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In a process known today as the Dissolution, Henry VIII systematically undermined the basis of the religious establishment in England by shutting down its monasteries and confiscating or destroying its treasures. In Rochester, he dissolved the Priory of St. Andrew which was attached to the Cathedral. A new Chapter was formed in 1541, together with the King's School, which replaced the ancient college attached to the priory. In December 1540, the king visited Rochester to meet Anne of Cleves, his bride-to-be. The visit was made in secret, Anne being surprised by the king as she watched bull baiting from a window in the new palace which had been built within the old priory buildings. Another monarch, Henry’s daughter Elizabeth, also visited Rochester. In 1573, she came to review her fleet as it lay anchored in the Medway. She dined with Richard Watts, the city’s MP, in his house on Boley Hill. The story goes that when Richard asked the queen, as she was leaving, if everything had been to her liking, she replied “Satis” (the Latin for “enough”). The house has been known by this name ever since. As the nation grew in power and wealth, English seamen began to explore the wider world, bringing back with them new commodities like exotic spices and tobacco. At home, the number of destitute poor people, who were no longer cared for by the monasteries, had increased enormously. This was addressed by a series of parish Poor Laws which remained largely unchanged for the next 250 years. Related pages Resources The Chatham Dockyard Story by Philip MacDougall. Meresborough, revised and expanded edition 1987. Chatham Dockyard in Old Photographs by Philip MacDougall. Alan Sutton Publishing, 1994. The Last Cast Off: a Dockyard Community Remembers. A collection of memories of working life in the Chatham Dockyard. AIM Publications, 1990. Upnor: Some Notes on the Castle and Other Things by S.Evans. 1951. Blue-eyed Samurai: William Adams by Tadashi Makino. Ito Tourist Association, 1983.
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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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