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A n o i t c u d o R t n e c a l p F o e s n e s s n o i t c a R t t R o t i s i

£1 A Dickens trail in and around T He GuildHall MuseuM T He last WoRd the historic city of Rochester THE DICkENS DISCoVERy RooMS dickens died at Gad’s Hill place on 9 June 1870 of a brain haemorrhage. He had the Guildhall Museum includes two very exciting and informative galleries collapsed the day before following a particularly long day writing in his chalet in the dedicated to charles dickens and his life. garden. He had wished to be buried at one of a number of kentish locations, including cobham and shorne churches and Rochester castle moat. at the time of his death the the dickens discovery Room has authentic dickens-related objects on display, as moat formed part of the graveyard of st. nicholas church, next to the cathedral, but it In well as multi-lingual touchscreen technology that highlights other sites associated was closed to further burials. His wish to be buried without ceremony did not come to with dickens. pass, such was his popularity. the times newspaper took the lead in suggesting that dickens should be buried instead at Westminster abbey, which became his final resting across the hall is also a small audio-visual theatre showing a short film about place, although his ghost is said to haunt the castle moat. ickens ’ the author, his life and his works. Filmed on location in and around Rochester, the D film also includes a rare opportunity to have a glimpse inside dickens’ chalet, the day before he died, dickens had been working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood , where he wrote several of his later works. which remained unfinished on his death and, rather fittingly, almost the last words he wrote were about Rochester, his favourite city: THE HulkS ExPERIENCE ‘A brilliant morning shines on the old city. Its antiquities and ruins are surpassingly ootsteps Hulks were decommissioned naval ships moored in the thames and Medway beautiful, with the lusty ivy gleaming in the sun, and the rich trees waving in the estuaries for use as military hospitals and floating prisons. conditions on board FDiscover the inspiration behind balmy air.’ were appalling. the hulks were disease and rat infested and many prisoners died. prisoners often escaped, including dickens’ fictitious character Magwitch, who the characters and settings of grabbed pip in the fog-bound and malaria-infested marshes surrounding his The Dickens Country Experience Dickens’ novels village and demanded food, in the opening scenes of Great Expectations. During November/December, at weekends only, the Dickens Country Experience tour bus is a great way of discovering more on the life and times of the great British author, Charles Dickens. It includes a visit to the villages of Cobham and Cooling, Cobham Hall and Gad’s Hill Place in Higham. Tours are ad s Hill place led by two professional actors and takes approximately G ’ 2.5 hours to complete. For details visit www.visitmedway.org Gad’s Hill place, dickens’ last home, was built in 1790 for a former Mayor of Rochester. the young charles often Rochester Dickens festivals saw this house on walks with his father and promised Medway’s connections with the Great British author, Charles himself that one day he would own it. His dream became Dickens are celebrated each year at the twice-yearly Dickens a reality in 1856 when the house came up for sale. festivals that take place in Rochester. For festival dates and dickens made several changes to the house during the 14 programme details visit www.enjoymedway.co.uk years he lived there, a number of which still survive, including the restored conservatory and the false bookcase "I am delighted that visitors to Medway and residents too can now follow in Dickens’ footsteps. Our two Dickens festivals each year highlight the lasting on the inside of the study door. the house is now used as connection between Rochester and Dickens. This Dickens trail means that a school. people can experience the magic all-year round.”

opposite the house is the 'Falstaff inn', named after shakespeare's character of the Councillor Howard Doe same name. dickens often drank there, or had beer sent over. the landlord acted portfolio Holder for Housing & community services as a banker for him and regularly cashed his cheques. Designed by Medway Council’s Communications Team. www.medway.gov.uk/communications G6203 01 11 (3) EASTGATE HOUSE- ‘Seminary for young ladies, Miss Twinkleton.’ (4) MISTER PUMBLECHOOK’S HOUSE This magnificent Elizabethan mansion dates from 1590 and features in The Mystery of Edwin Drood as the Nuns’ ‘...eminently convenient and commodious premises' House, a school for young ladies (as indeed it was in Dickens’ time) and as Westgate House in The Pickwick Papers . 3 Standing opposite Eastgate House is another large, timber-framed mansion, built in Rosa Budd, a pupil of Miss Twinkleton’s in Dickens’ story, loved to buy sweets at the delightfully named ‘Lumps of about 1684. Originally, this was one large house but is now, and probably was also in Delight’ although the original of the shop has never been successfully identified. Until recently Eastgate House was Dickens’ time, divided into three separate premises. It features in Great Expectations as used as the ‘Dickens Centre’. The building is now undergoing major conservation work thanks to generous funding Mr. Pumblechook’s House, where he carried on business as a corn chandler, and again from Heritage Lottery Fund, so it can be opened as a cultural centre with exhibitions and displays telling the story of in The Mystery of Edwin Drood as the offices of Mr. Sapsea, an auctioneer. the house and those who lived there. For details visit www.visitmedway.org

