Upnor Castle
Encyclopedia
Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located in the village of Upnor
, Kent, England. Its purpose was to defend ships moored "in ordinary" on the River Medway
outside Chatham dockyards
.
The property is owned by English Heritage
and managed by Medway
Council.
, that is with the rigging sails removed. To protect this fleet, Queen Elizabeth
and her Privy council
ordered in 1559, that a bulwark be built on the river at Upnor
in the parish of Frindsbury
for the protection of our navy. Six 'indifferent persons' selected a site opposite St Mary's Creek and 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) of land was purchased for £25 (£ as of ) from Mr Thomas Devinisshe of Frindsbury. The bulwark was designed by Sir Richard Lee
, but the building was supervised by Humphrey Locke and Richard Watts
. The building cost £3,621 (£ as of ). Stage one was finished in 1564. A further £728 (£ as of ) was immediately spent on lead for the roof. In 1564 twenty three ships of the Queen largest ships were moored in Bridge Reach.
In 1582, the Queen held a review of ships at Upnor, in honour of the Duke of Anjou.
In 1585, at the instigation of William Bourne the Master Gunner, a chain was laid across the river, as this was more effective than gunfire in sinking enemy ships. The castle however was inadequately manned, and further modifications were planned.
In October 1599, Sir John Leveson's estimate for new works was accepted. A timber palisade was placed in the river, the water bastion was raised to a greater height with a parapet of good height and an enclosing ditch 18 ft (5.5 m) deep and 32 ft (9.8 m) wide dug to protect the castle from the landward side. This was costed at £761 9s 10d (£ as of ). 612 tons of rag-stone
and 223 tons of ashlar
was removed from Rochester Castle
. The project overspent by £488 (£ as of ).
The 1599/1601 modifications were extensive, looking at the plans you can see that only the central tower was in the original build. The North and South Tower (the flankers) and the gatehouse and the wall that connected them, forming the courtyard were from 1599, as was the well.
Much of this was altered in 1625, and again in 1653. In 1623, Upnor had 18 guns of various sizes.
in 1642. A Royalist rebellion in 1648 seized the castle. It was returned to the Parliament, and following a visit by General Fairfax (Parliament) further repairs were planned. It was used as a prison.
during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
had suffered a severe setback in the St James's Day Battle in August 1666. Believing the Dutch would therefore be more inclined to remain inactive, Charles II of England
delayed the peace negotiations at Breda
though he hadn't the money in 1667 to put out a fleet. To the surprise of the Admiralty, in June of that year, a Dutch fleet, under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
, came up the Thames to Gravesend
. It turned towards Chatham
and burnt down the fort at Sheerness
. The chain was in place between Hoo Ness and Gillingham. On the 12 June 1667 either a Dutch ship broke the chain or a landing party cast it loose. The Dutch had been piloted up the channel by disaffected English sailors, and the Dutch Captain of the Marines, Colonel Dolman, was also English. There was limited resistance from Chatham or the dockyard as the workers had not been paid for two years.
Mr Wilson reported to Pepys that there were many Englishmen on board the Dutch ships speaking English to one another.
HMS Royal Charles
was taken to be carried to the Republic and many ships that were lying along the dockyard wall were destroyed, such as the HMS Royal Oak
. The Dutch anchored when the tide turned and didn't resume the attack until the next day. The Duke of Albemarle
arrived and put an eight gun battery (Middleton's Battery) alongside the castle.
Pepys wrote I do not see that Upnor Castle hath received any hurt by them though they played long against it: and they themselves shot till they had hardly a gun left upon the carriages, so badly provided they were. So lack of munitions was Upnor's failing.
On the 24 July 1667 a Royal Warrant ordered that Upnor be strengthened. On 14 August 1667 terms were ratified at the Peace of Breda; hostilities ended 26 August 1667.
Pepys, who knew all the principal players wrote a contemporary diary, reading it allows one to feel his frustration at the incompetencies of others and his own ability to ascertain the truth. The King was bankrupt. He was related to the French King. He had opened secret negotiations with France in 1666. He thus issued instructions to lay up his big ships. The Royal Charles was unmanned and the dockyard didn't even have boats to reach her.
