Heritage Open Days – The Old High Street Intra

Back for a third year following the brilliant response to last year’s trail.

Sun Pier House has been re-commissioned to develop and coordinate The Old High Street Intra Heritage Open Days Trail, as a ‘one-stop shop’ listings page and map to promote the sites, events and ‘hidden histories’ across Chatham Intra, as part of the national Heritage Open Days.

Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture. Taking place every year in September, heritage sites and organisations open their doors and offer unique free experiences to celebrate Britain’s heritage and community.

This trail across Chatham Intra is produced by Sun Pier House, in partnership with the Cultural Consortium for The Old High Street Intra, supported by Historic England and Medway Council’s ‘High Street Heritage Action Zone’ project.

The 2023 Sites and Venues

Hospital of Sir John Hawkins

Built on the site of Kettle Hard, a part of Bishop Gundulph’s Hospital of St Bartholomew, the almshouses today are a square of Georgian houses dating from the 1790s. They replaced Hawkins’ Tudor period buildings.

The Governors of this Elizabethan naval charity invite visitors to see the boardroom that contains artefacts relating to the history and career of Sir John Hawkins, an important English admiral in the 1580s and 1590s, and to the establishment and continuity of the charity which provides homes for needy and disabled mariners and shipwrights and for other ex-service personnel. The charity has been providing accommodation on this same High Street site to eligible service personnel and civilians since 1594. The precincts of the Almshouses occupy a corner of the former St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the delightful small garden gives a good prospect of the River Medway, making a pleasant spot in which to enjoy some refreshments.

Opening times:

Sat 9 September 11am – 4pm

Sun 10 September 11am – 4pm

Sat 16 September 11am – 4pm

Sun 17 September 11am – 4pm

Chatham Memorial Synagogue

Visit this unique and exceptional historic Grade II* listed site; experience the finest substantial example of a late 19th Century British Synagogue in the Romanesque style with its exceptionally richly decorated interior and unique attached cemetery

Chatham Memorial Synagogue is considered to be of exceptional significance, and is, quite literally, the only one of its kind in the world! It is exceptionally beautiful inside with its blaze of colour and distinctive stained glass windows including the renowned Holocaust Memorial Window designed by Hilary Halpern.

The finest surviving example of HH Collins’ work, the current Synagogue sits on the site of an earlier building. The cemetery predates even this earlier building with graves going back to the mid-1700s. This is the only Synagogue in the UK which has an attached cemetery, making the site even more significant.

Learn about the Jewish community in Medway, compare religions, look at “Leper’s Walk”, or just admire the beauty of this wonderful building- just don’t miss this rare opportunity to visit!

Opening times:

Sun 10 September 10.30am

Sun 10 September 12.00pm

Sun 10 September 1.30pm

Sun 10 September 3.30pm

Featherstone House – 375 High Street

JT Featherstone came to the High Street in 1904 and rented the yard next to the recently identified Tudor mansion, also known as Boundary House. This faced the naval hospital and was used by Sir John Hawkins to store his chest of money.

Mr Featherstone filled in the yard around 1910 to create the office above, equipped with a large American filing system made in 1897. This became the hub of his Featherstones System, providing goods to the ‘thrifty’, ‘quality at low prices’.

Visit the old light refreshment room with Jacobean panelling and the Directors room, so called in 1912, exquisitely painted in oils of stylised local images. Dating from around 1770 they are thought to be a wedding gift of William Ashenden to his bride Frances Cooper. Featherstone’s department store took over other properties along Rochester High Street.

Opening times:

Sat 9 September 11am – 3pm

Sun 10 September 11am – 3pm

Sat 16 September 11am – 3pm

Sun 17 September 11am – 3pm

Chatham Unitarian Church – Hamond Hill

Chatham Unitarian Church is a Victorian rebuild of the previous chapel with high ceilings and impressive east and west windows. A small alcove and handpump can be found beside the old organ. This non-designated Heritage building is the latest (1889) evolution of a church that started life in a private home on Hamond Hill in 1650. Its history is tied in with that of the Medway Towns: the fire in 1800 necessitated rebuilding the 1703 church; the Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton was built by Joseph Seaton, a minister of this church; Dickens and his father frequented the Mitre Inn whose landlord attended the church and with whose children Dickens played; and much more…

Plus – St Bartholomew’s Hospital Project Exhibition. Discover the incredible history of healthcare in and around the Old High Street Intra, including St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Fort Pitt Hospital and the pharmacy run by Henry Gardiner Adams. Listen to rare stories, see photos, handle objects and learn interesting facts at this pop-up exhibition by Creatabot and Future Chatham.

Opening times:

Sat 9 September 10am – 5pm

Sat 16 September 10am – 5pm

Walks & Trails

History walks have been developed for the Old High Street Intra Heritage Open Days Trail by Robert Flood, local historian, Chair of the City of Rochester Society and Vice-Chair of the Friends of Medway Archives.

‘When the Circus Came to Town’

On this walk, from Star Hill to the Nags Head you’ll learn about the cinema, dairy, circus, Seaman’s Mission, Medway Little Theatre, Bath Hard Lane and Richard Dadd.

Starting at 11:00am, meet at the bottom of Star Hill opposite the Rochester Gate Retirement Home.

  • Sat 9th September 11am
  • Sun 10th September 11am
  • Sat 16th September 11am
  • Sun 17th September 11am

‘Neither Here Nor There’

On this walk you’ll learn about the Chatham Central Railway Station, Doust and William Gill Shipyard, Bethel Chapel, the Synagogue, Hulkes Brewery, Featherstones and St. Bart’s Chapel.

Starting at 2:30pm, meet at the railway arches at Bath Lane Hard, opposite the Nags Head pub.

  • Sat 9th September 2.30pm
  • Sun 10th September 2.30pm
  • Sat 16th September 2.30pm
  • Sun 17th September 2.30pm

Concert: A Little Workout

Medway Little Theatre, High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1HQ

Saturday 9th September 7.30pm

Simon Spillett and his quartet play Medway Little Theatre as part of the Old High Street Intra Heritage Open Days. 56 years after jazz legend Tubby Hayes and his quartet recorded ‘A Little Workout – Live at the Little Theatre, Rochester’, award winning jazz saxophonist Simon Spillett plays the same venue with his quartet – Simon on tenor sax, Matt Ratcliffe on piano, Alec Dankworth on bass and Pete Cater on drums. This is a not to be missed show.

What is ‘Chatham Intra’?

“Into Rochester or Chatham… Because if anybody knows to a nicety where Rochester ends and Chatham begins is more than I do!”

CHARLES DICKENS, The Seven Poor Travellers

The word ‘intra’ comes from the Latin for within. This is the area roughly bounded to the west by the railway bridge over Rochester High Street, just after the Nags Head public house, and to the east by the Chatham boundary sign outside the John Hawkins Hospital. Strictly speaking, Chatham Intra is just the area on the north side of the High Street but here we will include both sides of the road. Traditionally, people living in this area (usually river workers) paid rates to either Rochester or Chatham. Today, Chatham Intra is in Rochester.

Download this unique Heritage Trail to discover forgotten histories about Chatham Intra

Since 2020, the area was given a new name, with the adjoining High Streets from Sun Pier, Chatham to Star Hill, Rochester now referred to as The Old High Street Intra.

This project is supported by: