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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens lived at a time of great historical change. In the nineteenth century the old agrarian society was passing, and an industrial world was emerging. In many ways Dickens is known for raging against the harshness of the new society. He is also known for writing about the nature of change itself. In The Old Curiosity Shop, which caused a huge sensation in the winter 1840 - 1841, he made it plain that, painful as it may be, you have to let go of the past. The innocent figure of Little Nell has to pass away. Many people didn't like this, and the Irish MP Daniel O'Connell threw a copy of the story out of a train window when he realised that nasty Mr Dickens had killed off such a nice character. But if Nell had lived what would have happened? She would only have grown up, with all the compromises that entails, or would have ended up like the dwarves she meets on her journey, a person who will never grow.

In many ways the novels of Dickens are best understood in context of his times. Society was becoming industrial, the scale of towns and cities was growing hugely. Individuals often became lost in this new society, and Dickens is well known for his opposition to this kind of inhumanity. He also had a very direct style, which linked him in a personal way with his audience in the new impersonal cities. Towards the end of his life he became famous for his habit of reading direct to his audience. His books were something of an antidote to his times. But in the way he reflected on the nature of change itself, his books are as relevant now as they were in the nineteenth century. In Dickens' work the cycles do not end. Little Nell's death could be looked upon as an actual death, or as the passing of her young self before she begins the next stage of her life. The cycles in Dickens come around on themselves. In one of his last books, A Tale Of Two Cities, he says "I travel in circles, nearer and nearer to the beginning."

Dickens was a great traveller, who lived and worked in many places. His father worked for the Royal Navy and moved his family many times. Charles was born in Portsmouth, where his father worked in Portsmouth Dockyard as a pay clerk. The office where John Dickens worked survives, just inside the dockyard gates. The family then lived in London, at various addresses, and then on the Isle of Sheppey. In April 1817 there was another move to Chatham, Kent when John Dickens was posted to Chatham Dockyard. Another move to London followed, once again at various addresses. In adult life Charles continued this restless pattern of movement, living in London, Paris, Switzerland, Italy, and visiting America.

There are many locations linked to Dickens, and to events in his books. In his own life time there was already a brisk trade in people visiting such places. In spite of his intense feeling and memory for places, Dickens himself was usually unmoved by such visits. He saw the places for what they were, as places like any other. In visiting Dickens places I recall the restlessness of the man, who had a voracious appetitie for places, and always wanted to move on. The places a Dickens admirer might visit will not necessarily contain any more magic than anywhere else. But they will be the places where Dickens found a temporary resting place for his imagination. If you don't feel a sense of magic, then you have a direct line to the great man himself, who felt a sense of place so keenly, even in always wanting to leave.

 

Dickens Places In Rochester and Chatham

 

In An Uncommercial Traveller Dickens returns to Rochester, Kent after many years away and is gravely disappointed by what he finds. The High Street has "shrunk fearfully" and the High Street clock which was once "the finest clock in the world" has become "inexpressive and moon-faced." Sometimes I think Dickens was only interested in places because of the way they set him free to dream of somewhere else. He would conjure up a place in his memory, and enjoy the place all the more keenly because he wasn't actually there to feel trapped. In his memory he would wander though a place like one of the spirits in his stories, somebody who is there and yet not there.

 

 

The area of Chatham and Rochester is well known for its Dickens connection. John worked at the Chatham Dockyard, where the pay office in which he worked still survives. The family lived at Ordnance Court on the brow of the hill that leads to Fort Pitt.

 

Other Dickens landmarks in Rochester and Chatham include:

 

 

The Bull Inn

The Bull Inn in Rochester High Street is the setting for the opening scenes of The Pickwick Papers, and named the Blue Boar it appears in Great Expectations. Dickens himself stayed here.

The Bull is an old coaching inn, as revealed by the wide entrance through which coaches used to pass.

 

 

 

 

 

The Guildhall

The Guildhall stands opposite the Bull. Once the town hall, it appears in Great Expectations. Pip was bound as an apprentice here. The building is now a museum. There are a number of rooms dedicated to Dickens. A small recreation of his study includes items that once belonged to him. A short film follows an actor playing Dickens around Rochester, pointing out the sites that are linked to his novels.

 

 

 

 

 

The College Gate

If you walk along Rochester High Street to the Crossroads at Northgate, you will see on the right the College Gate. This fifteenth century building appears in The Mystery Of Edwin Drood as the home of Jasper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cathedral

Walking through College Gate you will approach Rochester Cathedral. This is the second oldest cathedral site in Britain, behind that of Canterbury. Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury consecrated the cathedral at Rochester in 604. The present building dates to 1080, and was built by Bishop Gundulf who was also responsible for the construction of neighbouring Rochester Castle. Both the cathedral and castle appear inThe Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The Pickwick Papers.

 

 

 

 

 

Behind the cathedral is a little row of cottages known as Minor Canon Row. This, in the words of Dickens is, "a quiet place in the shadow of the cathdral, which... the echoing footsteps of rare passers... seemed to render more quiet than absolute silence."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Restoration House

Walk to the end of Minor Canon Row, follow the street around a curve and then turn left into Vines Park. Pip walked through Vines Park on his way to see Miss Haversham in Satis House. Walk down the hill through Vines Park and facing the park you will see the house on which Dickens based Miss Haversham's house in Great Expectations. Miss Haversham's sad wedding feast covered in cobwebs was laid out here. The house is known as Restoration House because Charles the Second stayed here in 1600 on the night before he was restored to the throne. .