(2) DICKENS’ CHALET (5) RESTORATION HOUSE ‘My room is up among the branches of the trees; and the birds and butterflies fly in and out ….’ 4 ‘...I began to understand that everything in the One of Dickens’ most treasured possessions, his chalet, can be seen in the gardens of Eastgate room had stopped, like the watch and the clock, House. The chalet used to stand in the garden at Gad’s Hill Place and was a gift from his actor a long time ago..’ friend Charles Fechter. It arrived from Switzerland at Higham railway station in 58 packing cases. Restoration House is a fine Elizabethan red-brick Dickens loved to write in the upper room and installed mirrors inside to reflect the light. 2 mansion. In Great Expectations , Dickens Also in Eastgate gardens is a horse-gin, brought from Gad’s Hill. It is a water pump, which drew renamed the house, home to Miss Havisham, water from a well by means of a horse walking around a central windlass. An appeal has been 5 ‘Satis House’, borrowing the name from a real launched to restore the chalet. For details visit www.dickensfellowship.org house of that name near the castle. It takes its name from an occasion in 1660 when Charles BL UE B II stayed there on his return to England to OAR LAN be crowned. E CROW LANE (1) SIX POOR TRAVELLERS’ HOUSE ‘… a clean white house, of a staid and venerable air, with a queer old door .’ In addition to his 15 full-length novels Dickens also wrote a number of shorter stories. One of these was The Seven Poor Travellers , in which Dickens himself, as narrator, (6) THE VINES became the seventh traveller. The house was founded by Richard Watts (M.P. for RoCHESTER Rochester in 1563) as a charity for six poor travellers to receive a night’s free lodging. The T ‘...the nooks and ruins where the monks had house is regularly open and the original lodgings can still be seen. The house also has a E once had their refectories and gardens.’ beautiful courtyard herb garden and a series of display panels to show what the house E Laid out as a public park in 1880, the was like in Dickens’ time. R Vines were formerly the priory vineyard of T S Rochester Cathedral and feature in The 6 Mystery of Edwin Drood as the Monks’ H

G 8 Vineyard. It was the presumed route I taken by Pip in Great Expectations when H (14) JASPER’S GATEHOUSE & 1 visiting Miss Havisham. In Dickens’ time it 7 was a meadow. Dickens was seen leaning MR.TOPES’ HOUSE against a fence in the Vines just two days ‘...one might fancy that the tide of life was stemmed by Mr. Jasper’s before he died. own gatehouse.’ In The Mystery of Edwin Drood , Dickens describes these two buildings as if they were one, linked together by a connecting door. Mr. Jasper, i the cathedral choirmaster, lived in the lodgings above the gatehouse, while Mr. Tope, the chief verger, lived next door. Built around 1550, the gatehouse originally led to the cathedral precincts. The doorway (7) MINOR CANON ROW Close to the cathedral is this row of fine 18th century houses built under the arch leads to the living apartments above, which are still 14 to accommodate the minor canons and organist which are used today. 13 featured in The Mystery of Edwin Drood . Dickens likened the B front porches to ‘sounding boards over old pulpits.’ OLE Y H ILL (13) THE OLD CORN EXCHANGE ‘…. oddly garnished with a queer old clock that projects over the pavement … as if Time carried on business (8) ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL there, and hung out his sign.’ ...it’s like looking down the throat of Old Time..’ The clock that Dickens described is still there, looming The cathedral, which is the second oldest in the country precariously over the pavement. Dickens first and dates from 604, features in The Pickwick Papers and encountered the clock as a boy when walking with takes centre-stage in The Mystery of Edwin Drood , with his father. The Old Corn Exchange, now known as the the plot revolving around the ancient church and the Princes Hall, was built in 1706 and at one time was people who worked there. The Dean and Chapter have converted into a cinema. It features in The erected a brass memorial tablet to Dickens in the south Uncommercial Traveller and The Seven Poor Travellers . 9 transept of the cathedral.

12 (12) THE GUILDHALL (9) ROCHESTER CASTLE ‘The hall was a queer place, I thought, with higher pews ‘Magnificent ruin!...What a study for an antiquarian!’ in it than a church’ The impressive Norman castle at Rochester had a humbling effect upon Dickens, In Dickens’ time the Guildhall was also used as a reminding him perhaps of his own mortality. In Household Words he wrote: magistrates’ court. It was here that Pip was brought by 11 ‘I surveyed the massive ruin from the Bridge, and thought what a brief little practical Mr. Pumblechook, in Great Expectations , to be bound joke I seemed to be, in comparison with its solidarity, stature, strength and length of over as an apprentice to Joe Gargery. Today it houses life.’ In Dickens’ time the castle looked very different. Houses and workshops filled a fine museum with several displays contemporary with much of the moat by the cathedral, the keep and towers were adorned with ivy and Dickens, including a reconstruction of a prison ship – the waters of the River Medway lapped the base of the walls. the Hulk Experience . (11) ROYAL Look out for Dickens’ plaques VICTORIA and that can be found on the various buildings with connections to BULL HOTEL the author. ‘Good house – nice beds.’ 10 Unusually for Dickens, he used the real name of The Bull Hotel T He touR in The Pickwick Papers . Dickens starting at the Visitor information centre, which has a fine range himself stayed here and it is still used as a hotel today, although (10) RIVER MEDWAY of dickens souvenirs, turn left from the exit and we begin this when he visited coaches arrived short tour at the point marked (1) on the map, the six poor ‘Running water is favourable to day dreams ….’ by the now blocked back travellers’ House, stopping briefly at each spot to discover entrance and left by the front Dickens witnessed the destruction, in 1856, of archway. The hotel also features the medieval stone bridge at Rochester, which something of interest about charles dickens or his books along in Great Expectations as The was blown up by the Royal Engineers amidst great excitement. It was replaced by a cast the way. By following the map you are welcome to devise your Blue Boar. It acquired the prefix own tour, looking at each place in any order you choose. ‘Royal Victoria’ following an iron structure, which was replaced again with overnight stop by Princess the present bridge in 1914. The original With only minor changes to the route, the tour is manageable for Victoria in 1836. balustrade of the medieval bridge can still be seen along the Esplanade. wheelchair users. Please contact the Visitor Information Centre on 01634 338141 for further information .