Abdication House - High Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1LY.
Posted by: 
MeerRescue
N 51° 23.370 E 000° 30.238
31U E 326336 N 5696096
A commemorative plaque on Abdication House in High Street, Rochester, Kent.
Waymark Code: WMEK58
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/07/2012
Views: 9
A
bronze commemoration plaque attached to Abdication House reads;
KING JAMES II OF ENGLAND / AND KING VII OF SCOTLAND / STAYED AT THIS HOUSE AS
THE GUEST OF / SIR RICHARD HEAD BEFORE EMBARKING / FOR FRANCE ON THE 23RD
DECEMBER 1688 / WHEN HE FINALLY LEFT ENGLAND.
James II & VII was King
of England and King of Ireland as King James II and King of Scotland as James
VII. Members of Britain's political and religious elite increasingly
opposed him for being pro-French and pro-Catholic, and for his designs on
becoming an absolute monarch. When he produced a Catholic heir to the throne,
the tension exploded, and leading nobles called on William III of Orange (his
son in law and nephew) to land an invasion army from the Netherlands, which
William did. King James II spent his last night as King at a house in High
Street, Rochester, which became known as Abdication House, on account that
in February 1689, parliament declared that
James's flight constituted an abdication and William and Mary were crowned joint
monarchs.
In March 1689, James landed in Ireland where, with French support, he raised an
army. He was defeated by William at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. James
died in exile in Saint-Germain in France on 16 September 1701.
As of 2011, Abdication House is a branch of Lloyds TSB bank.