Martello tower

For the rock formation in Antarctica, see Martello Tower (South Shetland Islands).

Prince of Wales Tower - oldest Martello tower in North America (1796), Point Pleasant Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.

They stand up to 40 feet (12 m) 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, and hence fire over, a complete 360° circle. A few towers had moats or other batteries and works attached 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.

In the second half of the 19th century, there was another spate of tower and fort building, during the premiership of Lord Palmerston. These fortifications are therefore correctly called the Palmerston Forts, although, because they are circular in design, some confuse them with Martello towers.

Origins

The resistance of the Torra di Mortella to the British in 1794 inspired Martello towers

A Martello tower on the plains of Abraham in Quebec City (Quebec, Canada), at the top of Cap Diamant overlooking the Saint Lawrence River.

Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genoese 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 12–15 m (39–49 ft) in diameter, with a single doorway five metres off the ground that one could access only via a ladder which the occupants could remove.

Local villagers paid for the towers and watchmen, known as torregiani, who would signal the approach of unexpected ships by lighting a beacon fire on the tower's roof. The fire would alert the local defence forces to the threat. Although the pirate threat subsequently dwindled, the Genovese built a newer generation of circular towers (the Genoese towers), that warded off later foreign invasions.

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 18-pounder guns fired seaward, while only the one 6-pounder could fire land-ward.

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.

Late in the previous year, the tower's French defenders had abandoned it after HMS Lowestoffe (32 guns) had fired two broadsides at it. The British removed the guns to arm a small vessel; consequently, 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). When the British withdrew from Corsica in 1803, with great difficulty they blew up the tower, leaving it in an unusable state.

Design and construction

Diagram of the interior of a Martello tower

The towers were about 40 feet (12 m) high with walls about 8 feet (2.4 m) thick. In some towers the rooms were not built in the center, but more to the landside, leaving the walls thicker on seaside. These were cases where an attack with a cannon from the landside was thought very unlikely. Entry was by ladder to a door about 10 feet (3.0 m) from the base above which was a machicolated (slotted) platform which allowed for downward fire on attackers. The flat roof or terreplein had a high parapet and a raised platform in the centre with a pivot (sometimes a converted cannon) for a cannon that would traverse a 360° arc. (Some towers were designed to carry more than one gun, with each having a more limited arc of fire.) The walls had narrow slits for defensive musket fire.

The interior of a classic British Martello tower consisted of two storeys (sometimes with an additional basement). The ground floor served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, water, 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.

Québec city had four Martello towers, but tower n°3 was demolished in 1904. In this picture, the internal structure can be seen.

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.

Martello towers around the world

Distribution of Martello towers worldwide

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. Governments in Australia, Canada, Minorca, South Africa and Sri Lanka also constructed towers. The construction of Martello towers abroad continued until as late as the 1870s but was discontinued after it became clear that they could not withstand the new generation of rifled artillery weapons.

The French built similar towers along their own coastline that they used as platforms for communication by optical telegraphs (using the Chappe Telegraph). 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.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Portmarnock Martello tower, one of many on Ireland's east coast

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 most 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.

England

An aerial view of a Martello tower

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. Most were constructed under the direction of General William Twiss (1745–1827) and a Captain Ford. The northern-most tower at Aldeburgh is of quatrefoil design, i.e. four in one.

Included in the scheme were three much larger circular forts or redoubts that were constructed at Harwich, Dymchurch and Eastbourne; they acted as supply depots for the smaller towers as well as being powerful fortifications in their own right.

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.

A Martello tower at Clacton-on-Sea on the east coast of England.

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.

Many remaining Martello Towers are now Listed Buildings.

For a fuller list of British towers, with map and photographs, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Martello-Towers

Scotland

The Tally Toor, in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Three Martello towers were built in Scotland, the first on offshore rocks facing the Firth of Forth in 1807-09 to defend Leith Harbour. The Tally Toor now lies land-locked within the eastern breakwater.

