Royal Engineers - Bishop Gundulf, Rochester and King's Engineers

Bishop Gundulf, Rochester and King's Engineers

Bishop Gundulf, a monk from the Abbey of Bec in Normandy came to England in 1070 as Archbishop Lafranc's assistant at Canterbury. His talent for architecture had been spotted by King William I and was put to good use in Rochester where he was sent as Bishop in 1077. Almost immediately the King appointed him to supervise the construction of the White Tower, now part of the Tower of London in 1078. Under William Rufus he also undertook building work on Rochester Castle. Having served three Kings of England and earning "the favour of them all", Gundulf is accepted as the first "King's Engineer". Gundulf died in 1108 and his statue adorns the West door of Rochester Cathedral.

Because of his military engineering talent, Bishop Gundulf is regarded as the "father of the Corps of Royal Engineers". The Corps claims a line of Kings' Engineers pre-dating the Engineers of the Board of Ordnance, 1414, and the formal founding of the Corps in 1716, all the way back to Gundulf. This shared heritage and the close proximity to the Cathedral of the Royal School of Military Engineering in Brompton, Medway, means the Corps of Royal Engineers and Rochester Cathedral maintain strong links to this day, including holding the Corps' annual veterans and remembrance services at the Cathedral.

There are over 25 memorials to individual Officers and Soldiers of the Corps of Royal Engineers and a number of memorials representing members of the Corps who have given their lives in the discharge of their duty, including many stained glass windows presented by the Corps. The interior wall surrounding the West Door (the main entrance) is entirely given over to a mosaic memorial to the Corps' dead from campaigns of the Victorian era, including previous forays into Afghanistan.