Rochester

Е.М. Афанасьева

МКОУ Орешковская основная общеобразовательная школа

Луховицкий район

8 класс

THE CITY OF ROCHESTER

I` d like to point out right at the beginning that if I had a chance to go to the UK I'd like to visit Rochester.

The City of Rochester has grown from a little Saxon village to a historic city representing one of England finest cities. Romans came over in 43AD and made Rochester one of their most important towns by building a stronghold and a bridge over the River Medway.

It wasn’t until 1088 after the Norman invasion that Rochester had its first stone castle built on the remains of the old Roman Fort.

The then King, Rufus asked his Bishop Gundulf, an architect, to build him a stone castle and later a magnificent Cathedral, which is the second oldest in the country. Bishop Gundolf also built a leper hospital namely St. Bartholomew’s which was the oldest hospital in the country, albeit the original hospital has since disappeared.

One of Rochester most famous connections is that with Charles Dickens.  Many of Dicken`s novels included references to Rochester and the surrounding area where today two festivals are held in his honour, the Dickens and Dickensian Christmas Festival.

Many other festivals are held in Rochester: from May, with the 'Sweeps Festival' , July with the Summer Concerts held in the castle grounds, through to the 'Dickensian Christmas' and the lamp light procession through the streets of Rochester. 

There is also Rochester’s quaint Victorian High Street containing many of the original shops of the time.

The City of Rochester in the county of Kent is situated some 20 miles south- east of the capital of England, London. The City of Rochester is also within easy reach of mainland Europe and is only one and half hours from France by train.

Sweeps Festival

This celebration held on May Day weekend can only be described as “the only typical English Day” of the year.

The annual Sweeps Festival brings an extravaganza of colour, music and atmosphere, attracting thousands of visitors to Rochester.  The festival owes its roots to old traditions.  Sweeping chimneys was a dirty but necessary trade nearly 300 years ago.  It was hard work for the sweeps and even harder toil for the chimney boys.

The Sweeps annual holiday on May 1st represented a much welcomed break and they celebrated it with a procession through the streets accompanied by the Jack-in-the-Green.  This seven foot character is traditionally woken at dawn on May Day from his slumber on Bluebell Hill and then travels to Rochester to start the festivities.

The celebrations were vividly described by Charles Dickens in his “Sketches by Boz”.

With the passing of the Climbing Boys Act in 1868 making it illegal to employ young boys to clean inside chimneys, the tradition gradually waned and finally died.  The celebrations  in Rochester stopped in the early 1900’s.

It was revived  in the 1980’s by historian, Gordon Newton, who, as well as being the Festival Director, plays melodeon for several Morris dancing teams.  His Morris team, the Motley Morris, are custodians of the Jack-in-the-Green.  Gordon researched the sweeps’ tradition and in 1981 organized a small parade, featuring a group of Morris dancers.

The Festival has now further grown in popularity and attracts many thousands of revellers, keen to either dress up and take part in the Sweeps Parade or to simply watch and take in the atmosphere.

Dance teams from throughout the UK perform a variety of styles of dance while bands and musical groups perform at various venues, playing music from folk to guitar to traditional singing styles. At the end of the day, the music continues late through the evening in many of Rochester’s public houses. 

Dickens` Festival 

 Rochester comes alive with the celebration of Charles Dickens in the first week of June celebrating the works of the great novelist with the 'Dickens Festival.' Many visitors from all over the country and across the globe come to Rochester to see this extraordinary festival.  

The Dickens Fellowship Society and many others join in the celebrations by dressing up in Victorian Costume and parading the streets of Rochester and the Castle gardens. There  is nowhere in the world you can see this festival of all Dickens characters, which include, good old Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Twist, Magwitch, Pip, Miss Havisham, Bill Sykes with his faithful dog Bullseye and many more other characters that Dickens portrayed in his novels. 

Walk back in time along Rochester High Street and feel the atmosphere. Visit the Victorian shops and the craft stalls to find that unusual gift. 

Mr. Pickwick arrives by train to Rochester and heads the Saturday afternoon parade along Rochester High Street towards the Norman Castle. People line the High Street to cheer and wave as the parade passes.

In the evening, all the local drinking houses are full of entertainment or visit one of the restaurants for an evening meal.

Dickensian Christmas

Again Rochester comes alive with the Dickensian Christmas. Very much similar to the summer festival but with the emphasis on the Christmas novel “A Christmas Carol.” Join in with the Dickens characters, street entertainers, the atmosphere is full of Christmas tunes.

It always snows in Rochester with the addition of an artificial snow machine, unless the real stuff turns up! The smell of roasting chestnuts fills the high street. You can skate on the ice rink in the castle gardens. The finale of the festival is the Dickensian candlelight Parade through the High Street culminating in Christmas carols outside the Cathedral.

Афанасьева Екатерина Максимовна,

учитель – Титова Надежда Александровна,