Two towers were then built at Hackness and Crockness, near Longhope in Orkney. They were constructed between 1813 and 1815 to guard against the threat of French and American raiders attacking convoys assembling offshore. Historic Scotland now operates the Hackness tower as a museum.

Wales

A small number of Martello towers were also built in Wales, of which few survive. The most notable surviving towers are the two located in Pembroke Dock, which were built between 1848 and 1857 to protect the naval base there. Today, one of the towers is privately owned and is falling into disrepair. The other is located on the town's riverfront, next to the old entrance of the naval base. It has been converted into a small museum that focuses on the local history of the dock and its defences.

Ireland

Martello tower at Balbriggan

The British built about fifty Martello towers around the Irish coastline, especially along the east coast, from Millmount (Drogheda), to Bray, around Dublin Bay but also around Cork Harbour on the south coast. On the east coast, concentrated mainly around Dublin Bay, twenty-six towers were in line of sight of each other, providing the ability to communicate with one another, or warn of any incoming attacks.

Possibly the most famous is the Martello tower in Sandycove, near Dún Laoghaire, in which James Joyce lived for a few days. Joyce shared the tower with Oliver St. John Gogarty, then a medical student but later to become famous in Irish history as a surgeon, politician and writer. In Ulysses, the fictional character Stephen Dedalus lives in the tower with a medical student, Malachi "Buck" Mulligan, whom Joyce based on Gogarty. The James Joyce Tower, as the tower is now known, houses a museum dedicated to Joyce.

A number of other Martello towers are extant nearby at Bullock Harbour, Dalkey Island, Williamstown, Seapoint 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.

Martello tower (South No.7) at Killiney

Martello Tower South No.7, on Tara Hill, Killiney Bay, is unique, as is its location as an enfilading tower. The Tower is privately owned and has been fully restored, to include a proofed, working King George 3rd Blomefield 18-pounder cannon mounted on a traversing carriage on the crown of the Tower. There is a three-gun battery below the tower, with a glacis. There is also a coach house, artillery store, tool shed, and gunner's cottage, with resident gunner and gunpowder store. The battery, while restored, remains to be armed and the coach house and artillery store still require some restoration.

On the north side of the city, one can find Martello towers in Balbriggan, Portmarnock, Howth, Sutton, Donabate, Malahide (Hicks tower) and Ireland's Eye.

There were seven Martello towers in the vicinity of Cork Harbour of which five are extant. During the 19th century Fenian uprising, the famous Captain Mackey briefly captured and held the Monning Martello tower near Fota Island in Cork Harbour; this tower is believed to have been the only Martello tower ever captured, other than the original. The other Cork Harbour towers are at Ringaskiddy, Haulbowline Island (now part of the Irish Naval Service HQ) and at Belvelly and Rossleague on the Great Island (near Cobh). There are also Martello towers at Little Island and Rostellan, though these are no longer intact.

The British built two Martello towers on the Hook Peninsula to protect the fort near Duncannon, Co. Wexford and the entrance to Waterford Harbour. There is a third tower on the headland at Baginbun Bay in Co. Wexford.

One of the most interesting Martello towers is Meelick Martello Tower at Clonahenoge, County Offaly, guarding the Shannon river crossing to Meelick, County Galway. As this tower supports three guns (unlike the normal Martello tower which is circular on plan and carries only one gun), it is cam shaped on plan. Currently a rampant growth of ivy covers the tower.

The tower at Seapoint, County Dublin, was formerly the headquarters of the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI). The GSI vacated the tower when it found that the atmosphere was not conducive to the preservation of records.

The restored tower at Ilnacullin is a feature of an island garden in Glengarriff, County Cork. Several other towers are still extant, including one at Rathmullan in County Donegal and two in County Clare on the south coast of Galway Bay in the townlands of Finavarra and Aughinish.

Elsewhere

Antigua and Barbuda

A 1953 stamp of Antigua showing the Martello Tower in Barbuda.

