hrof's

Updated: May 10, 2025

The Roman town was known as Durobrivæ, which does not in the least resemble Rochester; and what is more, Bæda distinctly tells us that Justus, the first bishop of the West Kentish see, was consecrated 'in the city of Dorubrevi, which the English call Hrofæs ceaster, from one of its former masters, by name Hrof. If this were all we knew about it, we should be told that Bæda clearly described the town as being called Hrof's Chester, from an English conqueror Hrof, and that to contradict this clear statement of an early writer was presumptuous or absurd.

Grant Allen - Science in Arcady