A T whatever period we may imagine the site of the
ruined Roman city of Durnovernum to have been reoccupied, and the foundations laid of the new Saxon town Cantmarabyrig, it is certain that a municipal government was re-established, and a " civitas " again arose on what was now the King's stile, with a prefect, or reere, who gave some of the land to the monks, and was the Royal representative and executive officer of the borough. We have already seen how often the new municipality was called on to act independently in contests with the Northmen. It is pro- bable that the authority of the prefect became ere long very subordinate to that of the episcopal and monastic dignitaries. The cathedral church and the convent connected with it, origi- nally built, it is said, on the site of a former British church or temple, shared the ruin of the town in these Danish contests. Canute restored it after his establishment on the English throne. It was again burnt in 1067. Archbishop Lanfranc then rebuilt both church and monastery from the very foundations. After some subsequent alterations and partial reconstructions the cathe- dral was dedicated again in 1130, and this is the church in which Thomas h Becket was murdered. From the era of his " martyr- dom" the great prosperity of Canterbury may be dated, the miracle-working at his tomb, and the saintly reputation of the spot, attracting crowds of pilgrims from every part of the Chris- tian world. In 1174 the choir was burnt down, and rebuilt with additional buildings by the end of the next ten years. Lan- franc's nave was taken down, and a nave and transept built between the years 1378 and 1410,—and the great central tower, at least that part of it which rises above the roof, was added about the year 1495 by Prior Goldstone. "The present cathedral consists either of portions or of the whole of these different works, from the rebuilding by Lanfranc to the death of Prior Goldstone." Outside the Roman city, and adjoining the road to Rutupiss, a church arose, it is said at the hands of Augustine, dedicated to St Pancras, the patron saint of children, —as the story goes, in reference to the Saxon children at Rome, who led to the missionary expedition to Britain. Close adjoining the church arose the Benedictine monastery dedicated first to St. Peter and St. Paul, and afterwards by Dunstan to Augustine him- self. It was originally intended for a place of interment, and Augustine himself, with King Ethelbert, and many of their suc- cessors, are said to have been buried here. The monastery was richly endowed by the Saxon Kings, and the abbot had, before the Conquest, the right of minting and coinage, and at the dissolu- tion of the religious houses his jurisdiction extended over a whole lathe of thirteen hundreds. The city meanwhile grew with the increasing celebrity of its ecclesiastical establishments. In the eighteenth of Henry III. the citizens were empowered to choose bailiffs for themselves. In the twenty-eighth of Henry VI. they bad another charter, which established the municipal constitution which lasted down to the Municipal Reform Act in the reign of William IV. Edward IV. made it a county in itself, and it has
returned two members to the House of Commons since the twenty- third of Edward I. Canterbury is neither a manufacturing nor a commercial city. " Silk weaving, which was introduced by French refugees, and was at one time prosecuted to a considerable extent in the city, has been long extinct." There is still a wool trade, but the principal traffic is in corn and hops, and there are numerous mills on the banks, of the river Stour. The city has been several times burnt down and rebuilt.
Hrofscestre (Rochester) was also a town of considerable import- ance in Saxon times. In the latter half of the tenth century we find it standing successfully a siege against King Ethelred himself.
