[614] See the charter of Cœnulf, King of Mercia, giving to Bishop Beornmod three ploughlands on the southern shore of the city of Rochester, from the highway on the east to the Medway on the west. Textus Roffensis, p. 96.
[615] The name Boley may possibly represent the Norman-French Beaulieu, a favourite Norman name for a castle or residence. Professor Hales suggested that Boley Hill was derived from Bailey Hill (cited in Mr Gomme’s paper on Boley Hill, Arch. Cantiana, vol. xvii.). The oldest form of the name is Bullie Hill, as in Edward IV.’s charter, cited below, [p. 200].
[616] Roman urns and lachrymatories were found in the Boley Hill when it was partially levelled in the 18th century to fill up the castle ditch. History of Rochester, p. 281. At the part now called Watt’s Avenue, Mr George Payne found “the fag-end of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.” Arch. Cantiana, vol. xxi.
[617] “In pulchriore parte civitatis Hrouecestre.” Textus Roffensis, p. 145. Mr Freeman and others have noticed that the special mention of a stone castle makes it probable that the first castle was of wood. Mr Round remarks that the building of Rochester Castle is fixed, by the conjunction of William II. and Lanfranc in its history, to some date between September 1087 and March 1089. Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 339. Probably, therefore, it was this new castle which Bishop Odo held against Rufus in 1088. Ordericus says that “cum quingentis militibus intra Rofensem urbem se conclusit.” P. 272.
[618] It is now attributed to Archbishop William of Corbeuil, to whom Henry I. gave the custody of the castle in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, with permission to make within it a defence or keep, such as he might please. Continuator of Florence, 1126. Gervase of Canterbury also says “idem episcopus turrim egregiam ædificavit.” Both passages are cited by Hartshorne, Arch. Journ., xx., 211. Gundulf’s castle cost 60l. and can scarcely have been more than an enclosing wall with perhaps one mural tower. See Mr Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 340, and Mr Livett’s paper, cited above.
[619] Two common friends of Rufus and Gundulf advised the king that in return for the grant of the manor of Hedenham and the remission of certain moneys, “episcopus Gundulfus, quia in opere cæmentario plurimum sciens et efficax erat, castrum sibi Hrofense lapideum de suo construeret.” Textus Roffensis, p. 146. There was therefore an exchange of land in this affair also.
[620] Arch. Cantiana, vol. xxi.
[621] Arch. Cantiana, vol. xxi., p. 49.
[622] There are several entries in the Close Rolls relating to this wall of Henry III. in the year 1225.
[623] Mr Beale Poste says that this ancient wall was met with some years since in digging the foundations of the Rev. Mr Conway’s house, standing parallel to the present brick walls and about 2 feet within them. “Ancient Rochester as a Roman Station,” Arch. Cantiana, ii., 71. The Continuator of Gervase of Canterbury tells us (ii., 235) that at the siege of Rochester in 1265, Simon de Montfort captured the outer castle up to the keep (forinsecum castellum usque ad turrim), and Mr Livett thinks this outer castle must have been the Boley Hill.