The British originally constructed River Fort Martello Tower in the early 19th century, on the site of a previous fort (presumed to have been built by the Spanish) to guard nearby River Landing, which was Barbuda's original quay. Confusion with the previous fort is presumably explains the claims made in Barbudian tourism publications that this was the World's first, and is its oldest, Martello tower, built in 1745. The tower is located on the south coast of the island, a mile or so from River Landing and some seven miles south of the island's main village of Codrington. The tower is 56 feet high, has a raised gun platform and extremely thick walls, but is missing the floors.

It is attached to what remains of the pre-existing fort. The tower mounted three cannon, and in all the fort mounted ten cannons, none of which remain. The tower is the highest building on Barbuda and serves as a daymark from land or sea. Today the fort is a popular location for weddings.

Australia

Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour.

The last Martello tower built in the British Empire is said to be that which composes a part of the larger Fort Denison, built on a small island, Pinchgut Island, in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales. It is the only Martello tower to have been built in Australia.

Fortification of the island began in 1841 but was not completed. The construction had begun following an 1839 night-time incursion into Sydney Harbour by two American warships. Concern with the threat of foreign attack had caused the government to review the harbour's inner defences, which were found to be inadequate, and the establishment of a fort was recommended to help protect Sydney Harbour from attack by foreign vessels. Construction resumed in 1855 to provide Sydney with protection against the threat of a naval attack by the Russians during the Crimean War of the 1850s. However, construction was completed only in 1857, well after the war had ended. Fort Denison is well preserved and is now a popular tourist attraction.

Bermuda

The Martello Tower at Ferry Reach, Bermuda (1822) (background), contrasts with the Ferry Island Fort (1790s) (foreground).

There is a Martello tower located at Ferry Reach in St George's Parish. The tower is the third fortification on the site. Major Thomas Blanshard built it of Bermuda limestone between 1822-1823. The tower shows the effect of thirty years of evolution on the design of coastal fortifications, between the 1790s and 1822. The earlier Ferry Island Fort nearby had multiple guns arrayed to cover the water westward, while the Martello tower used a single gun with 360° traverse to cover all of the surrounding area.

Like its predecessors in the UK, it has an ovoid footprint with the thickness of its walls ranging from nine to 11 feet. It is surrounded by a dry moat. The tower's purpose was to defend the Ferry Reach Channel and so impede any attack on St. George's Island from the main island of Bermuda, and attacking vessels from slipping through Castle Harbour and the channel between Ferry Reach and Coney Island.

Montage of the Martello Tower at Ferry Reach, Bermuda

The main channel by which vessels reach most parts of Bermuda west of St. George's, including the Royal Naval Dockyard, on Ireland, the Great Sound, Hamilton Harbour, The Flatts, Murray's Anchorage, and other important sites, carries them around the east ends of St. David's and St. George's Islands, where the coastal artillery was always most heavily concentrated. Two more Martello towers to protect the Dockyard were planned, but never built.

The tower was restored in 2008 and an 18-pounder cannon brought from Fort St. Catherine was mounted on top. The site is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday in the summer and in the winter by appointment only, by calling the Parks Department. It is part of the Bermuda Railway Trail.

British Virgin Islands

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Fort Recovery, in the British Virgin Islands.

When the British rebuilt Fort Recovery on the west end of Tortola they added a Martello tower.

Canada

Nine of the fourteen Martello towers built in Canada still survive. (In addition, the existing fortifications at Fort Henry received two thin towers between 1845 and 1848. However, these are dry ditch defence towers, rather than true Martello towers.) A common characteristic of Canadian Martello towers was removable cone-shaped roofs to protect against snow. Today, many of the restored towers have permanent roof additions - for ease of upkeep, not historical accuracy.

File:Carleton martello interior.jpg

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

Halifax, Nova Scotia, had five towers, the oldest of which, the Prince of Wales Tower located in Point Pleasant Park, is the oldest Martello-style tower in North America. It was built in 1796 and was used as a redoubt and a powder magazine. Restored, it is now a National Heritage site. The Duke of York Martello Tower was built in 1798 at York Redoubt. Its lower level still stands, though it has been boarded up for conservation purposes. The Duke of Clarence Martello Tower stood on the Dartmouth shore. Sherbrooke Martello Tower stood opposite York Redoubt on McNabs Island. Another Martello tower stood on Georges Island.

