Rochester Castle

Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, in South East England, at a site fortified between 1087 and 1089, with its prominent stone keep built around 1127 under Archbishop William de Corbeil. The square keep rises 113 feet on a 70 by 70 foot plan, built of local Kentish ragstone faced with imported Caen stone, with corner buttresses and internal floors carrying halls, a chapel, and chambers set within thick walls. Positioned to guard the River Medway and Watling Street, the castle served as a strategically important royal fortress protecting southeastern England, and its keep is considered among the finest and oldest surviving examples of twelfth century English military architecture. It remains a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument managed by English Heritage.