Sarum Missal, 16th century
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library volunteer Beverley Jacobs leafs through the 16th-century Sarum Missal, a remnant from the final days of the Priory Library.
The Danelaw, 9th-11th century
Dr Alexander Thomas introduces the Danelaw; an 11th-century name for the areas of Northern and Eastern England in which the laws of the Danish Viking empire from the late 9th century until the early 11th century.
Elizabeth Elstob’s excerpts from Textus Roffensis 1712
Elizabeth Elstob made a facsimile of Textus Roffensis (c.1123), in two parts. Here, Dr Christopher Monk explores her handwritten copies of the three Old English Kentish law codes, unique to Textus, and her copy of the foundation charter of Rochester Cathedral with its marvellous decorated initial.
The Rochester Bible, c.1125-1140
Dr Christopher Monk explores The Rochester Bible; a richly decorated manuscript produced by the monks of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester.
Bede, Opera (volume 2), with manuscript leaves, 1521
Dr Christopher Monk leaves through a volume of Bede’s second opera in the Chapter Library collection featuring two medieval manuscript paste-downs.
High Treason and A Wicked Contrivance?
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library volunteer Myra Amor explores the stories of three successive bishops of Rochester each accused of treason.
Mary Elizabeth and John Griffith, Canon of Rochester 1827-1879
T. H. James introduces Rev. Dr John Griffith and his wife Mary Elizabeth Griffith, benefactors to the Cathedral in the 19th century.
Sarah Baker and her Kentish Theatres, 1737-1816
A brief outline by Dr Jean Baker of the life and times of a remarkable but little-known woman (not an ancestor of hers) who played a significant role in the political, social and cultural evolution of Kent’s rapidly growing towns at the end of the eighteenth century.
Colonial heritage at Rochester Cathedral
A reinvestigation of the Early Modern history and collections of the Cathedral was spurred by the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests and ensuing debate on memorialisation in public spaces.
John Speed's atlas, 1676
Library volunteer Myra Amor introduces John Speed and his Theatre of the empire of Great-Britain and A prospect of the most famous parts of the World published in 1676.
Bishop Hamo of Hythe (c.1275-1352)
Perhaps second only to Gundulf in shaping the medieval Rochester Cathedral and St Andrew’s Priory, there is some evidence to suggest it may be down to Hamo and the turbulent times in which he lived that resulted in the two halves of Textus being bound together in the mid-fourteenth century.
Investments in the South Sea Company by the Dean & Chapter of Rochester Cathedral, 1715-1720
The archives of the Dean & Chapter include a collection of early 18th-century stock and dividend receipts and an accounts book evidencing an extensive financial legacy from investments in two of the largest slave-trading companies in history.
Baptisms, marriages and burial registers of Rochester Cathedral
Facsimile and transcriptions of the baptism, marriage and burial registers of Rochester Cathedral.
The Last Stand of Lieutenant Henn and his Sappers
The story behind the names of the ‘Native Sappers and Miners’ commemorated in the 1888 Royal Engineers memorial mosaic at the west end of the Nave of Rochester Cathedral.
Slaves and the Unfree in the Laws of Æthelberht
The twelfth-century collection of laws preserved in Textus Roffensis, the ‘Rochester Book’, illuminates the position of those who were slaves during the Anglo-Saxon period.
Dean Reynolds Hole (1819-1904)
Dean of Rochester Philip Hesketh introduces the life and work of Samuel Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester 1887–1904, a celebrated gardener notable for his expertise with roses. First of a two-part series.
Rochester Cathedral Lapidarium and Spolia
Jacob Harry Scott, B.A., ACIfA, 2021, Submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in Archaeology & Heritage School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester.
Black Boy Alley, Rochester: Origin and heritage
Jacob Scott investigates the origins of the name of an alley in Rochester.
Rochester Cathedral Masons’ Marks
Jacob Harry Scott PCIfA, 2019, Dissertation for BA degree in Archaeology, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester.
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