Commemorative Plaque Sir Joseph Williamson's School - Rochester, Kent, ME1 1JT.
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MeerRescue
N 51° 23.276 E 000° 30.329
31U E 326436 N 5695918
A commemorative plaque at a former site of the Sir Joesph Williamson's Math School - High Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1JT.
Waymark Code: WMEJVK
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/06/2012
Views: 8
This plaque is sited high on a commercial property in Rochester High Street.
Below the heraldic school badge it reads; ON THIS SITE / BETWEEN THE YEARS 1709
- 1970, / STOOD / SIR JOSEPH WILLIAMSON'S / MATHEMATICAL SCHOOL / WHERE THE
GREAT ACTOR / DAVID GARRICK / WAS A PUPIL IN 1737.
The
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School
still is a boys' grammar school with academy
status in Rochester, Kent, often known as Rochester Math or The Math. It
was founded by the 17th-century politician Sir Joseph Williamson (link),
who left £5,000 to set up the school. The school was called a mathematical
school because it specialised in teaching navigation and mathematics to the sons
of freemen of the city of Rochester, the Chatham Naval Dockyard being nearby.
The car park alongside the plaque location was the main site of the former
school buildings. The school originally spanned the city wall and it is said
that the local authority did not know part of the old city wall with a small
tower ran through the school buildings when the school buildings were demolished
in 1970. As a result of the demolition of such an historic site, no
further development of the site is permitted.