The King, who had quarrelled with the Bishop, finding himself unable to take the city, in revenge ravaged the adjacent and
dependent district. The anger of the King is said to have been at length appeased by a sum of money given by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dunstan). The town suffered much, as we have seen, during the invasions of the Northmen. A missionary church, with the usual establishment of secular priests, was founded here, it is said, by Augustine, and was dedicated to St. Andrew. This cathedral church (as it became on the creation of the episcopal see by Augustine) suffered so much during the Saxon period as to be in a ruined condition at the time of the Norman Conquest. Bishop Gundulf, however, rebuilt the cathedral church and the priory connected with it, and settled in the latter a colony of Benedictine monks, in place of the secular priests. The new cathedral was not dedicated, however, till 1130 (five years after his death). It was greatly injured by fire in 1177. The choir was rebuilt in 1239-40, the north aisle also in the thirteenth century, and the tower was raised about the year 1343. The cathedral had suffered much during the siege of Rochester Castle by Simon de Moutfort in 1264. After the Conquest, Rochester was attached to the Earldom of Kent ; but the original castle which at the Conquest was constructed here is attributed to the military engineering skill of Bishop Gundulf. The existing castle dates from the middle of the twelfth century, when it was rebuilt from the foundations. It was the first fortress invested and reduced by Louis of France in his struggle with King John. The keep successfully defied the efforts of Simon de Montfort. The Archbishops of Canterbury were appointed Constables by Henry I., but they lost this office in the time of Stephen. After the invention of gunpowder the castle became of less importance as a place of strength, and was gradually allowed to fall into decay. JamesL granted the site to Sir Anthony Weldon, and it has since passed through various hands into that of the Earls of Jersey. The town was. three times nearly burnt down in thetwelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the insurgents in Wat Tyler's rising assailed the castle. In the time of Edward the Confessor Rochester belonged to the Crown. William the Conqueror granted it to his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, but on his disgrace in 1083 it was resumed. Henry I. farmed it out to the citizens at an annual rent of 201., which was paid by the Prepositus or Bailiff. He also granted to the Bishop and Church an annual fair to be held there, with various other privileges. The prosperity of the city, however, was greatly checked by the calamitous fires which we have mentioned. Henry II., in the twelfth of his reign, granted to the citizens and their heirs the city in fee or perpetual farm for 201. sterling per annum, with a guild mercantile, and other liberties and immuni- ties. Richard I. granted the monks the right of prior purchase of provisions over even the Royal attendants. Up to this reign the citizens had received and accounted to the King for an impost called Mal-Tolt, which they received from all persona passing through Rochester to embark for the Holy Land ; but Richard abolished the toll. Henry III. relieved them from part of their- fee-farm rent, and in consideration of their adherence to his cause- enacted that they should be free from tolls and other similar exactions throughout England and the sea-ports, and should have a free market, and the return of all writs whatsoever. However, the King afterwards resumed the property of the city, and Edward L granted it in fee-farm to John de Cobham. Edward III. and Richard II., however, confirmed the earlier privileges of Henry III., and Henry VI. granted the citi- zens additional liberties. In the same reign (in 1440) they came to an agreement with the Church authorities as to their re- spective boundaries and jurisdictions. Edward the IV. seemstohave- considered the place as of great importance, and granted it a new charter confirming to them the old liberties, under the name of the " Mayor and Citizens " of Rochester, and enlarging the boundaries of the city, with other privileges. Charles I. in 163G ordained that the corporation should consist of a mayor, twelve aldermen (the mayor being one), twelve assistants or common council, a recorder and town clerk, two chamberlains, a principal serjeant-at-mace, a water bailiff, &c.; and this was the constitu- tion by which the city was governed down to the Municipal Reform Act. It has returned two members to the House of Commons since the reign of Edward L There are no manufactures at Rochester, but craft bring up and discharge coal, &c., at the bridge, and there is an oyster fishery. The prosperity of the city (never a large town) now is chiefly dependent on its supply of the Government establishments at Chatham and Strood. Of these places the former joins Rochester on its east side, and stretches along the Medway. Roman remains have been found here. In Domesday Book it is called Ceteham. In the time of the Confessor it belonged to Earl Godwin, and afterwards to his son Harold. After the Conquest, William gave it to Bishop Odo, and on his disgrace to Hanon de Creveceeur, with. the manor of Leeds, in this county. Robert de Crevecceur, fourth 40
in descent from this Hanon, built Leeds Castle. The head of the House in the reign of Henry III. joined the Barons, and the property was confiscated, and though he was afterwards pardoned, Chatham or Ceteham remained with the Crown. Edward II. exchanged it for other lands with Bartholomew, Lord Badlesmere. From him, through successive heiresses, it passed to the Went- worths of Nettlested, in Suffolk (who were ennobled), and one of these alienated the manor in the time of Elizabeth. Chatham first emerged from local obscurity with the erec- tion of a dockyard here by Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign Camden pronounced it " the best appointed arsenal the sun ever saw." The chief historical event connected with it is the burning by the Dutch in 1667 of many English ships of war lying here in ordinary. Barracks were erected along the river, con- taining accommodation for more than 3,000 men. Fort Pitt, overlooking the town, dates from the end of the last century. There are also barracks and a hospital for 4,000 or 5,000 men of the Royal Marines, within Chatham Lines, the fortifications which form the defence of the Dockyard and Arsenal. The first lines were commenced in 1738 and finished in 1807. They included a considerable area of ground, in which lies the village of Brompton, and run down to the Medway at either extremity. Strood lies on the opposite side of the Medway to Rochester. The manor was given by Henry H. to the Knights Templar. One of the cemeteries of Roman Rochester lay on this side of the Medway.
