ROCHESTER has lost its city status. Medway's historic jewel quietly turned from being a city to a run-of-the mill town four years ago - without anyone realising it. Councillors, residents and traders have only just found out that they have been labouring under the false pretence they were living in a city.

It seems that an administrative oversight ended a proud tradition stretching back to the 15th century. It came to light when members of the City of Rochester Society noticed their city was missing from the latest list of UK cities published by the Lord Chancellor's department.

When Medway became a unitary authority in 1998 councillors were told the shake-up would not affect Rochester. They were told the Mayor of Medway would be allowed to keep the privileges unique to a Rochester mayor. The option of employing charter trustees, who would protect the city's status, was mentioned but Rochester ward councillor Susan Haydock remembers they were not deemed essential.

Since then, councillors have found out the city lost its status because when it became a unitary authority Rochester was taken out of the title. It changed from being Rochester upon Medway to plain Medway.

Councillors and historians from the City of Rochester Society are now desperate to claw back the lost title. St Davids in Pembrokeshire was in a similar situation in 1995 and managed to reclaim city status by petitioning the Queen in the form of a short new charter called a Special Letters Patent. Cllr Haydock hopes Rochester can do the same.

The shock discovery that the city so beloved by Dickens is no longer a city comes just months after Medway was denied the chance to become the newest English city in Jubilee year. The Queen granted the honour to Preston in Lancashire. Another bid to get city status for Medway also failed in 2,000.

The City of Rochester Society says the loss of status is a direct result of the failure of the former Rochester upon Medway City County to appoint charter trustees before it was absorbed into the new Medway Council in 1998.

Society chairman Peter Downton said: "Many charters have been granted down the centuries reaffirming Rochester's right to be a city, most recently in 1974 and 1982. However, our inquiries revealed that, despite being warned of the consequences, the former Rochester upon Medway City Council decided not appoint the charter trustees necessary to uphold Rochester's right to be a city, before the area was absorbed into the Medway unitary authority in 1998. The reasons for this extraordinary decision remains unclear."

The belief that Rochester is a city because it has a cathedral does not hold true - even unofficially. Mr Downton said: "Having a cathedral and being a city does not automatically go hand-in-hand, although it is often the case. City status has a constitutional meaning."