Towers of Strength: Martello Towers WorldwideMartello towers were built in the early part of the nineteenth century to defend the coast of England against Napoleonic invasion. Almost 200 years later forty-one of these handsome brick towers still stand along the coast of Kent, Sussex, Essex and Suffolk. The chest of their construction was comparable in relative terms to that of of today's Trident missile system. The line of towers was never tested in action, but acted as an effective deterrent against invasion. Today Martello towers are a familiar sight from Aldeburgh in Suffolk to Newhaven in Sussex, but it is generally known that similar towers were built by the Royal Engineers to defend British interests in other parts of the world. Martello towers were being built as late as the 1850s as far afield as Canada, Mauritius, Australia and the Mediterranean. This book, illustrated with numerous photographs and plans, is the first comprehensive and detailed study of the known Martello towers built by the British. Its description of their construction, use, current condition and fate will fascinate the enquiring reader, as well as being a source of interest to visitors. Many of the towers remain landmarks today, Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour being a case in point. |
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 6 |
PREFACE | 9 |
INTRODUCTION | 10 |
1 THE DESIGN OF THE MARTELLO TOWER | 17 |
2 THE ENGLISH SOUTH AND EAST COAST DEFENCES | 29 |
3 THE FATE OF THE ENGLISH TOWERS | 37 |
4 THE SPANISH AND THE MINORCAN TOWERS | 48 |
5 THE TOWERS IN IRELAND | 59 |
9 THE FINAL TOWERS | 128 |
10 THE TOWERS THAT NEVER WERE | 145 |
11 THE AMERICAN TOWERS | 154 |
CONCLUSION | 162 |
ANNEX A MARTELLO TOWERS REMAINING IN GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS | 165 |
ANNEX B SMOOTHBORE GUNS HOWITZERS AND MORTARS IN USE IN THE BRITISH ARMY BETWEEN 1795 AND 1825 | 172 |
NOTES | 174 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 181 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
1x24pdr disused 24 circ 24pdr guns 32pdr guns 33 ellip Addaya armament Army artillery Author's photograph Bantry Bay barracks base diameter battery beach Bere Island Board of Ordnance brick British building Captain carronades Cathcart central pillar circ 1x24pdr circular coastal defence Commanding Engineer construction Cork Harbour Dalkey Island ditch dockyard Dymchurch east coast Eastbourne ellip 1x24pdr embrasures enemy English towers entrance fire first-floor level Folkestone fortifications four French garrison glacis ground floor Guernsey gun platform heavy gun height howitzer Hythe Ireland Irish towers Island tower Jersey Kent Kingston Knockalla large towers later Lieutenant Lieutenant-Colonel loopholes Lough Lough Swilly machicolation magazine masonry military Minorca Museum naval number of towers officers parapet Pembroke Dock proposed protect PROWO redoubt roof Royal Engineers Simon's Town sited south-coast towers Spanish staircase Suffolk supported three towers tower was built towers built towers were built traversing platform Wales Tower Whiddy Island