 

 

 

Eastgate House

Eastgate House in Rochester High Street , usually the home of the Dickens Centre, is presently closed for redevelopment. The house won't be open again until 2008. In the grounds stands the Swiss Chalet from Gads Hill. Gads Hill was a house which Dickens had admired as a boy, and dreamt of being successful enough to own. In 1855, following his latest success with Hard Times, Dickens saw the house for sale, and bought it. He spent the troubled last part of his life here, following the spilt from his wife. It was here that he wrote, Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Most of his writing was done in the chalet, which was a present from an actor friend. He had mirrors lining the walls of the chalet, to reflect the view of the trees outside the windows, and make it appear that he was working in the treetops.

 

 

 

Directly opposite Eastgate House is a black and white timbered building. This was Mr Pumblechook's premises in Great Expectations. Pip had an attic room in this building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twice a year Rochester hosts the Dickens Festival. There is a parade, and during the Christmas parade there is guaranteed snowfall. Click on the link for more details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surrounding the river Medway in the area of Rochester you will find the marsh lands that appear in Great Expectations, although in the book they are presented as marshes around the Thames. Walking the Saxon Shore Way between Hoo and Upnor is a good way of seeing the marshes. If you follow this route you will also pass the remains of an old battery, Cockham Wood Fort, which should stir memories of the battery where Joe and Pip meet before Pip leaves to seek his fortune in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The North Downs Way at Cuxton and Halling also offers good general views of this part of Kent

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short drive out of Rochester along the A228 will take you towards the village of Cooling. Dickens walked out this way on his long hikes, which he took to relieve the strain of hours of writing at his desk. The church yard at Cooling is the place where Great Expectations famously opens. The little lozenge shaped graves which Pip stood beside can still be seen.

Cooling church lies right beside the long distance walk, the Saxon Shore Way. If you wish to follow the Way from the Medway towns out to Cooling, I suggest you drive to Hoo, and then follow the sign posted path to Cooling. This would be a walk of about seven to eight miles. Alternatively you could follow the path all the way from Rochester. This is a long walk of about seventeen miles. Pick up the path behind Rochester Cathedral and head over the bridge towards Strood.

 

 

 

Dickens Places In London

 

Southwark

In 1822 the family moved to Camden in London, when John Dickens began work at Somerset House. Charles started work aged twelve putting the tops on jars of boot blacking. He worked in a rat infested building beside the Thames. A few days later John Dickens,who had always had problems spending within his means, was arrested for debt, and sent to Marchelsea Prison, which was just off Borough High Street in Southwark. He spent fourteen weeks there, although at the time there was no knowing how long the sentence would continue. If debts could not be paid then debtors would stay in prison, sometimes for the rest of their lives. The Marchelsea has now gone. All that is left is a small remnant in the church yard of St George's Church in Borough High Street. Charles took lodging two minutes away from the Marchelsea in Hart Street, and spent many hours in the prison visting his father. This was a desperate time for the family, and Charles could not have dreamt that streets in this area would one day bear the names of his characters. There's Little Dorrit Court, Pickwick Street, Quilip Court; and in Hart Street where his now demolished lodging once stood, there is the Charles Dickens primary school. The Marchelsea left a deep impression on young Charles, and it appears in David Copperfield, and in Little Dorrit.

The Marchelea no longer exists, but an idea of the prison conditions which Charles must have witnessed can be gained at the Clink Prison Museum. This museum is in Clink Street, just a few minutes walk away from Borough High Street, and stands on the site of the Clink Prison, which was destroyed in the Gordon Riots of 1780. These riots are the subject of Barnaby Rudge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The areas of the Strand, Covent Garden and Waterloo Bridge appear again and again in Dickens' novels: This was the route of his walk to work at the blacking factory. London at this time was a harsh place. The sewers had yet to be built, and in certain areas of London, known as the rookeries, thousands of people were packed together in terrible conditions.

Seven Dials, as it looks today

Some of the worst areas were in the narrow streets in the area of Seven Dials, where seven streets meet at St Giles, now in the fashionable West End.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Bailey, on the site of the Newgate Prison

Fagin's Den in Oliver Twist was located at Saffron Hill, near Holborn. When Fagin was arrested he was imprisoned in Newgate, a notorious prison, where even in Dickens' lifetime the bodies of executed criminals would be displayed on the walls. Newgate Prison also appears in Barnaby Rudge, Great Expectations, and Sketches by Boz. It has been demolished, and is now the site of the Old Bailey, which can be found in Old Bailey between Holborn Circus and St Paul's Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monument

The Monument beside the Thames near the Tower of London is a two hundred foot column desgined by Christopher Wren, marking the place where The Great Fire of London started in 1666. It appears in Barnaby Rudge, David Copperfield and Martin Chuzzlewit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In London see also:

the Guildhall, the location for local government in the City of London. The ancient Corporation of London is based here, recognised by a letter from William the Conqueror which still exists in the library. The trial of Pickwick and Bardell took place here.

Also see Gray's Inn where Dickens worked as a clerk, and which appears in a number of the novels; and the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich, which appears in Our Mutual Friend.

 

Other Dickens Places

 

For many years Dickens took his summer holiday in Broadstairs in Kent. He first visited in 1837, not long after the traumatic death of his wife's sister Mary. This was also a time when he was involved in a difficult dispute with his publisher Richard Bentley over money. It is not known why he chose Broadstairs, but perhaps it was a place not too far from London, that nevertheless had the feeling of being cut off from the outside world. It was a quiet place, good for rest and also for work. Dickens liked it so much that he came back here every summer or autumn for almost fourteen years.

 

 

 

 

 

Initially he rented rented a small two storey house in the High Street. In 1850 Dickens took the summer lease on Fort House, which stood a little away from the main town, and had a good position overlooking the sea. David Copperfield was finished here. The house is now known as Bleak House. You may find a museum here, although when I visited in the summer of 2005 the house was closed.