Ornate Plaster Ceilings in Eastgate House, Rochester
Within Eastgate House at Rochester, there are three ornate plaster ceilings. These were most likely installed in the 1590s during the first phase of the house’s construction. The house was commissioned by Peter Buck. At the time, he was Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham Dockyard.
Each of the ceilings has distinctly different designs. The existence of the ceilings has been recorded, but nothing has been discovered that offers an interpretation or thinking behind their designs. They all, particularly those of the two rooms on the second floor, lack the finesse of the ornate ceilings of Knole House or Cobham Hall. There are no known documents relating to the design of the ceilings. The cost of creating these ceilings would have been significant. It is therefore difficult to imagine that Peter Buck would not have given guidance as to what he expected to be included in the designs.
[fg]jpg|Fig 1 - First floor decorative ceilings.|Image[/fg]
The following is purely supposition. It seems possible that the three designs tell something of Peter Buck’s civic, professional, and family life; the scenes becoming more intimate the further one progresses into the house. As is the case with many other significant houses and palaces, I assume that progress through the building depends much on the rank of the visitor. The most intimate visitors gaining access to the more private rooms.
First Floor Room - Civic Status?
This room is the largest of the three with decorated ceilings. The size of this room suggests it was more a functional than a family space. The motifs included in the design of this ceiling are largely heraldic. The theme, though, is very much about displaying Peter Buck’s civil status.
[pg28]From left to right, within the design is:
• The Buck family achievement. This is a composite of Bucks’ coat of arms and the family crest.
• A family crest – “A dexter arm, embowed in armour proper, garnished or holding a cutlass argent, hilt and pommel or.” (Or=Gold)
• An impalement of the coat of arms of the Buck and Creswell families; the latter being the family of Buck’s second wife, Mary Creswell. This combined coat of arms was for the benefit of male offspring of this marriage.
Anyone entering this room would have been left in no doubt about Peter Buck’s civic credentials. This would have been important for a newcomer to the civic scene who would have probably hosted business and social functions in this room.
Second Floor - First Room - Professional Associations?
The design of this ceiling is busy. The most notable feature of the design is that all the mythical creatures, apart from two mermaids, do not have limbs. All the creatures in the design, as well as other probably botanical decorations, look to be equipped for an aquatic environment.
Peter Buck’s career appears to have significant nautical associations. His family appears to have become established in Southampton, another place with marine connections, and he followed a career with the navy. It is purely speculative, but could this room be celebrating Peter Buck and his family’s connection with the sea?
[fg]jpg|Fig 2 – Second floor, first room decorative ceiling.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 3 – Second floor, first room Marine Organisms?|Image[/fg]
[pg29]Second Floor - Second Room - Intimate Family Space?
Access to this room is only reached through the first room on this floor. The design of the ceiling in this room seems to be about ‘Mr & Mrs Buck and family’. The design includes three coats of arms: that of the Bucks, the Creswell’s, and a Buck/Creswell impalement. All being equal in size.
The execution of the design of the impalement in this room has been done incorrectly. The male coat of arms should be on the right, from the perspective of the shield-holder, not the viewer. It was constructed correctly in the ceiling of the first-floor room.
Within the design are a pair of male deer, also known as bucks. These are probably a pun on the family name. There is also a rebus, on the outside of one of the chimneys, of a buck. The motif that most drew my attention was a pair of Melusines (two-tailed merpeople).
[fg]jpg|Fig 4 – The ceiling in full.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 5 – Second floor, second room Section of the decorative ceiling.|Image[/fg]
Buck
Buck / Creswell Impalement
Creswell
[pg30]Two details caught my attention. The first was the swollen belly of the female, and then the face of the male. The face appeared to have much more character than what I have seen before on mermen. The sculpted face appeared to be adorned with a curled moustache and a pointy ‘Peak de Bon’ beard. Both were contemporaneous with the fashion followed in the Court of Elizabeth I. The face also appeared to be of a middle-aged man. Peter Buck would have been in his 40s when Eastgate House was commissioned.
On comparing this likeness to that of near contemporaneous images of Peter Buck’s contemporaries, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins, there was a clear similarity between the three Tudor gentlemen.
[fg]jpg|Fig 6 - Second floor, second room – a pair of Melusines.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 7 - Contemporary Characters.|Image[/fg]
Sir John Hawkins
A Tudor Gentleman
Peter Buck?
Sir Francis Drake
[pg31]There is no known picture of Peter Buck, but I wonder if there has been a likeness of him hiding in plain sight for centuries. It is not unknown for artists to include likenesses of family or their sponsors in their work.
If this room is really for the family, could the female Melusine be based on a likeness of Peter Buck’s wife, Mary? What’s more, could it be celebrating a pregnancy? The belly is swollen, and the belly button is prominent. There appears to be a clear intention to draw one’s gaze to the belly. Go into people’s private spaces today, and we will see intimate pictures that celebrate significant family moments. Technology has moved on, but surely our not-so-distant ancestors would have also wanted to record moments of emotional significance?
For fun only, I provided ChatGPT with images of the faces of the two Melusines. I told it they were casts of the faces of a man and woman from the Tudor period.
In Conclusion
I make no claims that these images represent what Peter and Mary Buck looked like. However, during the many hours I’ve looked at the ceilings, many visitors have come into these rooms, looked, and left. They looked, but what do they see?
My aim, as a Rochester tour guide, is to add human interest to Rochester’s historic architecture and built environment. I’m certain that there is a narrative behind the designs included in the three ceilings, but 450 years on, it will now be down to imagination and speculation to ‘find’ it.
Geoff Ettridge has led walks and tours around Kent for 25 years. He continues to lead tours and offer fundraising presentations, this year supporting the Kent Air Ambulance.
For more detailed and referenced material visit:
geofframbler.blog/2025/02/08/heraldic-devices-at-eastgate-house-rochester-kent
geofframbler.blog/2025/04/06/mr-mrs-buck-of-eastgate-house
geofframbler.blog/2025/09/13/decoding-the-ornate-ceilings-of-eastgate-house
[fg]jpg|Fig 8 - ChatGPT Facial reconstructions based upon the ceiling casts of the two Melusines.|Image[/fg]
All images courtesy of Geoff Ettridge, 2026.