We need not do more than mention the Dockyard and Arsenal at Woolwich. A Royal dockyard is known to have existed there as early as 1515. Greenwich was a favourite landing-place for the Northmen, who often encamped on the hill. With Deptford and Lewisham, it was given about the year 900 by Eltruda, niece of King Alfred, to the Abbey of St. Peter, at Ghent. Henry V. transferred it to the Carthusians of Shene, who held it till the Dissolution. On part of the land retained by the Crown a royal palace was built by Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the Protector, who called it " Placentia." He also enclosed the Park, and built a tower on the site of the present Observatory. Edward IV. en- larged the palace, and it continued a favourite royal residence till the Civil War. Here Henry VIII. was born, and here he married Catharine of Arragon and Anne of Cleves. James I. began a new building at Greenwich called the " Queen's House," and Henrietta-Maria employed Inigo Jones to finish it. Charles II. commenced a new palace, but it was rarely inhabited, and after the naval battle of La Hogue in 1692 Queen Mary announced her in- tention of converting it into a hospital. After her death William pushed forward the scheme, and ordered Sir Christopher Wren to prepare plans. The first stone was laid in 1696, but the Hospital was not opened till 1705, in the next reign.
Dover stands on the site of the Roman station of Dubrw. The walls and gates of this Roman town have been traced, but it is not often mentioned by early writers, Rutupix being the usual port for the Continent. The Saxons called it Dorfe or Dofris, and in the time of Domesday Book it was called Dovere. In the time of Edward the Confessor the townsmen came into collision with Eustace, Count of Boulogne, the King's brother-in-law, who with his men took (after feudal fashion) forcible possession of the lodgings which pleased them best. A struggle ensued, which ended in Eustace having to make his escape with a few companions, who alone were left. The King ordered Eail Godwin to punish the townsmen, but the Earl evaded the request. In 1052 the old feud was renewed, on Eustace again visiting England, and again Eustace and his men had to beat a retreat, this time to the King at Gloucester. Godwin on this raised forces, and marching to the King, demanded the delivery into his hands of Eustace and the other offenders against the municipal liberties of Dover. From. Domesday Book we learn that the citizens of Dover purchased certain immunities from the same King, on the condition of serving him with twenty ships for fifteen days in the year. We have no record of sufferings endured by it from the Northmen. At the time of the Norman Conquest, however, it was burnt ; but it soon recovered, and rose again into importance. The castle, standing high above and to the east of the town, probably occupies the site of a Roman castellum, to which it is believed the vast circular fosse still remaining, "in the remotest part of the precinct," belongs. Within this stood the pharos or lighthouse, which guided the course of the Roman galleys. Its remains are attached to a ruined church (partly Saxon, partly Norman). South of the keep is the only fragment of Roman masonry now remaining on the hill. " The wall, like that of its sister light at Gessoriacwn [Boulogne] is composed of a casing of flints and tufa, with \ bonding courses of large Roman tiles, filled up in the interior
with smaller stones and mortar. Owing perhaps to some difficulty in procuring tiles, Folkestone rock cut tile-shape is occasionally used. The pharos is octagonal without and squared within, each side being about 14 feet. The windows are said to have been altered by Bishop Gundulf in the course of his Norman additions. The arms on the north aide are those of Lord Grey of Codnor, about 1259. The pharos is now used as a Government storehouse." The Roman castellum seems to have been gradually enlarged in Saxon and Norman times, till it was considered "the lock and key [as Matthew Paris calls it] of England." Hubert de Burgh held it against all the efforts of Louis of France in 1216. Prince Edward was confined here after the battle of Lewes, and after his release took the castle, the prisoners within rising on the guard, and capturing the keep. At the commencement of the Civil War it was surprised by an ardent Parliamentarian, a merchant of Dover named Drake, who scaled the cliff, with a few followers, on the night of the 1st of August, 1642, thus inflicting a heavy blow on the Royal cause, and virtually securing Kent and the south- east