Quebec City originally had four Martello towers. Tower No. 1 stands on the Plains of Abraham, overlooking the St Lawrence River. It has been restored as a museum and one may visit it during the summer months. Tower no. 2 stands close nearby and currently hosts an 1812 Murder Mystery Dinner. Tower No. 3 was demolished in the 20th century after being used as a residence. The fourth surviving Martello Tower in Quebec, No. 4, is located in a residential area on the north side of the Upper City overlooking Lower Town.

File:Shoal frederick.jpg

Line of defence: three Martello towers Fort Frederick, Shoal Tower, and Cathcart Tower in Kingston, Ontario

Four Martello towers were built at Kingston, Ontario to defend its harbour and naval shipyards in response to the Oregon Crisis. Their builders intended for the towers to serve as redoubts against marine attacks. Murney Tower and the tower at Point Frederick (at the Royal Military College of Canada) are now museums that are open during the summer.

Fort Frederick has the most elaborate defences as it includes earthen ramparts and a limestone curtain wall. The Shoal Tower, the only tower completely surrounded by water, stands in Kingston's Confederation Basin. Since 2005, it is open to the public as part of Doors Open Ontario for one day only in June each year. Cathcart Tower, the fourth 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 a National Historic Site.

The Canadian Press reported on April 16, 2006 that the Canadian military has named a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Afghanistan FOB Martello. The logo of the International Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum in Kingston, Ontario, features a Martello tower. Since the amalgamation of the Township of Kingston in 2000, the city's flag has also borne a Martello tower.

Guernsey

There are three Martello towers in the Guernsey, all built in 1804: Fort Grey, Fort Hommet and Fort Saumarez.

In addition, there are a number of towers in Guernsey (the Guernsey loophole towers), that many people refer to as Martello towers, though they are not Martellos. They were built in the late 18th century, i.e., before the Martellos, and differ from them in a number of ways. One may think of them as precursors, like the Genoese towers they resemble. Lastly, Bréhon Tower, built in 1856, is an oval tower that represents the final evolution of the Martello tower.

Indonesia

The explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 caused a tidal wave that damaged Menara Martello, which the Dutch East India Company built in 1850 on Bidadari Island (Pulau Bidadari), one of the Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu), as part of a set of fortifications that protected the approaches to Batavia. Photos suggest that Martello Menara was not a true Martello, but rather a circular fort. The tower was operational until 1878, when it became a storage site, and was abandoned in 1908. Bidadari Island was also known as Pulau Sakit (Sick Island) as it housed a leper colony during the 17th century. More recently, the island came to be called "Angel Island", to honour the leprosarium that had been there.

Italy

File:Torre di Magnisi.JPG

Magnisi tower at Priolo Gargallo.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, during the British "Protectorate" of Sicily after the escape of the Bourbons from Naples, Sicily began to build towers to resist an invasion by Napoleon's armies led by Joachim Murat. The new higher rate of fire of ships' guns led to the choice of the Martello tower as the model.

The Sicilian Martello towers were built around 1810. The estimate rests on the historical context and on the descriptions of the topographer W.H. Smyth, who carried out his research in 1814 and 1815. Of the seven towers built in Sicily, only four remain. One is the Mazzone Tower (or the British Fort) at Faro Point, Messina. The second is the Magnisi tower at Priolo Gargallo, Syracuse. The Italian Navy used this tower as an observation post during the Second World War. Third is the Cariddi tower at Ganzirri in Messina. Lastly, the fourth tower is situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea from where it can defend the Castello Maniace in Syracuse.

Jamaica

There is a Martello tower located at what was Fort Nugent. In 1709, the Spanish slave agent in Jamaica, James Castillo, built a fort in Harbour View, to guard his home against attack. An English Governor, George Nugent, later strengthened the fort to guard the eastern entrance of the city of Kingston Harbour. The tower was probably built between 1808 and 1811, at a reported cost of £12,000.