With that Upnor's career as a castle finished.
1 miles (1.6 km) seaward of Upnor and at Gillingham
. The chain was no longer used. In 1668 it was converted into a place of stores. Hundreds of barrels of gunpowder were shipped here from Tower of London Wharf, later there is mention of barrels of cornpowder being taken from Upnor to the fleet anchored at the Nore. In 1691, Upnor stored 5206 barrels (827.7 m³) of cornpowder. Modifications were made to the Castle to take the great weight.
In 1718 barracks were built. Life followed a regular uneventful pattern for the two officers and 64 soldiers. The Magazine closed in 1827 and by 1840 there was no gunpowder left. It became an Ordnance Laboratory. New magazines were built at Chattenden away from the river, and in 1872 a Military railway was laid connecting Chattenden and the river.
In 1891 the Castle was transferred from the War Office to the Admiralty. It continued in service until 1945 when it was declared a museum.
Upnor
Lower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway...
, Kent, England. Its purpose was to defend ships moored "in ordinary" on the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
outside Chatham dockyards
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
.
The property is owned by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
and managed by Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
Council.
Construction
Due to its sheltered position, close to London, the River Medway was used to build and repair warships, and to moor them in ordinaryIn ordinary
In ordinary as a phrase has two technical meanings recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary:# In relation particularly to the staff of the British royal household, and more generally to those employed by the Crown, it is used as a suffix showing that the appointment is to the regular staff, for...
, that is with the rigging sails removed. To protect this fleet, Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and her Privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
ordered in 1559, that a bulwark be built on the river at Upnor
Upnor
Lower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway...
in the parish of Frindsbury
Frindsbury
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor....
for the protection of our navy. Six 'indifferent persons' selected a site opposite St Mary's Creek and 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) of land was purchased for £25 (£ as of ) from Mr Thomas Devinisshe of Frindsbury. The bulwark was designed by Sir Richard Lee
Richard Lee (engineer)
Sir Richard Lee was a military engineer in the service of Henry VIII of England, Edward VI and Elizabeth I. He was a commander of Henry VIII of England| and appointed surveyor of the King's works.-Surveyor of Calais:...
, but the building was supervised by Humphrey Locke and Richard Watts
Richard Watts
Sir Richard Watts was a successful businessman and MP for Rochester, Kent in the 1570s. He supplied rations for the English Navy as deputy victualler and supervised the construction of Upnor Castle...
. The building cost £3,621 (£ as of ). Stage one was finished in 1564. A further £728 (£ as of ) was immediately spent on lead for the roof. In 1564 twenty three ships of the Queen largest ships were moored in Bridge Reach.
In 1582, the Queen held a review of ships at Upnor, in honour of the Duke of Anjou.
In 1585, at the instigation of William Bourne the Master Gunner, a chain was laid across the river, as this was more effective than gunfire in sinking enemy ships. The castle however was inadequately manned, and further modifications were planned.
In October 1599, Sir John Leveson's estimate for new works was accepted. A timber palisade was placed in the river, the water bastion was raised to a greater height with a parapet of good height and an enclosing ditch 18 ft (5.5 m) deep and 32 ft (9.8 m) wide dug to protect the castle from the landward side. This was costed at £761 9s 10d (£ as of ). 612 tons of rag-stone
Rag-stone
Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones which are quarried in thin pieces, such as the Horsham sandstone, Yorkshire stone, the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. By rag-stone, near London, is meant an excellent material from the...
and 223 tons of ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
was removed from Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
. The project overspent by £488 (£ as of ).
The 1599/1601 modifications were extensive, looking at the plans you can see that only the central tower was in the original build. The North and South Tower (the flankers) and the gatehouse and the wall that connected them, forming the courtyard were from 1599, as was the well.
Much of this was altered in 1625, and again in 1653. In 1623, Upnor had 18 guns of various sizes.
The Civil War
The castle was surrendered to the ParliamentParliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
in 1642. A Royalist rebellion in 1648 seized the castle. It was returned to the Parliament, and following a visit by General Fairfax (Parliament) further repairs were planned. It was used as a prison.
