3-043-885 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rochester Castle and the new public gardens, 1872. 'The new public gardens or pleasure-grounds for the people, adjacent to Rochester Castle, were opened, on Wednesday week, by the Mayor, Mr. William Woodhams, in the presence of a large company. The gardens have been taken on lease by the Corporation from the Earl of Jersey. A public subscription has been raised for laying out the gardens and other work, which has already cost more than £2000...This ancient Castle was built by Gundulf, the sturdy old Bishop of Rochester, in the time of William Rufus. It withstood a siege by Simon de Montfort in 1264. The keep is 70 ft. square and 100 ft. high, having three stories, with a tall buttress tower at each angle, and a smaller tower containing the entrance. Its walls are 12 ft. thick, and the building is so well preserved as to show the plan of all its apartments. It was surrounded by a deep fosse on three sides, and the river Medway on the fourth'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.