Once again, I set to find some Roman ruins, in the name of a villa near the village of Eynsford. This is the same Villa I have been trying to get to for the last three days. Today, I didn't get lost at all. Maybe I am beginning to work out where I am at last. I got there without any dramas, it took a while though. I drove the narrowest road that I have yet come across, room for one car and one car only in many spots. I got there, and the place is closed for renovations. It will reopen next week, when we no longer have the hire car. I am not meant to visit this place.
Once having got over one's disappointment I went back into the village of Eynsford, which had a lovely church, which was much better cared for that many of the other churches that I have been having a sticky beak at this week. It felt like a church that people went to and loved. I had a chat to one of the ladies who were cleaning the church and doing the flowers ready for Sunday. It was a very nice little interlude.
From there I set off to Rochester, where there is a a castle and a cathedral right next to each other. Rochester is not that far from London and where the most recalcitrant bishop in England is at the moment. The castle was interesting, quite different to what we experienced at Dover Castle. Rochester castle is in many ways a ruin. When you go inside, you can only move around what are now the exterior walls of the keep, the central part of the castle. All the surfacing has gone from the walls and it is very rough to look at and touch. Once again though, it is a place replete with history. King John lay siege to the castle during one of the rebellions and damaged part of the outer wall. It was huge, and now the grounds only comprise the what was the inner bailey.
After leaving the Castle, I wandered over the Cathedral, which was only 50 metres from the gates to the Castle. Compared to the other two cathedrals that we have been looking at, it doesn't look to be that big a deal in comparison, but was just beautiful inside. The rood screen almost completely conceals that chancel and sanctuary. What was nice though, was that it felt like a living parish church as well as being a cathedral. It was well worth the visit. One small treat that was in the cathedral was part of a 13th century wall painting that was discovered when a pulpit was moved during the 1930's.
The last part of the day involved driving from Rochester back along the A2 to Canterbury and then though the city and out towards the coast again heading towards Sandwich which is right on the coast. Just outside of Sandwich are the ruins of the Roman fort called Richborough. There is not a lot left of the fort, but a large part of the third century walls that were built to keep the Saxon raiders away. In the walls of the fort there is the remains a church that was built by St Augustine around 605 AD. It was knocked down for some reason down during the 1700's. The town of Sandwich is quite lovely, and I am taking Jane back there tomorrow all things being equal.
To finish off with, here are another couple of pictures from today.
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