A monument to Richard Watts, for whose Travellers Inn see below.























The Traveller’s Inn
I quote from the excellent description of a Rochester walking route (http://www.london-walks.co.uk/39)

The Poor Travellers’ House. Its name derives from a bequest left by Richard Watts for ‘Six Poor Travellers, who not being ROGUES or PROCTORS’ were to be provided with ‘one Night Lodging, Entertainment, and Fourpence’. When Dickens visited the house in 1854, he stood in the street outside pondering that since ‘I know I am not a Proctor, I wonder whether I am a Rogue!’ Looking up, he noticed ‘a decent body, of a wholesome matronly appearance…’ watching him from one of the open lattice windows. This ‘matronly presence’ showed him around the property, and his visit subsequently became the subject of his Christmas story ‘The Seven Poor Travellers’, which appeared in Household Words that year. The house is now a delightful museum, which details the history of this property, and the rooms in which the poor travellers ate and slept until the house was closed on 20th July, 1940 can be visited.

Of especial interest to this author were the plastic foodstuffs and the column in the guest book for the visitor’s ‘occupations’. Olivia spent a moment admiring the plant and herb garden.