Queen Elizabeth I and her Privy Council ordered Upnor Castle built for the Royal Navy. Sir Richard Lee designed it, but he was busy at Berwick-upon-Tweed, so others carried out his designs. It was built from 1559 to 1567 at a total cost of £4,349. The article calls it an Elizabethan artillery fort.
The two-story main building measures 135 by 69 feet (41 by 21 meters), and a triangular water bastion with nine embrasures projects into the River Medway. The stone curtain wall is about 13 feet (4 meters) high. The materials are Kentish ragstone, ashlar, red brick and timber.
Its only action came in 1667 during the Dutch Raid on the Medway, when the garrison's fire helped force a Dutch retreat. English Heritage manages it, and it is a Grade I listed building.
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