An old curiosity stop
Telegraph South East England supplement
Published on Saturday February 23, 2008
Dickens peppered his classics with Rochester’s landmarks. Chris Alden follows the paper trail.
I’m standing at the gates of a brick mansion house, 400 or so years old, set back from a tree-lined street in one of England’s historic cathedral cities. It’s winter, and bare branches are twisting back on themselves above the iron railings. Behind a courtyard, a central tower rises towards the sky.
Perhaps it’s because of the architecture, perhaps it’s the weather, or perhaps it’s the literary associations, but this is a place that feels imposing and melancholy at the same time.
The building’s name is Restoration House, in Rochester, Kent. Its main claim to fame – apart from having once sheltered Charles II for a night – is that it was the inspiration for some of the most bittersweet scenes in English literature. This mansion, reborn in the mind of Charles Dickens, became Satis House – the home of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. Stand here for too long and you become Pip.
Restoration House may only open to the public in summer but, even if it’s winter, you should peep through the iron gate – if only because that’s what Dickens himself would have done.
Rumour has it that the author was seen leaning on this very gatepost not long before he died. He spent the last years of his life at Gad’s Hill, near Rochester, and city landmarks appear in so many of his books that it’s possible to follow a “Dickens trail” around them.
Even the most casual admirer of Dickens, who may have enjoyed The Old Curiosity Shop and Oliver Twist over Christmas, will find enough to interest them in Rochester, already ancient when Dickens moved to the area in 1856.
It is not a big town but much is packed into its small space. It has England’s tallest castle keep – a proper Norman effort, with winding staircases and turrets that anyone with half an imagination will love. Summer concerts are hosted in the grounds, with Jools Holland a regular performer.
Rochester has the country’s second oldest cathedral. This grand, theatrical building has Romanesque columns and a 13th-century fresco depicting the wheel of fortune. Its rose garden and tea rooms are peaceful places to while away the hours.
The high street is a row of family-run businesses, from antique and bric-a-brac shops to secondhand bookshops, most in buildings Dickens would recognise.
The Guildhall Museum, meanwhile, is an old curiosity shop of local history. It contains a full-size reconstruction of a hulk – or prison ship – such as the one Magwitch escaped from in Oliver Twist.
Come to Rochester any Wednesday or weekend in summer and you can join one of the free walks organised by the City of Rochester Society.
And, handily for the Londoner looking for an unusual day out, it’s only 30 miles from the capital.
Dickens, it is sure, felt the weight of history here. In The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his last and unfinished novel, he called Rochester – or Cloisterham, the fictional town he based on the place – “a city of another and a bygone time” where all things “are of the past”.
These days you can visit Six Poor Travellers House, a charitable inn which Dickens used for a short story; and walk round the back of Eastgate House, which appears in The Pickwick Papers, to find the rebuilt summer chalet where Dickens wrote his last words.
Even your lunch spots will recall Dickensian history: Mr Tope’s restaurant, appropriately enough, occupies the fictional home of Mr Tope, the chief verger in Edwin Drood; while Dickens House, opposite, is a wine shop with an eclectic selection of tipples to take home. A few doors down, Atrium is great for salads and sandwiches.
Finally, make sure you turn up for the Dickens festival on the last weekend in May – when locals dress up in Victorian clothes or as characters from Dickens’ books. And if you see a Miss Havisham, send her regards from this Pip.
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