Upnor Castle

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Upnor Castle

Kent


Upnor Castle on the River Medway
Location
Grid reference: TQ75867057
Location: 51°24’25"N, 0°31’38"E
Village: Upnor
History
Built 1559–67
Information
Owned by: English Heritage

Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort in Upnor in Kent, standing on the west bank of the River Medway, opposite and a short distance downriver from the Chatham Dockyard. The fort was intended to protect both the dockyard and ships of the Royal Navy anchored in the Medway.

The fort was built between 1559 and 1567 on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I, during a period of tension with Spain and other European powers. The castle consists of a two-storeyed main building protected by a curtain wall and towers, with a triangular gun platform projecting into the river. It was garrisoned by about 80 men with a peak armament of around 20 cannon of various calibres.

Despite its strategic importance, the castle and the defences of the Thames and Medway were badly neglected during the 17th century. The Dutch Republic mounted an unexpected naval raid in June 1667, and the Dutch fleet was able to breach the defences, capturing two warships and burning others at anchor in the river at Chatham, in one of the worst defeats suffered by the Royal Navy. Upnor Castle acquitted itself better than many of the other defensive sites along the upper Medway, despite its lack of provisioning. Gunfire from the fort and from adjoining emplacements forced a Dutch retreat after a couple of days, before they were able to burn the dockyard itself.

The raid exposed the weaknesses of the Medway defences and led to the castle losing its role as an artillery fortification. New and stronger forts were built further downriver over the following two centuries, culminating in the construction of massive casemated forts such as Garrison Point Fort, Hoo, and Darnet Forts. Upnor Castle became a naval ammunition depot, storing great quantities of gunpowder, ammunition, and cannon to replenish the warships that came to Chatham for repair and resupply. It remained in military use until as late as 1945. The castle was subsequently opened to the public and is now an English Heritage property.

History

Strategic context

Map of fortifications on the Rivers Thames and Medway

The River Medway is a major tributary of the Thames, merging at an estuary about 35 miles east of London. Its upper reaches from Rochester to the confluence with the Thames at Sheerness meander between sand and mud banks for about ten miles. The water flows slowly without strong currents and is free of rocks, while the surrounding hills provide shelter from the south-west wind. These characteristics made the section of the river below Rochester Bridge a desirable anchorage for large ships, as they could be anchored safely and grounded for repairs. The complexity of the channel's navigation also provided it with defensive advantages.[1]

During King Henry VIII's reign, the upper Medway gradually became the principal anchorage for ships of the Royal Navy while they were "in ordinary", or out of commission. They were usually stripped of their sails and rigging while in this state and the opportunity was taken to refit and repair them. Storehouses and servicing facilities were built in the Medway towns of Gillingham and Chatham, which eventually became the nucleus of the Chatham Dockyard. By the time Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, most of the royal fleet used this section of the Medway, known as Chatham and Gillingham Reaches, as an anchorage.[2]

Although the Thames had been defended from naval attack since Henry VIII's time, when five blockhouses were built as part of the Device Forts chain of coastal defences, there were no equivalents on the Medway. Two mediæval castles – Rochester Castle and Queenborough Castle – existed along the river's south bank, but both were intended to defend landward approaches and were of little use for defence. There was thus a pressing need for proper defences to protect the vulnerable ships and shore facilities on the upper Medway.[2]

Construction

The entrance to Upnor Castle

Due to its sheltered position, close to London, the River Medway was used to build and repair warships, and to moor them in ordinary, 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".[3] Six "indifferent persons" chose a site opposite St Mary's Creek in Chatham, on six acres of land belonging to a Thomas Devinisshe of Frindsbury. It was acquired by the Crown[4] – for the sum of £25. Military engineer Sir Richard Lee was given the task of designing the new fortification, but he appears to have been fully occupied with working on the defences of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the project was carried out by others to his designs. His deputy Humphrey Locke took the role of overseer, surveyor, and chief carpenter, while Richard Watts, the former Rochester mayor and victualler to the navy, managed the project on a day-to-day basis and handled the accounting.[2]

The castle's original appearance differed significantly from that of today. The arrow-shaped Water Bastion facing into the Medway and the main block behind it were part of the original design. There were also towers at either end of the water frontage, though these were subsequently replaced by towers of a different design. The gatehouse and moat were later additions. A number of derelict buildings in Rochester Castle, Aylesford, and Bopley were pulled down to provide stone for the castle. The main structure had been completed by 1564, but it took another three years and an infusion of extra funds to finish the project. The total cost came to £4,349.[5]

In 1582, the Queen held a review of ships at Upnor, in honour of the Duke of Anjou.[3]

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.[1]

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 feet deep and 32 feet wide dug to protect the castle from the landward side. This was costed at £761 9s 10d. 612 tons of rag-stone and 223 tons of ashlar was removed from Rochester Castle. The project overspent by £488.[1]

Upnor Castle from the river

The 1599/1601 modifications were extensive; the plans show 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.

