Kent Past
The History of Kent
Copyright Kent Past 2010
Martello Towers
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British
Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards.
They
stand up to 40 feet (12m) high, with two floors, and typically had a garrison of
one officer and 15-
Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of
a larger Genovese defence system, at Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica. The designer
was Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino (el Fratin), and the tower was completed in 1565.
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-
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 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-
Vice-
'...The Fortitude and Juno were ordered
against it, without making the least impression by a continued cannonade of two hours
and a half; and the former ship being very much damaged by red-
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. However, they got the name wrong, misspelling 'Mortella' as
'Martello'. When the British withdrew from Corsica in 1803, with great difficulty
they blew up the tower, leaving it in an unusable state.
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-
The French built similar towers along their own coastline that they used
as platforms for communication by optical telegraphs. The United States government
also built a number of Martello towers along the east coast of the US that copied
the British design with some modifications.
Great Britain and Ireland were united
as a single political entity, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from
1801 to 1922, spanning the time during which the Martello towers were erected (the
initial scheme started under the previous entities of the Kingdom of Great Britain
and Kingdom of Ireland). Consequently the Martello towers of Great Britain and Ireland
can be considered to have been part of a single defensive system, designed to protect
the coastlines of the two main islands of the British Isles as a whole. This is most
clearly visible on the south and east coasts of England, and the east coast of Ireland,
where chains of Martello towers were built. Elsewhere in the world, individual Martello
towers were erected to provide point defence of strategic locations.
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 towers were built in England, set at regular intervals along
the coast from Seaford, Sussex, to Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Most were constructed under
the direction of General William Twiss (1745-
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 were demolished to
enable the re-
Forty-
Leave your email address to receive Kent Past Times free every month