AFTER 360 YEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 3

AFTER 360 YEARS.

REST-HOUSE CLOSES. IMMORTALISED BY CHARLES DICKENS. (By Air.) LOXDOX. August 14. After 360 years of hospitality of wayfarers, the ancient rest-house in Rochester, immortalised by . Charles Dickens, is closing until the war is over. By the will of Richard Watt*, who, according to legend, came to Rochester a poor boy, and gained riches and fame in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the hor-e has every night given six poor travellers, "not being rogues or proctors, one night's lodging gratis, entertainment and fourpence each to speed him on the way in the morning.* , "Upon entering each man was given a pair and a bath. For supper in the common room there was half a pound of boiled beef (until rationing stopped it), one pound of bread and a pint of hot coffee. A separate room, with a massive old iron bedstead, was provided for each traveller. The charity gained fame through the writing of Charles Dickens, who in "The Seven Poor Travellers'* considered himself the seventh. From all part* tourists—particularly Americans—have visited the house and seen the novelist's signature in the visitors' book. Watts was appointed surveyor for the building of Upnor Castle by Queen Elizabeth, and when visiting Rochester she honoured him by staying at his house. Xow that the war has caused Roches- ' r to be proclaimed a defence area, and there are no poor travellers on the road, the rest-house has become unused for the first time.