   #copyright

Martello tower

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1750-1900

   Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built
   by the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the
   Napoleonic Wars onwards. They stand about 40 feet (12m) high (with two
   floors) and had a garrison of one officer and 25 men. Their round
   structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them very 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 Martello towers were surrounded by a moat
   for extra defence. They were used throughout the 19th century, but
   became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery.
   Many have survived to the present day, often being preserved as
   historic monuments.
   A Martello tower at Clacton-on-Sea on the East coast of England
   Enlarge
   A Martello tower at Clacton-on-Sea on the East coast of England

Origins

   Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger
   Genovese defense system, at Mortella Point in Corsica (see picture
   here). Since the 15th century, similar towers had been built at
   strategic points around Corsica to protect coastal villages and
   shipping from North African pirates. They stood one or two stories high
   and measured 12-15 m (36-45 ft) in diameter, with a single doorway 5 m
   off the ground that could only be reached by climbing a removable
   ladder. The towers were paid for by local villagers and staffed by
   watchmen (known as torregiani) who would signal the approach of
   unexpected ships by lighting a fire on the tower's roof. This would
   alert the local defence forces to the incoming threat. Although the
   pirate threat subsequently dwindled, the Genoese built a newer
   generation of circular towers which were used to ward off later foreign
   invasions.

   On 7 February 1794, the tower at Mortella Point was attacked by two
   British warships, HMS Fortitude (74 guns) and HMS Juno (32 guns) and
   was eventually captured by land-based forces under Sir John Moore after
   two days of heavy fighting. Vice-Admiral Lord Hood reported:

          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-hot
          shot, both hauled off. The walls of the Tower were of a
          prodigious thickness, and the parapet, where there were two
          eighteen-pounders, was lined with bass junk, five feet from the
          walls, and filled up with sand; and although it was cannonaded
          from the Height for two days, within 150 yards, and appeared in
          a very shattered state, the enemy still held out; but a few hot
          shot setting fire to the bass, made them call for quarter. The
          number of men in the Tower were 33; only two were wounded, and
          those mortally.

   The British were impressed by the effectiveness of the tower against
   their most modern warships and copied the design. However, they got the
   name wrong, misspelling "Mortella" as "Martello".

Martello towers in the British Isles

   An aerial view of a Martello tower
   Enlarge
   An aerial view of a Martello tower

   Between 1804 and 1812 the British authorities built a chain of similar
   structures to defend the south and east coast of England, Ireland,
   Jersey and Guernsey to guard against possible invasion from France. 105
   were built in England, set at intervals along the coast from Seaford,
   Sussex, to Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Most were constructed under the
   direction of General William Twiss ( 1745– 1827) and a Captain Ford.

   The interior of a Martello tower was divided into three stories. 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 on the first floor, which was divided into several rooms and had
   fireplaces built into the walls for cooking and heating. The roof or
   third floor was surmounted with one or two cannon capable of turning
   through up to 360 degrees. A well or cistern was provided within the
   fort to supply the garrison with fresh water.

   The effectiveness of Britain's Martello towers was never actually
   tested in combat against a Napoleonic invasion fleet. After the
   Napoleonic threat had passed, the Martello towers in England met a
   variety of fates. Many were taken over by the Coastguard to aid in the
   fight against smuggling. Fifteen towers were demolished to re-use their
   masonry. Thirty were washed away by the sea, while four more were
   destroyed by the military in experiments to test the effectiveness of
   the new rifled artillery. During the Second World War, some Martello
   towers returned to military service to serve as observation platforms
   and firing platforms for anti-aircraft artillery. Forty-seven have
   survived in England, of which a few have been restored and transformed
   into museums (as in the case of the tower at St Osyth), visitor
   centres, and galleries (such as Jaywick Martello Tower). Many are
   privately owned or private residences and the remainder are derelict.

Martello towers elsewhere

   Martello towers were exported to many colonies of the British Empire,
   including South Africa (at Simon's Town Naval base near Cape Town and a
   rare inland example in Fort Beaufort), America, Canada, Minorca, the
   Channel Islands and Ireland. The construction of Martello towers abroad
   continued until as late as the 1860s, but was discontinued after it
   became clear that they could not withstand rifled artillery weapons.

   France built similar towers along its own coastline, which they used as
   platforms for communication by optical telegraphs (using the Chappe
   Telegraph). The United States government also built Martello towers
   along the east coast of the US, copying the British design with some
   modifications.
   Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour
   Enlarge
   Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour

Australia

   The last Martello tower built in the British Empire is said to be that
   at Fort Denison, a small island in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales. It
   was built to protect Sydney against the threat of a naval attack by the
   Russians during the Crimean War of the 1850s. It is well preserved and
   is now a popular tourist attraction.

Barbuda

   There is a Martello tower on the island of Barbuda in the West Indies.
   It is attached to a pre-existing fort, probably built by the Spanish.
   It was used to guard the Southwest of the island, and is located
   approximately seven miles south of the island's main village at
   Codrington.

Bermuda

   There is a Martello tower located at Ferry Reach in St George's Parish.
   It was completed in the 1820s.

