Bishop of Rochester Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was founded as a cathedral in 604. During the late 17th and 18th centuries it was customary for the Bishop of Rochester to also be appointed Dean of Westminster: the practice ended in 1802. The diocese covers two London boroughs and West Kent which includes Medway and Maidstone. The bishop's residence is Bishopscourt, Rochester. His Latin episcopal
Maidstone the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times. Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The rebel priest John Ball had been imprisoned there and was freed