Fact sheet - Tudor Medway
In a process known today as the Dissolution, Henry VIII systematically
undermined the basis of the religious establishment in England by shutting
down its monasteries and confiscating or destroying its treasures. In
Rochester, he dissolved the Priory of St. Andrew which was attached to the
Cathedral. A new Chapter was formed in 1541, together with the King's
School, which replaced the ancient college attached to the priory.
In December 1540, the king visited Rochester to meet Anne of Cleves, his
bride-to-be. The visit was made in secret, Anne being surprised by the king as
she watched bull baiting from a window in the new palace which had been
built within the old priory buildings.
Another monarch, Henry’s daughter Elizabeth, also visited Rochester. In
1573, she came to review her fleet as it lay anchored in the Medway. She
dined with Richard Watts, the city’s MP, in his house on Boley Hill. The story
goes that when Richard asked the queen, as she was leaving, if everything
had been to her liking, she replied “Satis” (the Latin for “enough”). The house
has been known by this name ever since.
As the nation grew in power and wealth, English seamen began to explore the
wider world, bringing back with them new commodities like exotic spices and
tobacco. At home, the number of destitute poor people, who were no longer
cared for by the monasteries, had increased enormously. This was addressed
by a series of parish Poor Laws which remained largely unchanged for the
next 250 years.
Resources
The Chatham Dockyard Story by Philip MacDougall. Meresborough, revised
and expanded edition 1987.
Chatham Dockyard in Old Photographs by Philip MacDougall. Alan Sutton
Publishing, 1994.
The Last Cast Off: a Dockyard Community Remembers. A collection of
memories of working life in the Chatham Dockyard. AIM Publications, 1990.
Upnor: Some Notes on the Castle and Other Things by S. Evans. 1951.
Blue-eyed Samurai: William Adams by Tadashi Makino. Ito Tourist
Association, 1983.
The Medway Towns: river,docks and urban life by Sandra Dunster. The
History Press Ltd 2013
The Royal Dockyard
The presence of the river has always been a major
factor in the story of the Medway area. Its quiet but
accessible lower reaches proved to be a useful safe
anchorage as the size of the English navy increased.
The storehouse set up by Henry VIII in 1547 to serve
the large number of ships moored in "Jillingham Water"
was just the beginning. Within a hundred years
Chatham Dockyard and its facilities for building, refitting
and provisioning warships were firmly established. The
first ship, the Sunne, was launched in 1585.
Even during this early period of its history, the dockyard
employed hundreds of people. In peacetime, however, work could be hard to
come by and many Commissioners refer to the near-starving condition of the
men. Relations were not always cordial and there were disputes over the
payment of wages, as well as complaints about the behaviour of the workers.
“I used to think those at Portsmouth the worst in the world,” wrote Sir Thomas
Middleton in 1668, “but they are saints compared to those at Chatham.”
At the beginning of the 18th century many improvements and additions were
made to the dockyard, the majority of which may still be seen today. Lines of
complex fortifications were also constructed in the Medway area to protect
this vital naval base from attack by sea or land. Many survive to this day, with
the most extensive example, Fort Amherst, now restored and open to the
public.
In 1759, the keel of HMS Victory was laid down at Chatham. The ship was
launched six years later in 1765. Victory lay at her moorings for thirteen years
before she was commissioned and Admiral Nelson took the vessel as his
flagship in 1803.
An enormous extension into St Mary’s Island was begun in 1864. This was
planned to add 380 acres to the yard’s existing 97. It cost £1.75 million and
was finally finished in 1885. By this time the dockyard at Woolwich had closed
and some of the machinery and workshops had been moved to Chatham. The
maximum total number of workers was reached during the Second World
War, when 11,000 men and 2,000 women were employed.
During the period of adjustment after the war, Chatham Dockyard was
restricted to building submarines and refitting ships. Despite the opening of
facilities for nuclear submarines, the dockyard closed in 1984, putting many
thousands of people out of work.
(Photograph copyright Kent Messenger and appears with kind permission. For
viewing only.)