Jersey

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La Tour de Vinde, Saint Brélade, Jersey

The British built eight true Martello towers in Jersey, three between 1808 and 1814, and five between 1834 and 1837, one of which, L'Etacq, the German occupation forces destroyed during World War II. The three original towers are:

• Icho Tower (1811)
• Portelet Tower (1808)
• La Tour de Vinde (AKA Noirmont; 1808-1814)

The four surviving, later towers are:

• Lewis Tower (AKA St Ouen 1; 1835)
• Kempt Tower (AKA St Ouen 2; 1834)
• La Collette Tower - Absorbed into the 19th-century artificers' barracks and workshops
• Victoria Tower (1837)

In addition, there are a number of towers in Jersey (the Jersey Round Towers), that are frequently referred to as Martello towers, though they are not Martellos. They were built in the late 18th century, i.e., before the Martellos, and differ from them in a number of ways. One may think of them as precursors, like the Genoese towers they resemble.

Malta

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Madliena Tower (not a true Martello Tower but sometimes considered as such).

The British never built any true Martello Towers in Malta. However, Madliena Tower, which was one of thirteen De Redin towers built in Malta in 1658-1659, began to be used as if it was a Martello Tower and it is sometimes considered as such. Various modifications were made, including mounting a 64-pound rifled muzzle loading (RML) gun on the roof for coastal defence. From the late 19th century onwards it defended part of the Victoria Lines. The tower remained in use until World War II. It still stands today, despite having some minor modifications to its original structure, and it was recently restored.

Mauritius

The British built five Martello Towers between 1832 and 1835 at Grand River North West (2), Black River (2), and Port Louis, of which three survive. Cunningham Tower at Fort George, on Tonnelier Island, disappeared between 1865 and 1902. In 1865, the Mauritius Almanac and Civil Service Register listed "Two Artillery Men, at 1s each per diem", for the towers at Fort George and Grand River. The Tower at Fort Victoria was last mentioned in 1880. The Friends of the Environment have restored one Martello tower near the La Preneuse public beach in Tamarin, in the Rive Noire/Black River district. The Friends operate it as a museum for visitors. The original entrance to the tower is raised above ground but a new entrance has been constructed at ground level. The other tower in Rive Noire/Black River district still exists but has remained neglected for many years. It is surrounded by additional defensive fortification.

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Canon on Martello tower in La Preneuse, Black River, Mauritius

Sierra Leone

A Martello tower was built on Tower Hill at Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1805 to defend the port from attacks by the Temne people. It was significantly modified in 1870 when it was truncated to allow the installation of a water tank to supply Government House (Fort Thornton) with water. The tower has now been incorporated into Sierra Leone's Parliament Buildings.

South Africa

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Martello Tower at Fort Beaufort

The British built three Martello towers in South Africa, one at Simon's Town Naval base near Cape Town, one at Cape Town, and the third at Fort Beaufort. The tower at Simon’s Town and Cape Town were both built in 1795. The tower at Cape Town was demolished over 100 years ago, but the tower at Simon's Town now is sometimes claimed as the oldest Martello in the world. It is arguable as to whether one should properly call it a Martello Tower.

That said, Vice Admiral George Elphinstone, who commanded the force that captured the colony and then served briefly as its governor, had served with the Mediterranean fleet off Corsica in 1794. The British built the tower at Fort Beaufort in 1837, and it is probably the only example of an inland Martello tower.

Spain

During the last period of British occupation (1798–1802) of Minorca, Sir Charles Stuart, the then British governor, ordered Engineer Captain Robert D´Arcy to build some 12 Martello towers along the coast. These, when added to the three Spanish towers already in place, gave Minorca 15 towers.

The British built five towers to protect Mahón: Phillipet on Lazareto Island, Cala Taulera (St. Clair) and Los Freus (Erskine) on the peninsula of La Mola, Stuart's Tower, and a tower on the Punta de Sant Carlos, which the Spanish destroyed when they took regained possession of Minorca. To the northwest of Mahón the British built two more towers, Sa Torreta and Sa Mezquita.

