Rochester : Education

A school was built at Rochester beside the A68 in 1852. This was a national school, endowed by Lord Redesdale with a sum of £10 per annum, but also aided by a state grant, and as a result open to government inspection (Roberts & West 1998, 81; Taylor n.d., 500).

Such grants, initiated in 1833, were intended to stimulate local support for education and a recipient school had to demonstrate it also received local subscriptions. The school could take as many as 60 children, but average attendance towards the end of the 19th century was around 38. A house and garden attached to the school provided living accommodation for the schoolmaster.

The main block of the school building is an unremarkable single-storey, 4 bay structure, with a 20th century extension to the left. The porch to the right, however, is very distinctive, incorporating much reused masonry from Bremenium fort, including many channelled gutter stones and stone ballista ball projectiles which are used as ball finials to the kneelers.