by Jenni Horn

Tudor gardens will once more grace the centre of Rochester following the purchase of an old brewery site by the owners of Restoration House.

The former Century Buildings site, adjacent to East Row, has been acquired by administrators after its previous owners Future Homes, went bust.

One of the first priorities for the new owners, Robert Tucker and Jonathan Wilmot, is to rebuild a 13-metre section of ornamental Tudor wall, which was partly demolished during building work on the site.

Mr Tucker said: “But our first responsibility is to carry out a thorough archaeological survey of the whole site. It’s important that we know exactly what is there so that it can be restored in the best possible way.”

Mr Wilmot has called on Medway Council to work constructively with them, to help create a valuable new heritage asset which will be open to the public, and could attract hundreds of visitors to the area.

The one-and-three-quarters acre site includes the former brewery featured in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. It also covers the site of a decorative Tudor garden once part of the grounds of Restoration House.

The site is covered by partially-built town houses and flats, put up by developers before their company was taken into administration.

Mr Tucker and Mr Wilmot want to demolish those which encroach on the garden site. However before they can do so, planning consents, which permitted the development, have to be overturned.

The owners believe these planning consents were illegal and are seeking judicial review to establish this. If successful they will be seeking compensation from the council.

Mr Tucker added: “We want to establish the gardens in line with Rochester’s literary and historical heritage. They are mentioned by Pepys who visited Sir Francis Clerke at Restoration House in 1666 and recorded how he kissed a shopkeeper’s wife in the cherry orchard.”