One tower, the Princess Tower, or the Erskine Tower, was incorporated into the Fortress of Isabel II, built between 1850 and 1875. The tower was converted to a powder magazine, which led to its destruction in 1958, when lightning struck the tower. The explosion destroyed the tower, blowing out large sections of its walls.

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Martello Tower at Cap Cavalleria, Menorca.

The British erected Stuart's Tower in 1798 on Turks Hill or Hangman's Hill to the south of the port of Mahón at San Estaban or Saint Stephen's bay on the southern side of the Fortress of San Felipe. In 1756 and again in 1781, batteries on the hill had supported successful attacks on the Fortress. The tower was built both to secure the hill and protect the entrance to the bay. The tower's name was later changed to Torre d´en Penjat, or Hangman's Tower.

To protect the harbor of Fornells, the British built a tower on the rocky headland overlooking the harbor's mouth, and a small tower on the island of Sargantana. They complemented these two towers with two more small towers nearby, one at Sa Nitsa and one at Addaya.

Lastly, the British built one tower at Santandria to protect the old capital of Ciudadela.

In addition to the 12 towers that they built, the British made use of three towers that the Spanish had built earlier. In 1781, Captain Francisco Fernandez de Angulo had built towers south of Port Mahon at Punta Prima and Alcufar, based on the design of those that the Spanish had built in Gando, Gran Canaria, in 1740. At Ciudadela the British used the St. Nicholas's Tower, built in 1690. The Treaty of Amiens returned Minorca to Spain in 1802. Around 1804, the Spanish built a tower at Punta Na Radona to protect the beach at Son Bou, Minorca. In 1808, Captain Lord Cochrane, commanding the 38-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Imperieuse, sent ashore a landing party that destroyed the unarmed tower. (Frederick Marryat, later a naval captain and author, was serving as a midshipman aboard Imperieuse at the time.) (This fort has 17 walls)

There are also four towers on the island of Formentera, and one on the nearby island of S'Empalmador ().

Saint Helena

There is a Martello tower at Saint Helena that was incorporated into High Knoll Fort. The tower was very similar in design to the tower at Simon's Town, with a diameter of about 45 ft (14 m) and a height of approximately 20 ft (6.1 m).

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has one Martello tower, located at Hambantota on the south coast, which was restored in 1999. This tower may have been involved in repelling a French attack though there is nothing more than circumstantial support for the notion. British engineers commenced work on three towers to protect Trincomalee but never completed them.

United States

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Ruined Martello tower at New Castle, New Hampshire, overlooking Portsmouth harbour in the late 19th century

41st Infantry Coat of arms with a Martello Tower

The United States government built several Martello towers at locations along the eastern seaboard. Two are at Key West, Florida; others were built at the harbours of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Charleston, South Carolina and New York City. Two more Martello towers stood at Tybee Island, Georgia and Bayou Dupre, Louisiana.

Although the Americans copied the design from the towers the British erected in Canada, the American Martello towers differed in some significant respects from the British. The Martello tower built at Tybee Island, Georgia was constructed around 1815 utilizing wood and tabby, a common local building material at the time, instead of the brick or stone that the British towers used. 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 confused local writers, who often said that the Spanish had built the tower when Georgia was Spain's colony.

The Key West towers, though the locals refer to them as Martellos, were square instead of round and had thin walls with long gun loops. In addition, a curtain wall of heavy guns encircled the Key West towers making them, effectively, keeps instead of standalone towers.

A Martello tower figures in the arms of the 41st Infantry Regiment of the United States Army.

