page_title: Upnor Castle
section_title: Raid on the Medway
hierarchical_section_title: Upnor Castle / History / Raid on the Medway
context_page_description: Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located on the west bank of the River Medway in Kent. It is in the village of Upnor, opposite and a short distance downriver from the Chatham Dockyard, at one time a key naval facility. The fort was intended to protect both the dockyard and ships of the Royal Navy anchored in the Medway. It was constructed between 1559–67 on the orders of 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.
context_section_description: The castle only saw action once in its history, during the Dutch Raid on the Medway in June 1667, part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch, under the nominal command of Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames to Gravesend, then up the Medway to Chatham. They made their way past the chain that was supposed to block the river, sailed past the castle, and towed away HMS Royal Charles and Unity, as well as burning other ships at anchor. The Dutch anchored in the Medway overnight on 12 June, while the Duke of Albemarle took charge of the defences and ordered the hasty construction of an eight-gun battery next to Upnor Castle, using guns taken from Chatham. The castle's guns, the garrison's muskets, and the new battery were all used to bombard the Dutch ships when they attempted a second time to sail past Upnor to Chatham. The Dutch were able to burn some more ships in the anchorage, but they were unable to make further progress and had to withdraw. The outcome of the raid has been described as "the worst naval defeat England has ever sustained."
  The castle had acquitted itself well in the eyes of contemporary observers, despite its inability to prevent the raid, and the dedication of its garrison was praised. The pro-government London Gazette reported that "they were so warmly entertained by Major Scot, who commanded there [at Upnor], and on the other side by Sir Edward Spragg, from the Battery at the Shoare, that after very much Dammage received by them in the shattering of their ships, in sinking severall of their Long Boats manned out by them, in the great number of their Men kill'd, and some Prisoners taken, they were at the last forced to retire." Military historian Norman Longmate observes tartly, "in presenting damning facts in the most favourable light Charles [II's] ministers were unsurpassed." Samuel Pepys, secretary of the Navy Board, got closer to the truth when he noted in his diary that the castle's garrison were poorly provisioned: "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."
caption: A picture by Willem Schellincks of the raid. The view is from the south. On the left Upnor Castle is silhouetted against the flames; on the opposite side of the river more to the front the burning dockyard of Chatham. To the north the conflagration near the chain is shown and on the horizon the ruins of Sheerness Fort are still smoking.
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