Rochester Cathedral, 604-1540: An Architectural History

James A. Love is a professor of architecture in the Faculty of
Environmental Design and an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering
at the University of Calgary. His latest publication (in press) is the
Illuminating Engineering Society’s Recommended

Philip McAleer is a professor of architecture at Dalhousie University
with primary responsibility for architectural-history instruction. He
argues in the preface that, with a 100-year hiatus in publications on
Rochester Cathedral, it is timely to reconsider this structure in light
of 20th-century scholarship.

In his account of the building’s architectural history, he makes a
case that its role in the development of ecclesiastical form is more
significant than has been realized. Construction on the site appears to
have taken place around a tower erected for military, rather than
religious, purposes. Over the early centuries, a modest church gave way
to grander aspirations after the Norman conquest. Changes in taste and
the necessities of maintenance resulted in many less-comprehensive
modifications that conceal the evolution of the cathedral.

McAleer, lacking the opportunity to conduct contemporary excavations
and probes of the fabric, has applied some clever thinking to
re-interpret the reported findings from 19th-century digging. He
communicates this by presenting the various arguments and
counterarguments regarding the development of features, reminding one of
a dialogue between Sherlock Holmes and his companion. However, much of
the mystery remains to be unravelled.