In June 1381, Rochester Castle was seized and ransacked by rebel forces during the Peasants' Revolt, the major uprising that swept across large parts of England that year. The revolt had been driven by a combination of socio-economic grievances rooted in the aftermath of the Black Death, the burden of heavy taxation linked to the ongoing Hundred Years' War with France, and widespread resentment at the labour legislation that had been enforced against the lower classes since the 1350s. Rochester, positioned on the River Medway and Watling Street, was a strategically important royal castle in the south-east of England, a region where the tensions underlying the revolt were particularly acute.
The castle's capture in 1381 represented the final occasion on which it saw military action. The sources describe the event as a capture and ransacking rather than a prolonged siege, distinguishing it from the earlier, more formal military operations the castle had endured during the Barons' Wars of the 13th century. After this episode Rochester Castle fell progressively out of military use, and its materials were subsequently reused elsewhere as the Crown relinquished custodianship.
Rochester Castle, one of the most strategically significant royal fortifications in south-east England, was captured and ransacked by rebel forces during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, marking the final occasion on which the castle saw military action before it fell into decline and was eventually opened to the public as a park in the 1870s.
not recorded
not recorded
Pick any location and Aubrey pulls together everything the record actually holds about it:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.