Still waters run deep.

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The Emerald Tablet (around 300 BC)

On my recent trip to Kent I payed my first visit to Rochester and one of the first things I noticed as I entered the city was a weather vane in the shape of a ship. On further investigation I found that it was on top of the guildhall which was built in 1687.

Outside, mounted on the roof, is an amazing weather vane in the form of a fully rigged 18th-century warship. This is 1.52m tall and weighs just under 51kg. It is made of gilded copper and lead alloy and has weathered the ever-changing climate since 1780.

Paulo Coelho (from the Witch of Portobello)

In the 1860s Charles Fechter sent Charles Dickens a Christmas present, it arrived in 58 packing cases at Gravesend station. The present was a prefabricated Swiss Chalet which Dickens assembled in the garden at his country home at Gadshill Place. He constructed it in the second part of his garden which was across the Rochester road. In time he built a tunnel under the road so that he could access the chalet without being seen.

A lot of his later writing was done in the upper study of this chalet which was kitted out with all the things he liked to have near him when he was writing. In his studio on the second floor he included a number of mirrors so that the light would reflect around the room and surround him.

The chalet has been preserved and moved to Rochester High Street as a memorial to the writer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945)

I invite you to join me at Vision & Verb where I share some facts and folklore about a well known Shropshire landmark.

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