Upnor Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Upnor Castle |
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Upnor Castle on the River Medway
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| Location | Upnor |
| OS grid reference | TQ7585670574 |
| Area | Kent |
| Built | 1559–67 |
| Built for | Royal Navy |
| Architect | Sir Richard Lee |
| Owner | English Heritage |
| Official name: Artillery castle at Upnor | |
| Designated | 28 January 1960 |
| Reference no. | 1012980 |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Upnor Castle | |
| Designated | 14 November 1986 |
| Reference no. | 1204365 |
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Upnor Castle is an old fort built by Queen Elizabeth I. It stands on the west bank of the River Medway in Kent, England. The castle is in the village of Upnor, right across from the Chatham Dockyard. This dockyard was once a very important place for the Royal Navy.
The fort was built to protect the dockyard and the Navy's ships. These ships would anchor in the Medway River. Construction started in 1559 and finished in 1567. This was a time when England had problems with Spain and other European countries.
Upnor Castle has a main building with two floors. It is protected by a strong outer wall and towers. A special gun platform sticks out into the river. About 80 soldiers lived there, and it had around 20 cannons.
In June 1667, the Dutch Republic launched a surprise attack. The Dutch fleet broke through the defenses. They captured two warships and burned others at Chatham. This was a big defeat for the Royal Navy. Upnor Castle fought well, even though it didn't have many supplies. Its cannons forced the Dutch to leave after a few days. They couldn't burn the dockyard itself.
After this attack, the castle was no longer used as a fort. Newer, stronger forts were built further down the river. Upnor Castle then became a place to store ammunition. It held lots of gunpowder, bullets, and cannons. These supplies were used to restock warships at Chatham. The castle was used by the military until 1945. Today, it is open to the public and managed by English Heritage.
Contents
History of Upnor Castle
Why the Castle Was Built
The River Medway flows into the River Thames. It's about 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of London. The river's upper part, near Rochester, is calm and has no strong currents. It's also free of rocks. The hills around it offer shelter from the wind.
These features made this part of the river a great place for large ships to anchor. Ships could be safely repaired here. Over time, storehouses and repair shops were built in Gillingham and Chatham. This area became the Chatham Dockyard. By the time Queen Elizabeth I became queen in 1558, most of the royal fleet used this area.
The Thames River had forts to protect it since the time of King Henry VIII. But the Medway River had no such defenses. Two old castles, Rochester Castle and Queenborough Castle, were on the Medway. But they were for land attacks, not naval ones. So, there was a great need for new forts to protect the ships and dockyard.
Building the Castle
Queen Elizabeth and her advisors ordered Upnor Castle to be built in 1559. A spot was chosen across from St Mary's Creek in Chatham. It was on 6 acres (2.4 hectares) of land. The land was bought for £25.
Sir Richard Lee, a military engineer, designed the fort. But he was busy with other projects. So, his deputy, Humphrey Locke, oversaw the building. Richard Watts, a former mayor of Rochester, managed the daily work.
The castle looked different when it was first built. The arrow-shaped Water Bastion, which faces the river, was part of the original plan. The main building behind it was also there. Towers stood at each end of the river front. The gatehouse and moat were added later. Stones from old buildings were used to build the castle. The main part was finished by 1564. The whole project cost £4,349 and took three more years to complete.
Making the Castle Stronger
In the late 1500s, England and Spain had growing problems. Spain could attack southern England from its lands nearby. New forts were built along the Medway. A large chain was even stretched across the river below Upnor Castle.
The castle didn't have enough soldiers at first. Lord High Admiral Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham suggested adding more. By 1596, eighty men were stationed there. Each was paid eight pence a day.
Fears of a Spanish attack continued. So, the castle's defenses were improved between 1599 and 1601. A wooden fence was put in front of the Water Bastion. This was to stop any landings there. A deep ditch was dug around the castle. Towers were built to protect the bastion. A gatehouse and drawbridge were also added to protect the land side.
In 1603, a survey showed Upnor Castle had 20 cannons. Another 11 cannons were in two smaller forts nearby. These were called Bay and Warham Sconces. The castle's guns included large and small cannons. The soldiers also had 34 longbows. This shows that bows were still useful back then.
By this time, the castle needed repairs. The drawbridge was broken, and gun platforms needed fixing. A new wall had to be built on the land side. The foundations of Warham Sconce were washed away. Both smaller forts fell into ruin.
In 1606, King James, his wife Anne, and her brother Christian IV visited Upnor Castle. They had dinner on a ship called the Elizabeth Jonas. After dinner, they watched cannons fire from Windmill Hill.
When the English Civil War began in 1642, Upnor Castle was taken by Parliamentary forces without a fight. It was used to hold Royalist officers. In 1648, Royalists rebelled in Kent. But they were defeated. The castle returned to Parliamentary control. Sir Thomas Fairfax, a Parliamentary leader, ordered more repairs. The gatehouse was made taller, and the north and south towers were built up.
The Dutch Attack on the Medway
The castle saw real fighting only once. This was during the Dutch Raid on the Medway in June 1667. It was part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch, led by Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, attacked and captured Sheerness. They sailed up the Thames, then up the Medway to Chatham.
They got past the chain meant to block the river. They sailed past the castle. They took away two English warships, HMS Royal Charles and Unity. They also burned other ships. The Dutch anchored overnight on June 12.
The Duke of Albemarle quickly set up a new eight-gun battery next to Upnor Castle. The castle's guns, the soldiers' muskets, and the new battery all fired at the Dutch ships. The Dutch tried again to sail past Upnor to Chatham. They burned a few more ships. But they couldn't go any further and had to leave. This raid was one of England's worst naval defeats ever.
