page_title: Upnor Castle
section_title: Usage as a magazine and naval facility
hierarchical_section_title: Upnor Castle / History / Usage as a magazine and naval facility
caption_attribution_description: English: 19th Century 12 Pounder bronze Howitzers on the ground floor of main block of Upnor Castle
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: Upnor Castle had been neglected previously, but the Dutch attack prompted the government to order that it be maintained "as a fort and place of strength". In the end, the raid marked the end of the castle's career as a fortress. New and more powerful forts were built farther down the Medway and on the Isle of Grain with the aim of preventing enemies reaching Chatham, thus making the castle redundant. It was converted into "a Place of Stores and Magazines" in 1668 with a new purpose of supplying munitions to naval warships anchored in the Medway or the Swale. Guns, gun carriages, shot, and gunpowder were stored in great quantities within the main building of the castle, which had to be increased in height and its floors reinforced to accommodate the weight. By 1691, it was England's leading magazine, with 164 iron guns, 62 standing carriages, 100 ships' carriages, 7,125 pieces of iron shot, over 200 muskets of various types, 77 pikes, and 5,206 barrels of powder. This was considerably more than was held at the next largest magazine, the Tower of London.
  In 1811 a new magazine building was erected a little way downstream from the castle, relieving pressure on the castle. Upnor Castle ceased to be used as a storage magazine after 1827 and was converted into an Ordnance Laboratory (i.e. a workshop for filling explosive shells with gunpowder). Further storage space was required, and six hulks  were moored alongside to serve as floating magazines; they remained even after a further magazine had been built ashore (1857). These storage problems were only alleviated when a further five large magazines, guarded by a barracks, were built inland at Chattenden (these were linked to Upnor via a 2 ft 6in (76 cm) narrow-gauge line built for steam locomotives). In 1891, the castle and its associated depot came under the full control of the Admiralty, ending an arrangement in which the War Office had managed the site with the Admiralty providing the funding. In 1899 it was noted that the castle was being used to store dry guncotton (a highly-flammable and dangerous explosive), while the less dangerous 'wet guncotton' form was kept on board the ever-present hulks moored nearby. This practice ceased soon afterwards, specialist storage magazines having been built alongside Chattenden at Lodge Hill. 
  After the First World War, Upnor became a Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD), one of a group of such facilities around the country. The castle and magazine were used for a time as a proofyard for testing firearms and explosives.
  The castle remained in military ownership, but it became more of a museum from the 1920s onwards. During the Second World War, the castle was still in service as part of the Magazine Establishment and was damaged by two enemy bombs which fell in 1941. The bombing dislodged pieces of plaster in the castle's south tower and gatehouse, under which were discovered old graffiti, including a drawing of a ship dated to around 1700.
caption: Display of gunpowder barrels and naval howitzers in the magazine block
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