List of Martello towers outside Great Britain

Country	Location	Tower name	Built	Current status
Australia	Sydney	Fort Denison	1856	Museum, harbour light station.
Barbuda	Near Codrington	River Fort Martello Tower
Bermuda	Ferry Reach		1823–1828	Can be visited
British Virgin Islands	Tortola	Fort Recovery		Private (hotel)
Canada	Point Pleasant Park, Nova Scotia	Prince of Wales's Tower	1796	Open to public
	Halifax, Nova Scotia	Duke of York's Tower	c.1798	Lower levels still exist. Site partially boarded off, can be visited
	Halifax, Nova Scotia	Duke of Clarence's Tower	c.1798	Demolished prior to 1900
	Kingston, Ontario	Fort Frederick	1846/7	Museum
	Kingston, Ontario	Murney Tower	1846	Museum
	Kingston, Ontario	Shoal Tower	1846	Closed to Public
	Kingston, Ontario	Cathcart Tower	1846	Closed to Public
	Quebec City, Quebec	Tower #1	1808–1812	Museum
	Quebec City, Quebec	Tower #2	1808–1812	Open for group activities through National Battlefields Commission
	Quebec City, Quebec	Tower #3	1808–1812	Destroyed
	Quebec City, Quebec	Tower #4	1808–1812	Closed to Public
	Saint John, New Brunswick	Carleton Martello Tower	1815	Museum
Ireland	Achill Island
	Aughinish	Aughinish Tower		Private residence
	Banagher	Meelick Tower		Private residence
	Balbriggan	North No. 12	c. 1805	Extant
	Skerries, Red Island	North No. 11	c. 1805	Extant
	Skerries, Shenick Island	North No. 10	c. 1805	Extant
	Drumanagh	North No. 9	c. 1805	Extant
	Rush	North No. 8	c. 1805	Extant
	Portrane, Tower Bay	North No. 7		Private residence
	Donabate, Balcarrick	North No. 6	c. 1805	Extant
	Malahide, Robswall	North No. 5, Hicks Tower	c. 1805	Private residence
	Portmarnock, Carrickhill	North No. 4	c. 1805	Private residence
	Ireland's Eye	North No. 3	c. 1805	Extant
	Howth, Harbour Rd.	North No. 2	c. 1805	Museum & radio station
	Sutton South	North No. 1	c. 1805	Private residence
	Sandymount	South No. 16		Extant
	Williamstown	South No. 15		Extant
	Seapoint	South No. 14		Restored. Exhibition on the history of Dublin’s Martello Towers. Guided tours during the summer months
	Kingstown Harbour, West Pier	South No. 13		Demolished, c. 1830s, during construction/extension of Dublin & Kingstown Railway
	Dun Laoghaire, site of present-day Peoples Park	South No. 12
	Sandycove	South No. 11, James Joyce's Martello tower		Museum
	Bulloch Harbour	South No. 10	c. 1804	Private residence
	Dalkey Island	South No. 9		Extant
	Killiney, south end of Strathmore Road	South No. 8		Site of battery, not tower
	Killiney, Tara Hill	South No. 7		Fully restored
	Killiney, beach	South No. 6, Enoch's Tower		Private residence
	Shanganagh	South No. 5		Site of battery, not tower
	Shanganagh, Mahera Point	South No. 4		Lost to coastal erosion
	Bray, Corke Abbey	South No. 3		Lost to coastal erosion
	Bray harbour	South No. 2	1804-5	Private residence
	Bray beach	South No. 1		Demolished 1884, when Esplanade constructed
	Ilnacullin			Tower and gardens open to public (access by boat from Glengarriff)
	Bere Island, Cloughland
	Bere Island, Ardagh
	Finavarra	Finavarra Tower	1816	Open to public
	Ringaskiddy, Cork Harbour
	Haulbowline Island, Cork Harbour			Museum, owned by Irish Navy
	Fota Island, Cork Harbour	Monning Tower
	Rossleague, Cobh
	Belvelly, Cobh			Private residence
	Lough Swilly	Macamish Tower
	Lough Foyle	Greencastle Tower		Extended to a Fort completed in 1812. Restaurant
	Lough Foyle	Magilligan Tower		Restored
	Loughshinny
	Rathmullan
	Ros a' Mhíl
Italy	Messina	Cariddi's Tower or Tower of Ganzirri	1810?	Closed to public
		Mazzone's Tower or Tower of British Fort	1810?
	Priolo Gargallo	Torre di Magnisi	1810?	Can be visited
	Syracuse	Castello Maniace	1810?	Open to public
Jamaica	Kingston	Fort Nugent	1808-11?
Liberia	Monrovia	Fort Stockton	1822	since 1822, August under construction, later named as coast battery Fort Hill
Malta	Madliena, Pembroke	Madliena Tower	1658	Intact, recently restored
Mauritius	Tamarin, Mauritius		1832-35
		L'Harmonie	1832-35	abandoned but no fences, entrance still on second story
		La Preneuse	1832-35	Museum
		Cunningham's Tower	1832-35	Disappeared between 1880 and 1902.
	Fort Victoria		1832-35	Last mentioned 1880
Sierra Leone	Freetown	Tower Hill Martello Tower	1805	Part of Parliament Buildings
South Africa	Fort Beaufort		1839-46
	Simon's Town		1795/6	At the Naval Base. Houses a small museum.
	Cape Town	Craig's Tower	1795/6	Demolished late 19th century
Sri Lanka	Hambantota		1801-03
Trinidad & Tobago	Port of Spain	Fort Picton	1801	Abandoned by 1810.
United States	Lake Borgne, Louisiana	Tower Dupre	1830?	Hexagonal; originally built on shore, 150 ft (46 m) from water, near Bayou Dupre's entrance to Lake Borgne; private fishing camp; threatened by subsidence and tidal erosion
	Charleston, South Carolina
	Key West, Florida			East tower is a museum; West tower converted to a botanical garden; both open to the public
	New York Harbor			Destroyed
	Portsmouth, New Hampshire	Walbach Tower	1814	Incorporated into Fort Constitution; Ruined
	Tybee Island, Georgia		1815	Destroyed