Famous Sailors
In 1564, William Adams was born in Gillingham. Nothing is known about his
family but at the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a shipbuilder on the Thames
at Limehouse. In adult life he became an adventurous seaman and got a job
as a pilot on a Dutch expedition to the Pacific. In 1600 his ship was wrecked
on the coast of Japan. He entered the service of the Shogun Tokugawa
Ieyasu, learnt Japanese and became an interpreter and advisor to the Shogun
in his dealings with the European powers. Adams also used his shipbuilding
knowledge to help Ieyasu build an 80-ton merchant ship. He was awarded the
title of Anjin-Sama (Lord Pilot) and in due course married a Japanese woman.
Will Adams died in Japan in 1620 and is commemorated by a shrine erected
to his memory at Hemimura.
The name of Sir John Hawkins, another famous Elizabethan mariner, remains
associated with Medway because of the almshouse on Chatham High Street
which bears his name. This was granted a charter by the Queen in 1594 to
provide for poor sailors and shipwrights of the royal dockyards (and their
wives or widows). The almshouse still stands on its original site, although the
present buildings date from 1791. It continues to carry out its original function
as its founder intended.
Sir Francis Drake, famous for sailing round the world and for fighting the
Spanish Armada, spent part of his childhood in Medway. Many stories
obscure the true circumstances of his early life but it seems clear that his
father, Edmund, came to live in the Medway area around 1550. Edmund
began to make a living preaching and ministering to sailors working on the
ships anchored in the river. It was here that the young Francis learned his
seamanship.
Will Adams
Will Adams was born in Gillingham and was
baptised in the Parish Church of St. Mary on
24 September 1564.
It is fortunate that this event is recorded in the
Baptism Register, because it is the only
documentary evidence which links Will Adams
to Gillingham. It is likely that his father John
was a seafarer or shipwright and that the family
were living in Gillingham because of the
shipyards and early naval docks along the
Medway at Gillingham. Little is known of Will
Adams’ early life; it is not known how long the
family lived in Gillingham.
The next recorded event was when he was 12. His father had died and he
was apprenticed to Nicholas Diggines, a shipbuilder on the Thames at
Limehouse.
Here he learned his trade and in 1588 he was appointed captain of the ship
Richard Driffield. His remit was to carry supplies to the ships engaged with the
Spanish Armada.
In 1589 he married Mary Hyn at Stepney, by which time they already had at
least two children. On hearing of the plans by the Dutch East India Company
to send an expedition to the Far East, Will Adams travelled to Holland with his
younger brother Thomas to seek work. Both were appointed to the flagship of
a fleet of five ships, De Hoop (Hope) Will was employed as Chief Pilot to the
fleet.
The names of the other ships in the
fleet were:




De Liefde (Charity)
Het Geloof (Faith)
De Trouw (Fidelity)
Blyde Boodschop (Good News)
The fleet sailed from Holland in June
1598. It was to prove a difficult, dangerous and disastrous journey for most of
those involved. Of the five ships which set out only De Liefde completed the
journey to Japan. Of its 110 crew only 24 were alive, and of these only six
were capable of standing up without assistance.
After nine days the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu summoned the captain of De
Liefde. He was far too ill to obey, so Will Adams the pilot and Melchior
Standvoort were taken in his stead by ship to Osaka. After lengthy
imprisonment and interrogation in Osaka Castle, it would seem that leyasu
was drawn to them. He showed interest in their experience of a world beyond
the shores of Japan, of their homeland and its history. Will answered
questions with great clarity which appealed to leyasu.
In October 1600 Tokugawa leyasu won a decisive battle over his enemies
which gave him the position of Shogun. He had seen from the outset that Will
Adams would be a valuable tutor. He was given a house near Nihombashi so
that he was close to leyasu’s castle in Edo.
In 1602 Will Adams asked for permission to repair the De Liefde and sail back
to England to his wife and children. His request was firmly refused.
