Sweep Festival in Rochester

Last night we sat down, The Man and me or is it I, and looked on out ‘Day Trips From London’ book and decided that we would go out to Rochester and visit the castle and the cathedral.

Serendipitously the Sweeps Festival was on, with more than 60 Morris sides 

The name, Sweeps, comes from 19-century sweeps celebrating their traditional holiday through song and dance
Now in its 33rd year Sweeps will continue to celebrate Morris dancing and folk music throughout Rochester. The festival is thought to be the largest congregation of Morris dancers in Europe

Lots of the groups of dancers had their faces blacked, harking back to the days when sweeps were covered in the soot from their work. There were so many different and colourful costumes and the dancers looked as though they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. The crowd certainly were.

 We wandered up the High Street towards the castle through the colourful crowd stopping here and there to admire the sometimes fancy footwork of the dancers.
Outside the castle wall a group of youngsters were even dancing around a maypole. But I wasn’t quick enough to capture it with my camera.  The sounds of laughter and music got louder the closer we got to the castle entry. It was a funfair in almost full swing. Bouncy castle, ferris wheel, helter skelter, the works. We enjoyed just watching the kids having fun.
Further along we were entertained by a band and dancers kitted out in kaftans and red fezzes. Sounds a bit bizarre, but boy could they belt out a tune. The dancing was fun to watch, they even had a belly dancer.

From there we took a tour of the castle, its Norman tower-keep   was built about 1127. It has a complex history of destruction and rebuilding. The castle endured an epic siege by King John, and the defenders held on, until they were eventually starved out two months. Rebuilt under Henry III and Edward I, the castle remained as a viable fortress until the sixteenth century. We had some magnificent views over Rochester and the festive crowd below, it made me think that perhaps feast or market days the grounds of the castle would have rung out with as much laughter as today’s crowd.  We also had a good view of Rochester cathedral which is where we headed next.
The Cathedral is England's second oldest, having been founded in 604AD by Bishop Justus. The present building dates back to the work of the French monk, Gundulf, in 1080.
It has some really beautiful architecture and finely decorated tombs of  ancient bishops.
We had lunch in the cathedral café. An interesting meal of walnut and stilton pie, which was actually rather nice.  Then we walked back down the high street which was buzzing with even more dancers and onlookers, to the station to catch the train back to London.