When was upnor castle built

Situated in the heart of historic Rochester, Eastgate House featured in the work of…. Located in the heart of Chatham town centre, this beautiful seat venue is already…. A 13th century great chamber, on a vaulted undercroft, of a manor house of the Knights…. Sixty-acre lake with footpaths, cliff top walks, bird hides and views over surrounding…. Riverside Country Park is an excellent site for Winter birdwatching. Situated alongside…. St James' Church dates from the late 13th century.

No evidence of an earlier building…. Capstone Farm Country Park is one of Medway's finest green spaces, offering wonderful…. By using our site you agree to the use of cookies. We use them to increase the quality of this site especially for you, they help us understand your needs help us collect statistics , help our partners deliver the right content displayed on our website. To learn more about the cookies please click here. Upnor Castle started to be built in , and took five years to finish.

The sheltered position of the River Medway, so close to London, was the main reason why it was used to build and repair warships, as well as being used as a mooring point, in the 16th century. After building a naval dockyard at Chatham, they realized that a fort needed to be built a short way downstream, in order to protect the anchorage, and fill a void in coastal defences.

One of the intriguing and unusual features at Upnor is a spiral stair inside the keep. The stair has a hoist inside the stairwell to raise and lower ammunition quickly.

But what is unusual is that the stair itself is cantilevered out from the wall, without supports, making it perhaps the earliest example of a cantilevered stair in England.

Another unusual feature to look out for are a pair of turkey oak trees in the courtyard. These are thought to have been grown from seeds brought to England from Crimea after the Crimean War.

Inside an upper chamber in the gatehouse is an intriguing bit of graffiti, discovered when the castle was being restored in The graffiti shows a ship under sail and has been dated to experts as being made around Most photos are available for licensing, please contact Britain Express image library. Pedestrian access from the High Street. We've 'tagged' this attraction information to help you find related historic attractions and learn more about major time periods mentioned.

Heritage Rated from 1- 5 low-exceptional on historic interest. Historic Dockyard Chatham - 0. Royal Engineers Museum - 1. Rochester Guildhall Museum - 1. Rochester Cathedral - 1. Restoration House - 1. Rochester Castle - 1. To the north east and south west are two square, flanking towers linked to the main building by a crenellated curtain wall. These are fronted by semicircular stair turrets which incorporate splayed gun embrasures at first floor level. To the north west the main building is backed by a rectangular courtyard bounded by a stone built curtain wall topped with brick coping.

This enclosing wall was largely rebuilt, after being allowed to fall into disrepair, during the 17th century, and is now around 1m thick and c. Running along the inside of the curtain wall are the brick foundations of now ruined, narrow lean-to buildings, also dating to the 17th century, which were originally used for storage.

In the north western corner is a sallyport, with a later inserted oven beside it. The castle's well is situated within the north western quarter of the courtyard. The castle buildings are entered by way of a centrally positioned, four-storeyed gatehouse in the north western side of the curtain wall. This has a central, round-headed gateway, above which is an inserted, late 18th century clock, leading into a wide entrance passage.

Flanking the gateway on its inner side are two tall, rectangular corner towers. Gun embrasures pierce the walls of the gatehouse and provide further protection for the entrance. The gatehouse was remodelled during the early 's, and heightened in brick after a fire caused substantial damage in It is now capped by an early 19th century wooden bellcote and modern flagpole.

The castle is enclosed on the landward side by a substantial dry ditch, originally 9. This was originally spanned by a drawbridge , although this no longer survives. By , the year of the Spanish Armada, the castle's garrison included six gunners and a master gunner, and in it is recorded as housing 19 heavy guns. The castle did not see action until June when, during the Second Dutch War, an enemy navy squadron under de Ruyter launched a successful surprise attack on the Thames and Medway defences.

The squadron broke through the chain boom-defence which had been positioned across the river between Hoo Ness and Gillingham and threatened Chatham dockyard. Much English shipping was destroyed before a hastily organised defence at Upnor stalled the Dutch attack.

This episode provoked a radical revision of south eastern coastal defences and the building of new forts along the Medway. These reduced the strategic importance of the by now old fashioned castle and in it was converted into a magazine and naval storage depot. The depot buildings gradually extended into the area to the north east of the monument which is still used by the Ministry of Defence, disturbing and overlying earlier gun emplacements associated with the castle.

The earthwork remains of these are thought to be represented within the monument by a broad bank around 14m wide running parallel with the river from the ground immediately to the north east of the castle towards the adjoining naval depot to the north east.

During the 18th century, the castle's accommodation was extended by the construction of a new barracks block and associated storage buildings on land immediately to the south west of the monument.

The castle and its depot continued to supply munitions to the navy until , when it was fitted out as an ordnance laboratory. In responsibilty for the administration of the castle was transferred from the War Office to the Admiralty, and the newly created Naval Armament Supply Department began to use it, amongst other things, as a proofyard. The castle served as part of the Magazine Establishment during World War II, and in was partially damaged by two bombs which fell in the garden of nearby Upnor House.

After the castle went out of military use and was opened to the public. Upnor Castle continues to form part of the Crown Estate and is now in the care of the Secretary of State. All modern signs, fixtures, fittings and the modern surfaces of all paths and tracks are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included. Most date from the period of Henry VIII's maritime defence programme between and , though the earliest and latest examples date from and respectively.

They were usually sited to protect a harbour entrance, anchorage or similar feature. These monuments represent some of the earliest structures built exclusively for the new use of artillery in warfare and can be attributed to a relatively short time span in English history. Their architecture is specific in terms of date and function and represents an important aspect of the development of defensive structures generally.