In 1604 Will Adams was ordered to build a sailing craft like De Liefde for the
Shogun. At first he would not, but it soon became all too obvious that this was
not a request to be declined. The ship was constructed at Ito, one of the
places where Will Adams and his memory are still honoured in Japan by an
Anjin Festival.
In 1609 the Dutch East India Company made another attempt to open up
trade with Japan. They set up a factory in Hirado. It was their intention to
manage all trade between Holland and Japan. There was intense rivalry with
other European ventures. The merchants from the English East India
Company, for example, also set up a trading post at Hirado.
The Honourable (English) East India Company had been founded in London
on 21 December 1600. The aim of the company was to navigate the largely
uncharted East Indies, Asia and Africa and to open up trade routes. All such
activities were to be undertaken at the Company’s expense. In 1613 the
Company set up the English Factory at Hirado with Richard Cocks as its
Manager.
Will Adams was employed by the English East India Company as a Pilot and
Captain but it would seem that his advice on trade was not heeded by the
directors of the factory.
The viability of both the Dutch and English factories was always in doubt. The
Japanese were not open to the idea of foreigners living and trading in their
country. They were concerned that Christian missionaries would infiltrate the
country with the merchants.
In 1616 the English and Dutch were ordered to restrict their trading activities
to Hirado and Nagasaki and to make complete reports of all cargoes. Such
severe restrictions caused dissent between the English and Dutch and by all
accounts, much distress to Will Adams.
From 1617 Will Adams was trading independently. He bought a junk from the
English Factory which he renamed The Gift of God. He obtained the
necessary charters to allow him to trade. Many obstacles, including the
continuing problems between the English and Dutch, made this difficult.
His last voyage was made in August 1619, when his health was already
failing.
In May 1620 he sent for Richard Cocks and William Eaton and appointed
them as executors. His testament or will sets out provision for his family in
England and his family in Japan. Will Adams died on 16 May 1620. A copy of
his will was carried back to England by Martin Pring on board the James
Royal in August 1620.
Close links have been forged between Gillingham and Ito. In 1934
Gillingham’s own monument to Will Adams was unveiled. It was attended by
an august array of dignitaries, including the Japanese Ambassador.
The Mayor of Gillingham and Borough dignitaries travelled to Japan in 1987 to
take part in festivities.
Upnor Castle and the founding of the dockyard
Upnor's history is closely linked with that of
the British Navy. During the 16th century,
the river Medway began to be used as
anchorage for the fleet or at least that part
of it which was out of commission. This
concentration of laid-up warships led to the
building of facilities for them, starting in
1547 with the hire of a storehouse in
Gillingham. More buildings followed. Land
was obtained for making a mast dock and
before long the new Chatham dockyard
had joined Deptford and Woolwich in the
business of building ships for the Crown.
By 1564, most of the British fleet was
moored in the Medway. The ships rode at
anchor without sails or rigging, completely
at the mercy of any bold enemy attack up the river. Henry VIII had built five
riverside blockhouses to guard the Thames but, apart from the fort at
Sheerness, the Medway remained unprotected. It was this situation that the
building of Upnor Castle was designed to remedy in 1559.
The original fort consisted of an angled gun platform and a rectangular
residential block built for the gunners over the river bank. The whole structure
was flanked by two towers for further guns and small arms. Between 1599
and 1601 these towers were rebuilt and a gatehouse and courtyard added to
give the castle something like its appearance today.
In 1667 the castle saw action when a Dutch squadron under the command of
Michael de Ruyter sailed up the Medway and stole away the English flagship,
the Royal Charles. Although fire from Upnor and other batteries prevented the
Dutch ships from reaching the dockyard, this was nevertheless a humiliating
defeat for the English, "a dishonour never to be wiped off", according to the
writer John Evelyn.
Shortly after this, Upnor Castle was converted into a gunpowder store and
magazine, becoming the largest and most important powder store in the
country. Today, the building still displays many of the alterations made to
ensure the safe storage of gunpowder, including a separate barrack block for
the garrison. It continued to serve as a magazine throughout the 19th century.
Upnor Castle was finally transferred to the Ministry of Works in 1961 to be
maintained as a national monument.