Welcome to Digital Kent

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The River Medway has been important to Kent for many things - not least as a defensive barrier against invading armies.

And one look at the landscape and topography and you can see how vital a strategic position Rochester holds on the river.

That's why the Castle was positioned here.

John Croucher
Visitor Operations Manager, Rochester Castle
It was built here so it could guard the crossing over the Medway. The Romans first came here and built a river crossing which is where our present bridge is. But back in medieval times they moved the bridge a bit closer so it was right at the end of our castle wall and it was to protect the route up to London from Dover. It was the only way in so it was a good strategic point to stop them if they could.

So building started on the original Cathedral and the current Castle early in the 12th century.

John Croucher
The keep which is where we are now was started in 1127 on the orders of
Henry I, but was actually built by one of the Archbishops of Canterbury William de Corbeil. It took about 10 to 12 years to build. We certainly know it was in use in 1141 because we have records of a prisoner being here, the Duke of Gloucester. So anytime between 1127 and 1141 they took to build the whole thing which is quite a feat really because it's over 100 feet high - 113 feet to the battlements and the walls are 12 feet thick so a lot of work needed to be done to get it up and running in that sort of time.

But what they built in 12 years has, sadly, decayed somewhat in the subsequent eight-and-a-half centuries - so today the inside at least is pretty much a ruin.

John Croucher
Through here is another part of the storage area but if you look up here you can see we have other floors. Up there we have the constable's room: he's the chap that did the sort of day-to-day running of the castle and he lived here with his family and did the local business of looking after the whole of the city and the local area. Above that we have the Great Hall which was for entertaining when the king or archbishop - or whoever was the top dog at the time - came to stay.
And right at the very top - the fourth floor - we've got the state apartments for that dignitary who was visiting to have his own rooms: everyone else had to sleep wherever they could.

Rochester Castle is actually owned by Medway Council who run it in conjunction with English Heritage. And recently they've been carrying out essential repairs.

Simon Curtis
Tourism Manager, Medway Council
In the last year alone we've spent about £200,000 on this programme of works. It is mainly public safety focused but we've been able to do some important conservation work at the same time. But it is hopefully the start of a long-term programme of conservation work to make sure that generations to come can enjoy this great structure.

The problem is that the surveys uncovered some serious and potentially extremely expensive defects.

Edward Sargent
Conservation Officer, Medway Council
We've got a number of serious problems mainly involving the stone work. We had over the past two years some very specialist survey work carried out by a firm of geo-technical engineers. They first of all carried out a thermal imaging survey of the building looking at where the hot and cold areas of the building were which can then identify where you've got voids in the stonework and where there's water in the stonework. And then that was followed up by them as well using geo radar systems which involved radar going into the building to get more information on the voiding there.

We've got the battlements at the top and the water gets into there and runs down the stonework and the thermal imaging was showing concentrations of water at various points - there's no rainwater drainage system here. The rainwater just runs off the battlements down the walls and then back into the stonework: it gets blown back into the stonework. The battlements at least will have to be repaired to stop the water coming up so whatever happens here's got to be some sort of drainage system.

And drainage systems for 12th century castles don't come cheap - especially if they are listed buildings and historic monuments.

Simon Curtis
In terms of yearly revenue we turn a small profit on the operation of the castle and we are able to put that money back into ongoing maintenance and repair but we don't make anything like enough money for the long-term conservation which is a very expensive issue.

So the questions now are who'll pay and how much will it cost?

Simon Curtis
It would come into millions of pounds in terms of solving all the problems. To fully conserve it for several hundred more years you would be looking at those sorts of monies. However we do have several options available to us and there's a very lively debate going on at the moment with English Heritage and other stakeholders as to how we might fund them but the onus will not be on the council tax payer of Medway to fund that.

There is one radical solution being considered which would solve the problem of water penetration at a stroke. But it's not without its opponents.

Edward Sargent
One of the suggestions that's been put forward is to put a roof on the building That's quite controversial. There are a lot of people, not least within English Heritage, who think that roofing a building that's been without a roof for 500 years or so is not a good idea. There are some people who say that the building has developed a sort of stability over that period and putting a roof on would destroy that. I think myself that is a bit of a myth and if you look at the building you will see that putting a roof on it would, after it had dried out, preserve it much better. One of the most fabulous parts of that building is the Great Hall up near the top of the building and it's got the most wonderful Norman arcade. Now it's quite clear that the wetting and drying process and the frost you get in the winters will eventually spoil that stonework away.

So whether it's a full drainage system or an entirely new roof, someone's going to have to find a great deal of money.

Simon Curtis
Q: What are the funding options? Obviously English Heritage has a certain amount of money but it might reasonably feel that it didn't want to pay all the money for the repairs for a castle which is actually owned by somebody else.
A: Yes that's true, though they do have a legal responsibility as it's one of the most important scheduled monuments in Kent not least in the south east. But there are other sources available - Heritage Lottery funding being one - charitable foundations which are set up for heritage and restorations so there are options but we are not at that stage yet. At the moment we've completed a very important first phase of works; now we are looking at and debating the options for conserving the castle in the future.

Rochester Castle may have taken just 12 years to build back in the 12th century. But saving it from dereliction, let alone restoring it, might well take a good deal longer than that to achieve here and now in the early 21st century.