Virtual Tour of Rochester Cathedral
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The North Quire Transept - more info
Moving eastwards, crossing over into the north aisle we see the Pilgrim Steps and North Quire Aisle, leading to the North Quire Transept.
For over three hundred years, from early in the thirteenth century, large numbers of pilgrims would stop in Rochester. They would enter through the north door, come up the pilgrim steps into the north quire aisle and enter the quire transept where stood a shrine. The shrine was to a man (little-known outside Rochester), called William. He was a baker from Perth in Scotland making his own pilgrimage to Canterbury, to Rome, and the Holy Land. On his way out of Rochester he was murdered. His body was found by a local madwoman who appeared to have been cured as a result. Monks gathered up his body and buried it in the Cathedral, in the centre of the quire transept. Further miracles were reported and so his shrine developed after his canonisation.
The picture above shows the Pilgrim Steps, where wooden boards now protect the stone worn down by millions of pilgrims over the centuries.