Improvements and repairs

During the late 16th century, tensions grew between Protestant England and Roman Catholic Spain, leading ultimately to the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. Spain was in a strong position to attack the south of England from its possessions in the Spanish Netherlands. New fortifications were erected along the Medway, including a chain stretched across the width of the river below Upnor Castle. The castle itself was poorly manned until Lord High Admiral Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham highlighted this and recommended that the garrison should be increased. By 1596, it was garrisoned by eighty men who were each paid eight pence per day.[6]

Continued fears of a Spanish incursion led to the castle's defences being strengthened between 1599 and 1601 at the instigation of Sir John Leveson. An arrowhead-shaped timber palisade was erected in front of the Water Bastion to block any attempted landings there. An enclosing ditch some 18 feet deep and 32 feet wide was dug around the castle. Flanking turrets were constructed to protect the bastion on the site of the present north and south towers. The bastion itself was raised and a high parapet was added to its edge. A gatehouse and drawbridge were also built to protect the castle's landward side.[7]

A survey conducted in 1603 recorded that Upnor Castle had 20 guns of various calibres, plus another 11 guns split between two sconces or outworks, known as Bay and Warham Sconces. The castle's armament consisted of a demi-cannon, 7 culverin, 5 demi-culverin, a minion, a falconet, a saker, and four fowlers with two chambers each. Bay Sconce was armed with 4 demi-culverin, while Warham Sconce had 2 culverin and 5 demi-culverin.[8] Eighteen guns were recorded as being mounted in the castle twenty years later. The garrison's armament included 34 longbows, an indication that archery was still of military value even at this late date. By this time, however, the castle was in a state of disrepair. The drawbridge and its raising mechanism were broken, the gun platforms needed repairs, and the courtyard wall had collapsed. A new curtain wall had to be built to protect the landward side of the castle.[9] The foundations of Warham Sconce were reported to have been washed away by the tide, and it appears that both sconces were allowed to fall into ruin.[10]

In August 1606 King James, his Queen Anne of Denmark, her brother Christian IV of Denmark, and Prince Henry came to Upnor Castle by barge from Rochester. They had dinner aboard the Elizabeth Jonas, for which occasion he ship was connected by a timber bridge to the Bear and a third boat or hulk served as a kitchen. The floating venue was devised by the naval engineer Phineas Pett.[11] After dinner they took coaches from Upnor towards Gravesend, and stopped to watch cannon salutes from Windmill Hill.[12]

The Civil War

The castle was surrendered to the Parliament 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 Republic 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, King Charles II delayed the peace negotiations at Breda though he lacked 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, sailed 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.[1] On 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.[3]

Mr Wilson reported to Pepys that there were many Englishmen on board the Dutch ships speaking English to one another.[13]

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 did not resume the attack until the next day. The Duke of Albemarle arrived and put an eight gun battery (Middleton's Battery) alongside the castle.[1]

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.[3][1][13]

On 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.[13]

With that Upnor's career as a castle finished.

Upnor Castle on the River Medway

The Magazine

In 1668 the defences of Chatham were revised. New batteries were built at Cockham Wood a mlie 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 5,206 barrels of cornpowder.[1] 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.[1]

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.[1]

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Upnor Castle)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Heritage, English; Saunders, A. D. (1 January 1985). Upnor Castle: Kent. English Heritage. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-85074-039-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=0R6FPwAACAAJ. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Saunders, p. 6
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Barnard, Derek (post 1994). Merrily to Frendsbury-A History of the Parish of Frindsbury.. Private Pub. City of Rochester Society.. 
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Susan (1 March 2010). Before Eminent Domain: Toward a History of Expropriation of Land for the Common Good. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8078-9586-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=4BiVKkb1yfYC. 
  5. ↑ Saunders, p. 7
  6. ↑ Saunders, p. 10
  7. ↑ Saunders, pp. 10–11
  8. ↑ Saunders, p. 11
  9. ↑ Saunders, p. 13
  10. ↑ Rogers, Philip George (1970). The Dutch in the Medway. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780192151858. https://books.google.com/books?id=np-ZAAAAIAAJ. 
  11. ↑ Samuel Denne, 'Extracts from the Life of Mr Phineas Pette', Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, 12 (London, 1809), pp. 229-230.
  12. ↑ John S. Brewer, Court of James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1839), pp. 138-143 (misdated): Thomas Birch, Court and Times of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1848), pp. 65-7.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Downton, Peter; Samuel Pepys (1998). The Dutch Raid.. Private Pub. City of Rochester Society.. 
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