Thursday 4 November 2010

Charles Dickens, the Castle and Rochester...

castle walls,lamps,paving slabs

Rochester Castle dominates the skyline of this Medway estuary town. Across the road from the Castle is the Cathedral and both play a part in the two Dickens Festivals held each year. In early June the members of The Dickens Fellowship Society dress up in Victorian costume and parade through the streets and in the castle gardens.

In December they have a Dickensian Christmas- after all Dickens did write 'A Christmas Carol'...

Dickens moved to Chatham as a child- where his father worked in the dockyard- so he would have been familiar with the streets and buildings of Rochester as it was the next door town. Many of the old buildings still exists, so you could actually be walking in Dickens footsteps as you wander along the main streets.

There are brown plaques attached to buildings detailing characters and locations used in Dickens novels, and you could spend time following their trail.

 Dickens,food
Close to the entrance to the Castle is a restaurant called Topes, and you can see an example of the details on the picture below.
Dickens books,characters

Sadly it was too late in the day when I got there to visit the Museum-with a Dickens room- but hopefully I'll get back there one day to visit...






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