In 1440, bishop Lowe, and the prior and convent of Rochester, came to an agreement with the bailiff and citizens, concerning the limits and privileges of the city and the church precincts, in which it was determined, "that the bailiff, and his successors, might cause to be carried before them, by their sergeants, their mace or maces, and the sword likewise, if the king should ever give them one, as well to and in the parish church, as in the cathedral and cemetery, especially on festival days and processions, and solemn sermons, and at the reception and installation of the bishops, and at all other fit times; but that they should make no execution or arrest, or any thing belonging to the law, within the precinct of the monastery and palace of the bishop, unless the same should be specially required of the bishop or prior."

Edward the Fourth held Rochester as of great importance; for in the year 1460, he granted a new charter, wherein it was recited, that "the city was situated in a place most defensible, and fit for the resistance of enemies who might enter the realm, and that considering the loyalty and services of the citizens, as well to him as to his progenitors, and that if they had more ample liberties, their service and readiness would be enlarged;" he also ordered that they should thenceforth be styled "the mayor and citizens of Rochester; and so to purchase, plead, &c." By the same charter, he extended the metes and bounds of the city, and granted many new and important privileges to the citizens *.

Charles

Among these were the right to search all merchandize shipped on the river Medway, and to have "all forfeitables, wrecks of the sea, and fishes, within the liberties and precincts of the same; and to have the ferry over the water if the bridge should be broken: and also, assize of bread and ale, and of all victuals, and weights and measures, and all other things whatsoever belonging to the office of clerk of the market : and to be free by land and water throughout England; and have goods of felons, and out-laws, of men resident, &c. and to keep a court of Portmote, from fifteen days to fifteen days; and to have power to attach by goods and arrest by body, or imprison; and to have cognizance

of

Charles the First granted a charter of confirmation; and in 1630, constituted, in addition, that "the corporation should consist of a mayor, twelve aldermen, (of which latter number the mayor was to be one,) twelve assistants or common council, a recorder, town clerk, two chamberlains, a principal sergeant at mace, a water bailiff, and other inferior officers." By this charter the city is governed at present; and the mayor is elected on Monday before St. Matthew's Day. An act was passed in 1783, for the recovery of small debts in the city of Rochester, and the adjoining parishes.

The first object of attention at Rochester is THE Bridge. That Durobrive was a common passage over the Medway, is probable, from its vicinity to the great Watling Street, and there is sufficient ground to conclude that the Romans pursued this course in their journey from the sea coast to London. A ferry was probably their mode of conveyance; there is at least no evidence of there having been a bridge at Rochester for many centuries after they retired from Britain. Dr. Thorpe, who resided many years at Rochester, was strongly inclined to believe that the first bridge between Rochester and Stroud was erected in the reign of Edgar the Peaceable. It is, however, certain, that there was a bridge before the Conquest; and that divers tracts. of land were subjected to its support by the proprietors. There are very antient MSS. still extant, one in the Saxon language, which mark with exactness the portions of the

of all pleas, real, personal, and mixed, within their limits: and return of all writs and precepts; and that the sheriff of the city, and his officers, be exempt from doing any office: and that they should have all manner of fines, trespasses, deodands, &c. and keep two law days, or leets on the Bullie, and a court of pie-powder, and have a fair on St. Dunstan's Day; and that they should have pasturage of cattle in the City and Castle Ditch, and liberty to build on Eastgate Bridge: that they should be justices of the peace within themselves, and direct their writs to their own ministers, and be exempt from the justices of the peace for the county: that no resident should be charged to bear offices out of the city: and lastly, that they should have liberty to purchase 20 pounds per annum, to them and their successors.-Hasted's Kent.

VOL. V. No. 109.

Bb

work

work to be executed by the landholders of the respective districts; and these, which are called contributory lands, are not to this day discharged from the obligation in cases of necessity. The bridge was of wood, and placed in the line of the principal streets of Rochester and Stroud. It was four hundred and thirty feet in length, and that is now nearly the breadth of the stream at this place. It consisted of nine piers, but, as the first and ninth piers were no other than abutments against the banks of the river, there were only eight spaces or arches. As far as can be collected from the description in the MSS. the intermediate piers were set at unequal distances. From the depth of the water, its constant rapidity, the occasional roughness of the tides, and the shocks of large bodies of ice, the bridge wanted such frequent and heavy repairs, that its support became a vast burden to the owners of the contributory lands. At the end of the fourteenth century, they petitioned parliament, and represented themselves as nearly ruined, and the bridge dangerous for passengers, and almost destroyed. Under these circumstances, with a spirit of compassion and generosity, the great warrior, Sir Robert Knolles, and Sir John de Cobham, built at their joint expence a bridge of stone. They suggested it to be fixed in a better and more safe place, situated nearly to the wall of the castle.