coast of England for the Parliament. The castle has been entirely remodelled since 1780. Of the harbour little is recorded till the time of Henry VII., in whose fifteenth year a round tower was built on the south-west side, to protect the shipping from the violence of the south-west winds, the ships being moored to it by rings ; and that part of the haven was thenceforward called Little Paradise. In Henry VLII.'s time a pier was begun for more effectually securing the same end, on the south-west side of the bay, and carried out into the sea directly eastward for a distance of 131 rods. Henry is said to have expended 80,000/. on this work, but it was left incomplete till the reign of Elizabeth, when Sir Walter Raleigh memorialized the Queen on the subject. At this time a natural bar was formed by the sea across the harbour, which threatened at first to destroy the port, but afterwards formed its best protection. The Queen being petitioned to en- large the channel which the course of the river still preserved, granted the town the free exportation of 30,000 quarters of wheat, 10,000 quarters of barley, and 4,000 tuns of beer, in aid of the expense ; and for the same purpose, in her twenty-third year, a duty of threepence per ton was laid on every vessel passing this port above twenty tons' burden, this duty producing about 10,0001. annually. This was followed by a commission for the repair and improvement of the harbour, and a secure haven was at length made. James I., by a charter in 1606, appointed a Board of Commissioners, eleven in number, of whom the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Lieutenant of Dover Castle, and the Mayor of Dover, for the time being, were always to be members, to secure the permanent efficiency of the harbour. The consequence of these measures was that down to near the close of that century the harbour rendered eminent services to the Royal as well as the merchant navy, but at the beginning of 1699 it appears it was in danger of becoming totally useless, and the captains of the packet vessels petitioned the Post-Office Commissioners to be allowed to land at Deal until it was put into a better condition. The next year an Act was obtained for repairing the harbour, but the money then expended was quite inadequate, and in 1718 a further grant of money was made, but nothing effectual was done till 1737, after which time the prosperity of the place began again to increase. The outer harbour and the Pent or eastern basin were much improved in 1844, and the sea walls lately constructed in the bay form convenient promenades, and aid in checking the en- croachments of the Channel. The Harbour of Refuge was com- menced in 1847, to prevent the passage of beach from the westward in front of the harbour's mouth. "About 600 acres of the bay will be enclosed, in a large part of which there will be a depth of water sufficient for men-of-war of the largest size," while there will be " a convenient low-water landing-place for the steamboats." Dover has for some time been one of the chief departure ports for the Continent of Europe and for the postal packets. It is the chief pilot station of the Cinque Ports, having attached to it 56 pilots employed in the Channel service. It was the first of the Cinque Ports incor- porated by charter of Edward I., who had a mint here, and in the twenty-seventh of his reign appointed the table of the Exchequer of Money to be held here and at Yarmouth. Shortly before this the greater part of the town had been burnt by the French, who landed in the night. In the seventeenth of Edward II. Dover was divided into twenty-one wards, each of which was charged with one ship for the King's service, and had the privilege of a packet boat- " a Passenger"—to convey goods and passengers to Witaant, in Flanders, Canaria old port of embarkation. In the tenth of Edward III. the town was secured in a monopoly as a departure port for the Continent ; and the price was fixed in the next reign at 6d. for each person, and ls. 6d. for each horse, in summer, and is. and 2s. respectively in winter. In Edward IV.'s reign another statute was passed to enforce the monopoly, but it was repealed in the twenty-first of James I. It has always been a favourite place for Royal embarkations and disembarkations. The ancient charter of Dotter was surrendered to Charles II., and a new one granted in 1684, by which it was governed down to the time of the Municipal Reform Act. It has returned two members to the House of Commons since 1369, but intermittently also since 1290.
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