Within one generation, people from Rochester, Kent, experienced the Reformation repeatedly and physically: their bishop was executed, their monastery abolished, their cathedral transformed, a rebellion gathered in their city, and Protestants were publicly burned there.
Before c.1530 and after the Reformation c.1550
In 1534, Henry passed legislation that established him as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. His work on establishing the Church of England was continued by his son, Edward VI. This, though, was put into reverse by Mary I, who restored papal authority, only for this to be reversed by her half-sister, Elizabeth I.
Many significant events were acted out in Rochester that would undoubtedly have drawn the attention of the inhabitants of Rochester.
Rochester’s Bishop John Fisher – beheaded in 1535, for not accepting Henry’s royal supremacy over the English Church.
Henry VIII’s new bride, Anne of Cleves, arrived at Rochester over the New Year of 1539/40. The marriage was intended to strengthen England’s relationship with the German Protestant powers at a time when Henry feared that Catholic France and the Holy Roman Empire might move against England.
In 1540, Rochester’s Benedictine priory was dissolved and reformed as the cathedral with a dean and secular canons. Under Edward VI and while Nicholas Ridley was bishop, strenuous efforts were made to remove many objects and practices associated with Catholic devotion. Anyone returning to the cathedral, say ten years after the priory was dissolved, would have found that Rochester Cathedral looked, sounded, and smelled differently.
Below is a detail from the restored 13th century fresco, ‘The Wheel of Fortune’ that survived the removal of decoration from Rochester Cathedral after the Reformation.
Scratched graffiti can be found on the pillars in the nave of the cathedral. These would have been more visable when the pillars were coloured, and the colour of the stone work woudl have shown through.
In 1553, Mary I came to the throne with a mission to restore Catholicism in England. She reversed the Protestant reforms of Edward VI, restored the Mass, and reconciled England with Rome. Resistance to Mary’s reign was not so much about the changes she was making to the Church, but more about her intention to marry Philip of Spain. This would have made England subordinate to Spain. This led to the Kentish Rebellion led by Thomas Wyatt Jnr.
In 1554, Thomas Wyatt gathered his forces at Rochester before marching on London. He opposed Mary’s proposed marriage to Philip of Spain, which he and his supporters feared would bring England under foreign influence. The wider conspiracy contemplated replacing Mary with her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. The rebellion failed, and Mary married Philip later that year.
For more information on Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion click on image:
In 1555, Mary restored the medieval heresy laws. These allowed those who persistently rejected doctrines of the restored Catholic Church to be condemned for heresy and handed over to the secular authorities for execution by burning.
The reintroduction of this law saw a change in the fortunes of Nicholas Ridley—previously a Bishop of Rochester. In 1555, Mary I had him burned at the stake for refusing to accept the doctrine of the Catholic Church. (Rochester therefore has an association with one of its bishops dying for refusing to abandon Catholic authority, and another, Ridley, for refusing to return to it.)
It was not only senior clergy who faced persecution for their faith at Rochester:
1555, Nicholas Hall—a bricklayer from Dartford—was condemned for Protestant beliefs and burned at Rochester on 19 July 1555.
1556, John Harpole— a resident of St Nicholas parish, Rochester—and Joan Beach from Tonbridge were burned at Rochester on 1 April 1556, for Protestant heresy.
The executions would have been public. Rochester residents would therefore have been aware of the religious struggle taking place nationally, as well as locally.
1559 – Elizabeth settles the Reformation. She restored royal supremacy and established a Protestant religious settlement. She did not introduce religious freedom, but initially placed considerable emphasis on outward conformity rather than investigating private belief. The settlement established the broad character of the Church of England that survived.
But the religious struggle was not over. In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth, and from 1580, Jesuit missionaries secretly entered England to sustain and strengthen the Catholic faith. Religion and political loyalty consequently became increasingly intertwined.
Geoff Ettridge aka Geoff Rambler
Rochester Tour guild / Social Historian
19 August 2026