Guildhall (Rochester)
The Guildhall in Rochester is a very impressive 17th century building.
It stands in the High Street, a busy road for two millenia as it was the Roman Watling Street, and close to the bridge over the River Medway.
Above the imposing pillars and Georgian windows, there is a cupola on which is a weathervane in the form of a warship in full rigging. Inside is a superb staircase, which was a gift from the famous admiral Sir Cludesley Shovel.
In 1979, the Guildhall became a museum of local history, and this was modernised in 1994. A two tier gallery recreates one of the prison hulks that were moored in the Medway during the Napoleonic period.