An act of the legislature was requisite to subject the contributory lands to the support of the new bridge; and, from its being about one hundred and thirty-five feet longer than the old bridge, there was a proportional increase of work among the proprietors. As this must unavoidably in the course of a few years have added to their burden, a patent was obtained from the crown, 22 Rich. II. which was afterwards confirmed by parliament, 9 Hen. V. for constituting the proprietors a body corporate, under the title of "Wardens and Commonalty;" and a licence was granted, enabling them to receive and hold in mortmain lands and tenements to the value of 2001. a-year. Sir John de

Cobham

Cobham was the first and greatest benefactor, and his gift was followed with such considerable donations, that the estates usually termed proper have been long adequate to the repairs of the bridge without levying an assessment upon the contributory lands.

In the reign of Elizabeth, the inattention of the wardens, had occasioned a great defalcation in the bridge estates, so that the building itself had suffered decay: a commission of inquiry was therefore issued, consisting of the principal officers of state, and knights and gentlemen of Kent, on whose report, the leases of the estates, which the wardens had granted without the consent of the commonalty, were annulled; and, through the exertions of Sir Roger Manwood, chief baron of the Exchequer, an act of parliament was obtained, by which the two wardens, and twelve assistants, were directed to be chosen annually, to superintend all the concerns of the bridge; and under this act, together with an explanatory one passed nine years afterwards, the maintenance of this fabric is now secured. One half of the wardens and assistants are generally chosen from among the most respectable inhabitants of Rochester and Chatham, and the other half from among the gentlemen resident in the surrounding country.

The attention that was immediately paid to the bridge under the above acts, ended in its complete repair, the expense being partly defrayed by voluntary contributions. Since that period, the management of the bridge estates has been greatly improved, and no assistance has been required from the contributory lands for many late years. The

* The ruinous state of the bridge about this time, may be conjectured from a curious passage quoted by Harris, from a manuscript by Sir Roger Manwood." In the year 1489," he observes," Rochester Bridge being much broken, and out of repair, John Morton, archbishop of Canterbury, published a remission from purgatory for forty days, for all manner of sins, to all such persons as would give any thing towards its repair." This pardon was not entirely effectual, as it appears from Lambard, that a "fifteenth was charged upon the county, to supply this public want."

bridge itself has also been much altered for the best; both entrances having been widened, and three of the arches new built *.

The bridge is in length five hundred and sixty feet, and fifteen in breadth. It is formed with eleven arches, of which the largest is more than forty feet, and most of them above thirty feet, wide. At one of the spaces there was formerly a drawbridge, and three of the arches were rebuilt a few years ago. The greatest water-way is three hundred and forty feet, and ten piers make one hundred and ninety feet at low water. The sterlings take up so much of the course, that there is left but two hundred and thirty feet for the tide of flood and ebb to act in. It has been a mistaken supposition that the bridge has been built upon a rock, but it is evident that the piers must rest upon piles, and the laying of the foundation of this fabric in so deep a river, and where there is a flux and reflux of so strong a tide, was an arduous undertaking; and its exe cution does great credit to the architect. Rochester bridge was one of the finest bridges in England, and esteemed among its greatest curiosities; and till Westminster Bridge was erected, London Bridge only could be brought into competition with it. Mr. Hawksmoor, the architect, remarked, that Rochester might be deemed a better bridge, because the arches were wider than those at London, and because it was not incommoded with houses. Before Lon don Bridge was altered, the bridge at Rochester was unquestionably far more convenient for foot passengers, there being several large recesses in which they might stand with. safety; and these recesses, as well as the other parts, having also a stone parapet, coped, and crowned with an iron ballustrade. Under the good management of the wardens for several years past, the estates have been duly attended. to, and the increased revenue well applied.

Sir John de Cobham, very soon after the new bridge, founded a perpetual: chantry, denominated Alle-solven