See also

• Blockhouse
• Eastbourne Redoubt
• Palmerston Forts
• Fortified tower
• Scottish Broch

Lists:

• List of castles
• List of fortifications
• List of forts

References and sources

Notes

Sources

• Abram, David (2003) The Rough Guide to Corsica Rough Guides.
• Bolton, J., Carey, T., Goodbody, R. & Clabby, G. (2012) The Martello Towers of Dublin. (Dublin: Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown & Fingal County Council.
• Brock, B.B. & Brock, B.G. (1976) Historical Simon's Town. (Cape Town). ISBN 0-86961-055-4
• Ciucevich, Robert A. (2005) Tybee Island: The Long Branch of the South (Arcadia Publishing).
• Clements, William H. (1998) Towers of Strength: Story of Martello Towers. (London: Pen & Sword). ISBN 978-0-85052-679-0.
• Grimsley, E.J. (1988) The Historical Development of the Martello Tower in the Channel Islands. (Sarnian Publications). ISBN 978-0-9513868-0-4
• Rooke, Octavius (1857) The Channel islands: pictorial, legendary and descriptive.
• Saunders, Ivan J. (1976) "A History of the Martello Towers in the Defence of British North America, 1796-1871", Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History #15, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Thorn Press Limited.
• Sutcliffe, Sheila (1973) Martello Towers. (Cranbury, NJ: Associated Universities Press).
• Vigano, M. (2001) Fort (Fortress Study Group) 29.

External links

• YouTube video showing a 3D reconstruction of a Martello tower
• English Heritage Report into Martello Towers on the East Coast of England
• Location list and explanatory article of most Martello towers in the UK, with pictures
• Restoration of No.7 Tower, Killiney Bay
• Interactive Google Map of Killiney Bay defences
• Carleton Martello Tower National Historic Site of Canada
• English Heritage Martello towers definition and description
• The Dymchurch tower: English Heritage
• James Joyce Tower, Dun Laoghaire
• Note on Sir John Moore - pictures of the original tower at Mortella
• Mortella Point (Punta Mortella) in Corsica - the ancestor of Martello towers all over the world
• Restoration of an Irish Martello tower The Genie Gazette, Newsletter of the Genealogical Society of Ireland: Seapoint Martello Tower, County Dublin
• Eastbourne Redoubt Fortress Military Museum