People at the time thought the castle fought well. Its soldiers were praised. The London Gazette newspaper reported that the Dutch were "warmly entertained" by the castle's commander. They received "very much Dammage" and had to retreat. However, Samuel Pepys, a Navy official, wrote in his diary that the castle's soldiers didn't have enough supplies.
After the Dutch attack, the government decided to keep Upnor Castle as a fort. But the raid actually ended its role as a fortress. New, stronger forts were built further down the Medway. These new forts were meant to stop enemies from reaching Chatham. This made Upnor Castle less important for defense.
In 1668, it was turned into a "Place of Stores and Magazines". This meant it would supply ammunition to Navy warships. Guns, gun carriages, cannonballs, and gunpowder were stored in the main castle building. The building had to be made taller, and its floors were strengthened to hold the heavy weight. By 1691, it was England's most important magazine. It held more supplies than the Tower of London.
In 1811, a new storage building was built downstream from the castle. Upnor Castle stopped being used for storage after 1827. It became a workshop for filling explosive shells with gunpowder. More storage was needed, so six old ships were moored nearby. They were used as floating magazines.
Later, five large magazines were built inland at Chattenden. These were connected to Upnor by a small railway. In 1891, the Navy took full control of the castle and its storage area. The castle was even used to store dry guncotton, a very dangerous explosive.
After the First World War, Upnor became a Royal Naval Armaments Depot. This meant it was one of several places around the country that tested firearms and explosives.
The castle remained military property. But it started to become more like a museum in the 1920s. During the Second World War, the castle was still used by the military. It was damaged by two bombs in 1941. The bombing caused plaster to fall, revealing old drawings on the walls. One drawing was of a ship from around 1700.
Upnor Castle Today
After the war ended in 1945, the Navy allowed Upnor Castle to become a museum. It was opened to the public. The castle was also restored. In 1960, it was named an Ancient Monument. Today, English Heritage manages it. It is still owned by the Crown.
What Upnor Castle Looks Like
Upnor Castle is built from local stone, bricks, and wood. The main building is a long, rectangular block. It measures about 41 meters (135 feet) by 21 meters (69 feet). It sits on the west bank of the Medway River. This building was later called the Magazine. It has changed a lot since it was first built. It used to have a small second floor for soldiers.
When it became a magazine in 1668, many changes were made. The second floor was extended across the whole building. This gave more space for storage inside. The ground floor was divided into three rooms. It had a wood floor and copper-covered doors to prevent sparks. More supplies were kept on the first floor. A windlass (a type of winch) was used to lift items from the river.
A round staircase inside leads to the castle's main gun platform. This is a low, triangular structure that sticks out into the river. The castle's main cannons were placed here in the open air. Today, you can see six cannons from the mid-1800s still on their original stands. This platform has nine openings for guns. Six face downstream, and three face upstream. Its rounded wall was designed to deflect cannonballs. A wooden fence also protected this platform. The fence you see today is a new version of the old one.
Two towers stand near the river, on either side of the main building. They were originally two-story structures with open backs. They had gun platforms on their first floors. These guns could fire along the ditch around the castle. Later, their backs were closed with bricks. The towers were made taller to add a third story. This made them suitable for soldiers to live in. You can still see where the old roofline was. The South Tower was supposedly for the castle's governor. But governors often didn't want to live there because it wasn't very comfortable.
The two towers are connected to the main building by a wall with battlements. More cannons were placed in this wall.
The castle's main buildings are on the east side of a rectangular courtyard. In the courtyard, there are two large Turkey oaks. People say these trees grew from acorns brought from Crimea after the Crimean War. A stone wall topped with brick surrounds the courtyard. It is about 1 meter (3 feet) thick and 4 meters (13 feet) high.
You enter the courtyard through a four-story gatehouse on the north-western side. It has openings for guns to add to its defense. It was largely rebuilt in the 1650s after a fire. You can still see scorched stones from the fire. A central archway leads into a passage to the courtyard. Above the archway is a clock from the late 1700s. A wooden bell tower was added in the early 1800s. A flagpole stands on top of the building today.
A dry ditch surrounds the outer wall. It was once nearly 10 meters (33 feet) wide and 5.5 meters (18 feet) deep. Visitors used to cross a drawbridge to reach the gatehouse. This drawbridge is no longer there. A second entrance, called a sally port, is in the north wall. Inside the outer wall, you can still see the brick foundations of old buildings. These were storage sheds built in the 1600s for the soldiers.
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South side of the curtain wall
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North side of the curtain wall
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Water bastion, main building and north tower
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West side showing the gatehouse
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Magazine, south tower and inner courtyard, viewed from the gatehouse
Other Buildings Nearby
To the west of the castle is Upnor Castle House. It was built in the mid-1600s for the Storekeeper. This was the officer in charge of the magazine. It was made bigger in the 1700s. Today, it is a private home.
A short distance to the south-west of the castle is a barracks building. It was built soon after 1718. This building replaced the old soldier housing inside the castle. It looks much the same today as it did 300 years ago. It is a rare example of an 18th-century barracks in England.
Other buildings that were part of the castle's military depot are still nearby. The earliest is a gunpowder magazine from 1857. Between the magazines and the castle, there was a building for checking powder. There was also a shell store. These were taken down in 1964. The area where the depot was used by the Ministry of Defence until 2014. It is now planned for housing.
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Upnor para niños
