Rochester Cathedral
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Wednesday 17 April 2024
(1.15 for 1.30pm Meet inside West Door) - Lecture: John McNeill
Squeezed between its larger diocesan neighbours in Canterbury and London, Rochester Cathedral has been rather overlooked by historians of England’s medieval diocesan cathedrals. This visit is an opportunity to review that, and is undertaken in the light of the recent restoration work on the crypt.
Rochester was the second cathedral to be founded in the wake of Augustine’s mission, and though nothing can now be seen of that church (founded in 604), its position and plan are known. The current cathedral reflects an expansion initiated by Bishop Gundulf in the decades following the Norman Conquest. Material from this phase certainly survives, as does the repaired nave and west front – both reconstructed following a fire in 1137 – and the early Gothic presbytery and choir. We shall look at all this work, along with the important fragmentary remains of the cloister east range and Rochester’s important collection of later medieval tomb monuments.
There are regular train services to Rochester from London Victoria and London St Pancras International (including the high speed Javelin service)
Lecture
John McNeill is an architectural historian. He took degrees in art history at the University of East Anglia and Courtauld Institute, and went on to specialise in medieval architectural history, lecturing at Camberwell School of Art, London University’s Extra-Mural department, Birkbeck College and the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. He lectures regularly to the Society and leads tours for Martin Randall Travel. He was appointed Secretary of the British Archaeological Association in 2000, for whom he also subsequently convened and edited conferences on Medieval Anjou, cloisters, medieval chantries, and King’s Lynn and the Fens. He founded the BAA’s biennial series of International Conferences on Romanesque, and is both a member of its steering committee and a co-editor of its transactions. His most recent effort in this field, Romanesque and the Year 1000 is due to be published at the end of 2024. Besides the BAA Conference Transactions, John has published numerous articles and is author of the Blue Guides to both Normandy and the Loire Valley. He is a Vice-President of the London Art History Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
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