England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Rochester St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Rochester St Nicholas lies in northern Kent as part of 2 parishes forming the city of Rochester. Rochester is located about 29 miles southeast of the city of London and around 9 miles north of the county town of Maidstone. Rochester sits on the A2 (London to Canterbury & Dover) road at the crossing of the River Medway, the road following the ancient Roman Road of Watling Street. Rochester is an ancient cathedral city which pre-dates the Roman conquest. Given its strategic site at the main crossing of the Medway the Romans made it a site for one of their main towns, Durobrivae. After a turbulent period suffering several attacks from Danes the Norman conquest saw some stability and the construction of Rochester's castle. Later times saw Rochester growing importance as a port and market for its local area, a role it still performs being one of the largest places along the Kent northern coast. The Medway, offering a secure harbour for vessels, acquired importance as a naval base and, together with nearby Chatham, Rochester became important to the military both naval and conventional. In more modern times Rochester has benefited from modern communications, the London to Canterbury rail line passes through the city and the modern M2 motorway now takes traffic to Rochester's south. Both developments have lead to further growth and Rochester is nowadays just a part of a sprawling metropolitan area that not only spans both banks of the Medway but is conjoined together with Chatham & Gillingham into a major conurbation. Within the city St Nicholas parish covers a tiny acreage of the inner core of the city. Rochester is drained  by the Medway which begins its own estuary just downstream before meeting the outer Thames Estuary and the North Sea. Rochester is sited at just 10 metres above the sea at the church & adjacent Cathedral but land rises steadily away from the riverside to reach close to 70 metres within the outer suburbs. St Nicholas parish covered a very small acreage, just a few city blocks yet almost 8,100 parishioners would have crowded into its streets by the time of the completion of this transcript. In Domesday times Rochester was shared between Bishop Odo of Bayeux and the city's own Bishop, a wealthy place worth £17 pounds per annum to the two owners, the assets documented were obviously not representative of an already urban setting, with 8 ploughs, meadows & woodland and 2 mills being just a subset of what were obviously more substantial benefits.   

The Church

St Nicholas church has an unusual setting having been built to serve the city's lay community yet sited within the grounds of the adjacent Cathedral. Documentary evidence dates the construction to the period between 1418 & 1423, a period when Perpendicular styles were at their peak. Prior to this construction the lay community had been permitted to worship within the nave of Rochester's Cathedral. The original building consisted of a simple nave & chancel, the northwestern tower was added at a later date. The church was substantially rebuilt in the 17th century, Pevsner states that all of the walls above plinth level date from that rebuild. Further work took place in the early 1860 when the windows were also replaced. The church was closed for worship in 1964 and has now become the secular offices of the Diocese. St Nicholas sits in a highly urban setting, parking is better found and a walk to the premises recommended, situated on the eastern side of College Yard it is adjacent to the Cathedral and faces the castle. The building is tightly enclosed by others and photographers have a distinct challenge to adequately capture its image.