Rochester History Guided Tours

31/05/2026

Some stories begin with a single witness.

This one didn't.

Rochester is a city where the past never seems very far away. Ancient walls still stand. Narrow streets follow routes laid out centuries ago. And every now and then, a story emerges that leaves more questions than answers.

One of the strangest concerns a figure reportedly seen by multiple witnesses over a number of years - in a car park. The descriptions were remarkably similar. The explanations were not.

It's one of several stories explored on the Rochester After Dark Ghost Tour - a relaxed summer evening walk through the ancient city, uncovering tales of mystery, tragedy, folklore and unexplained events connected with Rochester's long history.

The next tour takes place on **Sunday 14th June at 6pm**.

**To book this tour, or explore everything we have scheduled between now and the end of 2026, use this link:**

www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours

Runs on selected days and times — advance booking recommended.

29/05/2026

Yours truly...

The guidance has been issued despite nobody complaining about his Victorian-era views

14/05/2026

This Sunday,17th May, Maidstone becomes a rather different place.

The streets grow quieter. Familiar buildings begin to feel a little older somehow. And some of the stories… well… some are harder to explain away than others — including Maidstone’s unique place in the story of state ex*****ons.

Join The Maidstone Spooky Tour – After Dark (Adults-Only Edition) for an atmospheric evening of true tales, darker history and stories that can leave you thinking long after the walk has ended.

No drama students jumping out of doorways. No manufactured scares.

Just thoughtful storytelling, real stories… and Maidstone after dark .... well almost.

Just a few places now remain for this Sunday.

🎟 Booking link: https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/t-qmmeamg

*****on

13/05/2026

👣

Something is stirring again in Rochester after dark…

The Original Rochester Spooky Tour returns this October for its NINTH season.

For those who already follow the page, here’s a little early reward before the wider public push begins:

🎟️ 15% OFF when booking TWO OR MORE tickets
📅 Valid from now until my birthday on 11th June
👻 Use discount code: NIGHT-9

The tour runs:
🕯 Every Friday at 7.30pm
🕯 Every Sunday at 6pm
📅 From Friday 2nd October until Sunday 20th December

These are not jump-scare ghost walks or actors leaping out from alleyways.

They are atmospheric evening walks through Rochester’s darker history - strange events, unsettling accounts, old beliefs, injustice, tragedy… and stories that still leave people thinking long after the tour ends.

Some dates will sell out surprisingly early every year, particularly once autumn arrives.

⚠️ Discount valid on standard tour dates only and excludes the Halloween Special Edition (31st October) and Friday the 13th Special Edition (13th November).

🎟️ Booking link:
https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/e-dllxkm

10/05/2026

There’s now limited availability remaining to see Gerald Dickens perform live in Faversham on Sunday 24th May.

'An Afternoon with Gerald Dickens' will bring the Victorian Whitsun Market & Fair to a close with two wonderfully entertaining performances at The Assembly Rooms in Preston Street - including the much-loved Doctor Marigold and Dickens Meets Queen Victoria.

Bookings have noticeably accelerated over the last few days and the last remaining seats are now beginning to run out, so if you’ve been meaning to come along “nearer the time”, this may be the moment to secure your place.

Please note: tickets must be booked in advance. NO TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR.

Gerald is one of the finest interpreters of Dickensian performance in the country today, combining humour, warmth, storytelling and theatrical presence in a way that genuinely transports audiences back to the Victorian age.

Sunday 24th May
4.30pm (doors open 4pm)

The Assembly Rooms, Preston Street, Faversham
Tickets: £15

Book using this link: https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/t-njjryek

06/05/2026

Last weekend, Rochester was heaving.

Bank Holiday crowds, packed pubs, queues everywhere… and by Monday evening most people probably needed another weekend to recover from the weekend.

This Sunday is rather different.

The streets are quieter again. The atmosphere changes. And, somehow, the older parts of Rochester feel more themselves after dark.

If you fancy something calmer, stranger and a little more thought-provoking to round off the weekend, there are still a few places left on this Sunday’s Rochester After Dark Ghost Walk.

Not a jump-scare attraction.
Not people in costumes leaping out of alleyways.

Just the darker side of Rochester’s history told properly - in the streets where much of it happened.

Book here using this link: https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/e-lozozr

🕯 Sunday 10th May
🕕 6pm
📍 Rochester

Content warning - this walk is not suitable for under 16's.

Book now..... they're waiting....

03/05/2026

Rochester - as recommended by none other than..... Kalani Ghost Hunter !!!!!

27/04/2026

We’re all familiar with images of Roman ruins from across Europe and beyond.

But once in a while, one appears that stops you in your tracks - because it reminds you just how much detail we still have about the Roman army… and why that matters to one very strange story from Rochester.

