Rochester is a town in Kent, England, located 30 miles east of London. It was known to the Celts and Romano-British as Durobrivae, meaning "stronghold by the bridge". During the Celtic period, it was a center of the Cantiaci tribe, and it was conquered by the Romans in 43 AD and walled in stone under Roman rule. Rochester was then settled by the Germanic Jutes and Saxons, and the Saxons corrupted its name to Robrivis Caester. In 730 AD, the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede mistook the name as meaning "Hrofi's fortified camp", calling it Hrofescaestre. Rochester Castle was built to guard the crossing of the River Medway, and Rochester held city status from 1211 to 1998. The castle saw siege action in 1215 and 1264 during the Barons' Wars, and its cathedral was finished in 1343. It produced the Christian martyrs John Fisher and Nicholas Ridley, and the city was also attacked by the Dutch during the Raid on the Medway, amid the Anglo-Dutch Wars. In 2011, Rochester had a population of 62,982 people. Rochester was a Conservative Party stronghold; from 1983 onward (with a significant Labour interruption from 1997 to 2010), Rochester was represented by Conservative MPs (Mark Reckless defected to UKIP from 2014 to 2017).
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