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The Norman invasion of 1066 had an almost immediate and lasting impact on the area. William I gave Kent to his half-brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, who was to fall from grace during the reign of William’s son, William II. A stone castle and a larger cathedral in Rochester were two prominent new landmarks erected by the Normans within a few years of the Conquest. People’s lives were dominated by the church and a feudal system which meant that each individual owed service or labour to a superior. At the top of this system was the king, who technically owned all the land in the country and could dispose of it as he wished. Most ordinary people would have worked on large farms, producing food for the profit of their lord but also for their own survival. Increasingly, the larger landowners began to offer the king money in place of military service and often maintained a considerable armed following themselves. Wars, civil and foreign, were a feature of the period and played their part in the history of Medway. Both Cooling Castle and the 1387 version of Rochester Bridge were built from money made as a result of the Hundred Years War with France, while the sieges at Rochester Castle have become nationally famous. Places like Rochester began to grow in importance as they obtained rights and privileges from the king and held markets which attracted people from the surrounding countryside. As the towns grew larger, skilled workers formed guilds to protect their own interests and men educated in the new universities gave a boost to emerging professions such as law and medicine. Related pages Resources Making Sense of Rochester Castle: a Booklet for Teachers. Available from the castle. Rochester Castle, Kent (An English Heritage Handbook) by R. Allen Brown, Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, 1985. History of Rochester by Frederick Smith. John Hallewell Publications, new edition 1976. Rochester, the Past 2000 Years: a Chronology by the City of Rochester Society, 1999. A History of the Richard Watts Charity by E.J.F.Hinkley. Richard Watts and the City of Rochester Almshouses Charity, 1979. Temple Manor, Rochester by Stuart E. Rigold. English Heritage, 1990.
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Prehistoric Medway
350,000 BC – 43AD Roman Medway
43 – 410 Anglo-Saxon Medway
410 – 1066 Medieval Medway
1066 – 1485 Tudor Medway
1485 – 1603 Medway in the 17th century
1603 – 1700 Georgian Medway
1714 – 1830 Victorian Medway
1837 – 1901 Medway in the 20th century
1901 – 2000 Medway in the 21st century
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