Martello Towers

Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards.

Martello Towers
Martello Tower 60
Martello Tower 61

Martello Towers

They stand up to 40 feet (12m) high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse a 360° arc. A few towers had moats for extra defence. The Martello towers were used during the first half of the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments.

Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genovese defence system, at Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica.

Since the 15th century, the Corsicans had built similar towers at strategic points around the island to protect coastal villages and shipping from North African pirates. The towers stood one or two storeys high and measured 12–15 m (36–45 ft) in diameter, with a single doorway 5 m off the ground that one could access only via a ladder which the occupants could remove.

On 7 February 1794, two British warships, HMS Fortitude (74 guns) and HMS Juno (32 guns), unsuccessfully attacked the tower at Mortella Point; the tower eventually fell to land-based forces under Sir John Moore after two days of heavy fighting. What helped the British was that the tower’s two eighteen pounders fired sea-ward, while only the one six pounder could fire land-ward.

Late in the previous year, the tower’s French defenders had abandoned it after HMS Lowestoffe (32 guns) had fired two broadsides at it. Then the French were easily able to dislodge the garrison of Corsican patriots that had replaced them. Still, the British were impressed by the effectiveness of the tower when properly supplied and defended, and copied the design. But, they got the name wrong, misspelling “Mortella” as “Martello” (which means “hammer” in Italian).

The interior of a classic British Martello tower consisted of three storeys (sometimes with an additional basement). The ground floor served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, stores and provisions were kept. The garrison of 24 men and one officer lived in a casemate on the first floor, which was divided into several rooms and had fireplaces built into the walls for cooking and heating. The officer and men lived in separate rooms of almost equal size. The roof or terreplein was surmounted with one or two cannon on a central pivot that enabled the guns to rotate up to 360 degrees. A well or cistern within the fort supplied the garrison with water. An internal drainage system linked to the roof enabled rainwater to refill the cistern.

During the first half of the 19th century, the British government embarked on a large-scale programme of building Martello towers to guard the British and Irish coastlines. Around 140 were built, mostly along the south coast of England.

Between 1804 and 1812 the British authorities built a chain of towers based on the original Mortella tower to defend the south and east coast of England, Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey to guard against possible invasion from France, then under the rule of the Emperor Napoleon. A total of 103 Martello towers were built in England, set at regular intervals along the coast from Seaford, Sussex, to Aldeburgh, Suffolk

The effectiveness of Britain’s Martello towers was never actually tested in combat against a Napoleonic invasion fleet. They were, however, effective in hindering smuggling. After the threat had passed, the Martello towers in England met a variety of fates. The Coastguard took over many to aid in the fight against smuggling. Fifteen towers were demolished to enable the re-use of their masonry. The sea washed thirty away and the military destroyed four in experiments to test the effectiveness of the new rifled artillery. During the Second World War, some Martello towers returned to military service as observation platforms and firing platforms for anti-aircraft artillery.

Forty-seven Martello towers have survived in England, a few of which have been restored and transformed into museums (e.g., the tower at St Osyth), visitor centres, and galleries (such as Jaywick Martello Tower).

Some are privately owned or are private residences; the remainder are derelict. A survey of the East Coast towers in 2007 found of the 17 remaining, most were in a reasonable condition.

^{From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia}

Tower 60

Tower 60 had coastguard occupants from the 1840′s and later housed the chief boatman. Declared safe from the sea in 1873, Tower 60 has never been in danger from coastal erosion.

The tower was recorded in 1886 as being owned by the War Office and occupied by the Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers.

The value of the acre of land around the tower was valued by Eastbourne Rural District Council at 3 pounds, 7 shillings and sixpence.

By 1900, the land surrounding Tower 60 and its neighbour, 61, had been bought by Val Prinsep RA. Leyland Road, in which the tower stands, was named after Prinsep’s wife, Florence Leyland.

In a key position in Pevensey, the tower was not occupied during World War Two, and so did not receive an extra concrete roof.

It was not until work was being carried out in the tower in 1955 that the first person within living memory actually reached the roof. The Cannon had been dismounted from its carriage, which was said to have been in good condition, but was subsequently sawn up and disposed of, according to the April 1955 Sussex County Magazine.

The tower seems to have stood derelict until 1959, when it became an observation post for the Royal Observer Corps, who were detailed to report sightings of hostile jet aircraft.

The Observer Corps probably vacated the tower at some point during the 1970′s-80′s, when it was purchased in 1984 for £22,000 and renovated for the next two years to become a residence.

To create more floorspace on the roof, the firing step and central pivot were removed from the roof, and a new roof with windows added. New windows were knocked into the walls. Tower 60 was put up for sale in 1998 for £270,000.

^{source : the south coast martello towers}

Tower 61

Descibed in 1873 as being safe from sea erosion, Tower 61 stands about 200 metres from the sea and has had an interesting history.

It was for a time used by the marine artist Val Prinsep as a residence in the early part of this century, and it was from this tower that some of his seascapes were painted.

By the 1930′s, the tower was being used as an enormous shingle grader, with a hoist taking shingle up to the roof (left).

It later sprouted a concrete roof in 1940, for which the gun carriage was thrown off the tower, and left in pieces on the beach. The new roof came with an extra cell built on top to contain range-finding equipment for a gun battery of three 5.5″ guns installed on the beach in front of the tower on March 21, 1941. Garrisoned first by the Canadian Army, the local Home Guard took over after 1942.

Blocks of flats were erected around the tower in the late 1960′s to create the Martello Estate, with the tower as the centrepiece. The tower has stood derelict since then, extra door and windows being formed to attempt conversion to a residence over the years, which has yet to happen. The gunslits on the roof were glazed in 1992, and an original cannon mounted on the parapet prior to the tower being put up for sale for £84,950 in 1991. Further work has recently been carried out, with a viewing platform with barriers being created, and proper doors and windows added.

^{source : the south coast martello towers}