Richard Lee (engineer)

Sir Richard Lee (1513–1575) was a military engineer in the service of Henry VIII of England, Edward VI and Elizabeth I.

Only brick was available at Calais so Lee shipped freestone and timber from Kent, with salvaged material from the demolished monasteries at Faversham and St. Augustines, Canterbury.

[3] During the war of the Rough Wooing, in January 1544 Richard was sent into Scotland with the Italian engineers Antonio da Bergamo and John Thomas Scala, as expert men in the skill of fortifying.

Lee is generally believed to have plundered the Dunkeld Lectern from Holyrood Abbey during an attack on Edinburgh in 1544.

[7] After the battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547, Lee was made General Surveyor of the King's Majesty's works and fortifications in the North parts, for the duration of the Scottish war.

[10] After working at Portsmouth, in 1560 Richard was again supervising the re-fortification of Berwick, by correspondence with Rowland Johnston and in person in April.

[11] Lee returned to supervise work at Berwick in July 1560, and sent another "plat" of Leith to William Cecil.