultations was to allow members of our community to comment on the proposed new Constitution and Statues. These are the governing documents of our Cathedral. They have been rewritten to bring the governance of Rochester Cathedral into accord with the Cathedral Measure 2021.

Rochester Cathedral is to commemorate two early medieval saints whose shrines were lost for nearly 500 years. St Paulinus and St Ithamar were Bishops of Rochester in the 7th century, nearly 1400 years ago.  On the 24th September the new shrine markers will be dedicated. They have been installed in front of the High Altar.

On the 25th July Textus Roffensis was officially added to a prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World UK Register.

The Royal Engineers joined us for their annual memorial service at Rochester Cathedral on Sunday 17th September.

Rochester Cathedral is to commemorate two early medieval saints whose shrines were lost for nearly 500 years. St Paulinus and St Ithamar were Bishops of Rochester in the 7th century, nearly 1400 years ago.  On the 24th September the new shrine markers will be dedicated. They have been installed in front of the High Altar.

Rochester Cathedral is celebrating 900 years since the creation of the most exceptional item in its collections, Textus Roffensis, ‘the book of Rochester’. Textus 900 is a programme of events and exhibitions taking place over the next 18 months.  The celebrations begin with an exhibition in the Cathedral Crypt, ‘Beauty and the Beasts’. This exhibition explores the medieval priory of Rochester where Textus Roffensis was written and features three significant items loaned from the British Library. Two of the British Library books were once in the priory library and are returning home to Rochester for the first time in nearly 500 years.

A rarely seen portrait by renowned artist Sir Joshua Reynolds is to be displayed at Rochester Cathedral to mark the Tricentenary of his birth. The portrait depicts former Bishop of Rochester, Dr John Thomas.

Rochester Cathedral honoured to have received a hazel tree which formed part of a huge sculpture for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

On July 5th, the National Health Service was 75 years old. This key milestone, in the life of one of our most treasured institutions was marked with a special service at Rochester Cathedral on Monday 3rd July.