Scheduled Monuments›England›Artillery castle at Upnor

Artillery castle at Upnor

England

List entry 1012980

Nation

England

The designation

Reference

List entry 1012980

Authority

Historic England (NHLE)

Status

Scheduled Monument

Scheduled area

0.54 hectares

Grid reference

TQ 75848 70581

Boundary

Scheduled area

Overview

History & significance

Upnor Castle is a Tudor artillery fort built between 1561 and 1567 on the Medway estuary in Kent to protect English naval vessels and the royal dockyard at Chatham. The castle features the characteristic low, angular bastioned design typical of mid-sixteenth-century coastal defences, constructed to withstand cannon fire rather than to mount offensive artillery in significant numbers. Built under the direction of military engineer Richard Watts, the fort comprises a central keep surrounded by angled bastions and defensive walls, and originally included gun emplacements and accommodation for a garrison. The castle gained historical prominence during the Medway Raid of 1667, when Dutch naval forces attacked English shipping on the river, and the fort's subsequent upgrading demonstrated the continued strategic importance of protecting the Medway approaches and the growing naval complex at Chatham.

Artillery castle at Upnor is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1012980. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Artillery castle at Upnor?

Upnor Castle is a Tudor artillery fort built between 1561 and 1567 on the Medway estuary in Kent to protect English naval vessels and the royal dockyard at Chatham. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1012980.

Who is responsible for protecting Artillery castle at Upnor?

Artillery castle at Upnor is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1012980.

What other scheduled monuments are near Artillery castle at Upnor?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Brook Low Level Pumping Station (2.8 km), Fort Pitt (3 km), Fort Clarence (3.5 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Artillery castle at Upnor

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Artillery castle at Upnor's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview

An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.

Monuments

The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.

Battlefields

The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.

Roman Britain

The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.

Domesday

The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.

Civil War

The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.

Geology

The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.

LiDAR

Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.

Local Names

What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.

Historical Maps

Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.

Literature

The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.

Legal

The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.

Spotlight

A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.

Target Zones

For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.

Timeline

The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.

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Nearby

Other scheduled monuments within 10 km

Brook Low Level Pumping Station

Bell barrow in Shoulder of Mutton Wood

6.2 km

Palaeolithic site

6.2 km

The ground beneath

The bedrock under Artillery castle at Upnor

Artillery castle at Upnor stands on Thanet Sand Formation, bedrock that formed in the Thanetian. The rock here is sand, silt and clay.

The wider landscape

Around Artillery castle at Upnor

Battle of Maldon 991Battle (991) · ~22.8 miles

Domesday entry for Frindsbury, Kent →

All Scheduled Monuments