This is a detail from the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, showing Roman soldiers on campaign in the late 2nd century AD.

And just look at it.

The armour. The shields. The helmets. The standards. The horses. The formations. The sheer amount of military detail carved into the stone is extraordinary.

Nearly 1,600 years after the Romans left Britain, we can still look at images like this and understand a great deal about how Roman soldiers appeared - not in vague terms, but in surprisingly precise ones.

And that matters.

Because in 1988, two young women reported seeing what appeared to be a Roman soldier in Boley Hill Car Park, Rochester.

Not a wispy, semi-transparent ghostly figure. Not a vague shape. Not something half-seen in the dark.

A soldier - apparently clear, detailed and solid. Or, as I put it on the tour, seen in 8K resolution and full-on Technicolor.

That is what makes the story so unusual.

Because once you have that level of detail, you can start asking a much more interesting question: does the description match what we actually know about Roman soldiers?

And thanks to archaeology, sculpture, carvings, monuments like the Column of Marcus Aurelius - and the modern skills of a highly trained archaeological illustrator - the answer becomes far more interesting than you might expect.

That’s what takes the Boley Hill story beyond a simple ghost tale.

It becomes a question.

If the witnesses saw what they said they saw, why did the details appear to fit so closely with a real Roman military world?

I tell this story on the Rochester After Dark Ghost Tour - and it will also return, as it always does, on The Original Rochester Spooky Tour this October.

Not because it’s the loudest story, but because it’s one of the strangest.

If you’d like to hear the story for yourself, booking details are here:

https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/e-lozozr

27/04/2026

Getting ready for Rochester’s BIG weekend?

Rochester Sweeps Festival is back this coming weekend - Saturday 2nd to Monday 4th May - bringing colour, music, dance, noise, mischief and mayhem back to the High Street.

And, as you’d expect in Rochester, there’s a good bit of history underneath all the fun.

The modern Sweeps tradition has its roots in May Day, when chimney sweeps - along with boys from other hard, dirty and often dangerous labouring trades - were given a formal holiday. For many of them, aged just 7 to 16, it was one precious day away from work, soot, grime and hardship.

That’s the history behind all the music, dancing and May Day colour we enjoy today.

Thankfully, this weekend’s version comes with rather less soot down the back of the neck.

As you wander the festival, do look out for two extra areas well worth discovering.

Down in the quirky Eastgate Quarter, you’ll find Psychic Alley - a wonderfully offbeat corner of the festival filled with Tarot and Oracle readers, crystals, pagan ceramics, home décor, wacky candles and stalls with a strong spiritual leaning.

And if your spiritual awakening requires pastry - and frankly, whose doesn’t? - make sure you hunt down the West African pies. The chicken one is, quite frankly, dangerous knowledge. Once you know, you know.

Psychic Alley is open all three days from 10am to 6pm.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the High Street, The French Hospital becomes a new family-focused festival space, with a stage, ice cream trike, face painting, refreshments and stalls selling custom-made 3D printed toys and collectables.

And that location is a story in itself.

The French Hospital - also known as La Providence - was originally founded in London in 1718 to support Huguenot refugees and their descendants. Rochester became its home in the late 1950s, when the charity acquired the former Theobald Square just off the High Street and helped save this historic corner from demolition.

So this weekend, while the music plays and the dancers dance, families will be gathering in a place with more than 300 years of human history behind its name - and one that has played a quiet but important part in preserving Rochester’s own historic townscape.

Which feels rather wonderfully Rochester, really.

The French Hospital Family Stage is open Saturday 10am–6pm and Sunday 10am–5pm.

Entry to both locations is completely free - as is the whole Rochester Sweeps Festival.

And don’t forget: ALL Medway buses are free throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, including the park and ride from the University of Greenwich in Chatham.

So leave the car behind, hop on the bus, and come and enjoy one of Rochester’s biggest, brightest and most characterful weekends of the year.

Rochester Sweeps Festival 2026
Saturday 2nd - Monday 4th May

21/04/2026

Think you know Rochester after dark?

This is where we begin.

The Queen Charlotte - a perfectly respectable High Street pub by day……but by night?

It’s where our first two stories are told. And they set the tone.

This Thursday (23rd April), I’m running my final “teenager-friendly” edition of the Rochester Old City Ghost Tour for a while.

Same historic streets - Same true stories - Just… told in a way that won’t have younger guests sleeping with the lights on.

(Well… not completely.)

🕢 Starts 7:30pm
📍 Rochester High Street
🚶‍♂️ Evening guided walk through the old city

👉 Book your place here: https://www.ticketsource.com/rochesterhistoryguidedtours/t-kdrqzpl

If you’ve been meaning to bring a teenager along - this is the one to catch.

After this, we go back to the ... darker versions.