The town of Rochester is at the north of the county close to the coast on the river Medway. The town has Roman origins where it was known as Durobrivae. The name Rochester is derived from the pronunciation of the Romano-British name as Robrivis plus the latin for castle. By 1610 the name was written as Rochester.
The cathedral was founded in 604 though the earliest parts of the current building date from the early Norman period. Rochester castle dates from the 12th century and was involved in a couple of sieges in the following century. The castle was built due to the town's strategically important location near the mouth of the Thames. This meant the town could be in the front line of any conflict including as late as 1667 when the town by raided by a Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
The Royal Navy later established one of it's major bases at nearby Chatham. The shipyard was a major employer in the area, it finally closed in 1984. The closure hit the local economy hard though has gradually recovered over the following years.