Canada

   Restored interior of Carleton Martello Tower at Saint John, New
   Brunswick
   Enlarge
   Restored interior of Carleton Martello Tower at Saint John, New
   Brunswick

   A total of sixteen Martello towers were built in Canada, of which
   eleven are still standing. Canadian Martello towers were built with
   removable cone-shaped roofs to protect against snow, and many of the
   restored towers now have permanent roof additions - for ease of upkeep,
   not historical accuracy.

   The oldest martello-style tower in North America is the Prince of Wales
   Tower, located in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia . It was
   built in 1796, before such structures were to be considered built
   elsewhere in Canada, and was used as a redoubt, a powder magazine and
   is now being restored as a National Heritage site. At least two
   additional towers protected the entrance to Halifax's harbour, standing
   on the Dartmouth shore and Georges Island; they have since been
   demolished.

   Quebec City originally had four Martello towers. One stands on the
   Plains of Abraham, overlooking the St Lawrence River. It has been
   restored as a museum and can be visited during the summer months. A
   second tower stands nearby, and it currently hosts an 1812 Murder
   Mystery Dinner. The third tower in Quebec was demolished in the 1900s
   after being used as a residence, and the fourth surviving Martello
   Tower in Quebec is located on the north side of the Upper City.
   Martello tower after a snowstorm at the Royal Military College of
   Canada in Kingston, Ontario
   Enlarge
   Martello tower after a snowstorm at the Royal Military College of
   Canada in Kingston, Ontario

   No less than four were built at Kingston, Ontario to defend its harbour
   and naval shipyards. Two thin towers were added to the fortifications
   at Fort Henry, but are dry ditch defence towers, rather than Martello
   towers. The four independent towers were built as redoubts to defend
   against marine attacks. Two of Kingston's towers, Murney Tower and the
   tower at Point Frederick (at the Royal Military College of Canada) are
   maintained as museums which are open during the summer. Frederick Tower
   is further defended by earthen ramparts and a limestone curtain wall.
   The only Martello tower completely surrounded by water, the Shoal
   Tower, stands in Kingston's Confederation Basin and was opened to the
   public as part of Doors Open Ontario for one day only in June of 2005.
   The fourth, Cathcart Tower, stands unused on Cedar Island near Point
   Henry.

   Carleton Martello Tower, overlooking the harbour of Saint John, New
   Brunswick, is now a museum and National Historic Site.

   The Canadian Press reported on April 16 2006 that the Canadian military
   is using the same name to name a base in Afghanistan. The new base will
   be called Forward Operating Base (FOB) Martello.

Ireland

   Martello tower at Balbriggan
   Enlarge
   Martello tower at Balbriggan

   A number of Martello towers were built around the coast of Ireland,
   especially along the east, from Millmount to Bray, around Dublin Bay
   and also around Cork Harbour on the south coast. Possibly the most
   famous is the Martello tower in Sandycove, Dún Laoghaire, in which
   James Joyce lived. The fictional character Stephen Dedalus lives in the
   tower with his friend Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. Known as the James
   Joyce Tower, it is now a museum dedicated to Joyce. A number of other
   Martello towers stand nearby at Dalkey, Portmarnock, Bray, Howth and
   Sandymount and Martello towers feature in many literary works set in
   Dublin. During the 1980s Bono owned the Martello tower in Bray, County
   Wicklow During the 19th century Fenian uprising the tower near Fota
   island in Cork Harbour was briefly captured and held by the famous
   Captain Mackey and is believed to have been the only one ever captured.
   The tower at Seapoint, County Dublin, is the headquarters of the
   Genealogical Society of Ireland. while the restored tower at Ilnacullin
   is a feature of an island garden in Glengarriff, County Cork.

Jamaica

   There is a Martello tower located at Fort Nugent, built to guard the
   eastern entrance of Kingston Harbour. It was probably built in 1802,
   with a reported cost of £ 12,000.
   Exterior of Martello tower, La Preneuse, Mauritius
   Enlarge
   Exterior of Martello tower, La Preneuse, Mauritius

Mauritius

   One Martello tower, in Mauritius, near the La Preneuse public beach in
   Tamarin, has been restored by the Friends of the Environment and
   operates as a museum open for visitors. The original entrance to the
   tower is raised above ground, and a new entrance has been constructed
   at ground level.

Sri Lanka

   Sri Lanka has one Martello tower, located at Hambantota. It was
   restored in 1999.

United States

   Several Martello towers were built by the United States government in
   various locations along the eastern seaboard. One was built in New
   Hampshire; others were built in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and South
   Carolina. Several were erected around New York harbour but had
   disappeared by the mid-19th century. Although the design was copied
   from the towers erected in Canada by the British, the American Martello
   towers differed in some significant respects. The Martello tower built
   at Tybee Island, Georgia was constructed around 1815 utilising wood and
   tabby, a common local building material at the time, instead of the
   brick used for the British towers. Also unlike the British towers, the
   Tybee tower featured gun loops on the garrison floor that enabled
   muskets to be fired through the walls. It was never tested in battle
   and by the time of the American Civil War was in a state of disrepair.
   Its unfamiliar design caused a good deal of confusion among local
   writers, who often erroneously attributed the tower's construction to
   the Spanish during the period when Georgia was a colony of Spain.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martello_tower"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