The Second Dutch War
The Dutch RepublicDutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
had suffered a severe setback in the St James's Day Battle in August 1666. Believing the Dutch would therefore be more inclined to remain inactive, Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
delayed the peace negotiations at Breda
Breda
Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...
though he hadn't the money in 1667 to put out a fleet. To the surprise of the Admiralty, in June of that year, a Dutch fleet, under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably...
, came up the Thames to Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
. It turned towards Chatham
Chatham, Medway
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
and burnt down the fort at Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
. The chain was in place between Hoo Ness and Gillingham. On the 12 June 1667 either a Dutch ship broke the chain or a landing party cast it loose. The Dutch had been piloted up the channel by disaffected English sailors, and the Dutch Captain of the Marines, Colonel Dolman, was also English. There was limited resistance from Chatham or the dockyard as the workers had not been paid for two years.
Mr Wilson reported to Pepys that there were many Englishmen on board the Dutch ships speaking English to one another.
HMS Royal Charles
HMS Royal Charles (1655)
Royal Charles was an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. She was originally called the Naseby, built by Peter Pett, and launched at Woolwich dockyard in 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England, and named in honour of Oliver Cromwell's decisive 1645...
was taken to be carried to the Republic and many ships that were lying along the dockyard wall were destroyed, such as the HMS Royal Oak
HMS Royal Oak (1664)
HMS Royal Oak was a 76-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1664 at Portsmouth Dockyard.Royal Oak was burnt by the Dutch during their Raid on the Medway in 1667....
. The Dutch anchored when the tide turned and didn't resume the attack until the next day. The Duke of Albemarle
Duke of Albemarle
The Dukedom of Albemarle has been created twice in the Peerage of England, each time ending in extinction. Additionally, the title was created a third time by James II in exile and a fourth time by his son the Old Pretender, in the Jacobite Peerage. The name is the Latinised form of the ancient...
arrived and put an eight gun battery (Middleton's Battery) alongside the castle.
Pepys wrote I do not see that Upnor Castle hath received any hurt by them though they played long against it: and they themselves shot till they had hardly a gun left upon the carriages, so badly provided they were. So lack of munitions was Upnor's failing.
On the 24 July 1667 a Royal Warrant ordered that Upnor be strengthened. On 14 August 1667 terms were ratified at the Peace of Breda; hostilities ended 26 August 1667.
Pepys, who knew all the principal players wrote a contemporary diary, reading it allows one to feel his frustration at the incompetencies of others and his own ability to ascertain the truth. The King was bankrupt. He was related to the French King. He had opened secret negotiations with France in 1666. He thus issued instructions to lay up his big ships. The Royal Charles was unmanned and the dockyard didn't even have boats to reach her.
With that Upnor's career as a castle finished.
The Magazine
In 1668 the defences of Chatham were revised. New batteries were built at Cockham WoodCockham Wood Fort
Cockham Wood Fort was constructed in 1669 on the north bank of the River Medway.In conjunction with Fort Gillingham it took on the role of defending Chatham Dockyard from seaborne attack, a role which had been performed by Upnor Castle for the previous hundred years.The fort was abandoned around...
1 miles (1.6 km) seaward of Upnor and at Gillingham
Fort Gillingham
Fort Gillingham, also known as Gillingham Fort, was constructed in 1669 on the south bank of the River Medway.In conjunction with Cockham Wood Fort it took on the role of defending Chatham Dockyard from seaborne attack, a role which had been performed by Upnor Castle for the previous hundred...
. The chain was no longer used. In 1668 it was converted into a place of stores. Hundreds of barrels of gunpowder were shipped here from Tower of London Wharf, later there is mention of barrels of cornpowder being taken from Upnor to the fleet anchored at the Nore. In 1691, Upnor stored 5206 barrels (827.7 m³) of cornpowder. Modifications were made to the Castle to take the great weight.
In 1718 barracks were built. Life followed a regular uneventful pattern for the two officers and 64 soldiers. The Magazine closed in 1827 and by 1840 there was no gunpowder left. It became an Ordnance Laboratory. New magazines were built at Chattenden away from the river, and in 1872 a Military railway was laid connecting Chattenden and the river.
In 1891 the Castle was transferred from the War Office to the Admiralty. It continued in service until 1945 when it was declared a museum.