15 December 2019

Rochester Museum & Cathedral

We sort of stumbled on the great little Guildhall Museum whilst walking around the town.
A brilliant mock up of prison hulks. Prison hulks were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons. They were not the same as convict ships which were seaworthy vessels transporting felons from their place of conviction to their place of banishment. 

Cavalier soldiers

The castle

Mock ship's cabin.
I was doing ok steering the ship until coming in to dock, then I crashed into the harbour wall!

Beautiful Guildhall

It was thought this ceremonial robe was lost but someone found it in a box in an attic!
It was laid out to celebrate the first (and last) time it was worn, which I think was about 50 years ago. 

I was a bit confused by this. The card read "This is a model of Queen Victoria having one of her many portraits painted" but I couldn't see anything that looked like Queen Victoria. There was much more to see in this lovely museum but I didn't take anymore photos because we were running out of time.

Next stop the Cathedral
It's huge with lots of different areas, but it's quite austere


The old Corn Exchange and Clock

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of Rochester

Be warm and well ~ 
Polly x


6 comments:

  1. I'd always suspected that Queen Victoria wasn't always around when her portraits were being painted! I love these small local museums with their often quirky exhibits. Keswick Museum is my favourite with its set of musical stones, a mummified cat and William Wordsworth's gardening gloves. It's been a nice tour of Rochester.

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    1. And most of them are free to enter, although most people give a small donation. Keswick museum sounds good, I've only visited Keswick once, we walked around Derwentwater, had a quick look around the town but missed the museum. It's a beautiful place, I must go back.

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  2. The museum looks fascinating -- and gorgeous, too. I am not at all familiar with Rochester. I think I need to be more so!

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    1. Hi Jeanie, it's difficult to fit everything in when you have a limited amount of time but the county of Kent is steeped in history with lots of castles, particularly Dover and the surrounding towns because of their proximity to the coast with the constant threat of attack.

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    2. Fascinating. I've seen several mock-ups of historic boats, and they look pretty spartan and uncomfortable (except for the captain's quarters, which were usually much plushier).

      Goodness, Queen Victoria's artists needed an amazing array of tools and equipment to complete the portraits! I wonder why they needed an archery target?

      The cathedral organ is rather magnificent.

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    3. Hi Nick, yes the cathedral organ is very impressive.

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