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| Stretching from Seaford near Eastbourne
to just east of Folkestone the seventy four Martello towers along the south
coast of England were built to replel an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte.
He had amassed an army of 130,000 troops across the English channel ready
for the moment when his Franco-Spanish aramda had smashed the Royal Navy
allowing his invasion flotilla to cross unmolested. Fortunately Nelson
put a stop to this plan at Trafalgar in 1805 and Napoleon turned his attentions
towards Austria. Construction of the towers commenced in 1805 and dispite
the victory at Trafalgar continued until 1808, in addtion two fortresses
or 'Redoubts' were built at Eastbourne and Dymchurch acting as heavily
armed supply depots.
Today about one third of these towers are still standing and present a poignant reminder of this desperate time. A Map of the Area |
| The
basic design of these towers arose from an incident during the Revolutionary
wars in 1793-4 when a defensive tower at Mortella Point, Corsica beat off
two Royal Navy ships after a three hour engagement severly damaging one
vessel. In 1804 William Pitt's search for the best defensive strategy for
the south-eastern coast of England drew this incident to notice and the
Martello towers were born.
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Tower
74
 
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Tower 74 at Seaford was the last to be built
(finished around 1810) and is now the Seaford local history museum. It
appears squat because the southern half of the moat has been covered over
to provide additional rooms and an extention to the esplanade. An additional
enterance has been provided at first floor level to the eastern side and
two doorways to the moat rooms below knocked through the thick walls.
Left: The tower from the sea wall. Right: A view from the east side showing the original door and the new entance at esplanade level. In the 20th century the tower has been an amusement arcade,
a roller skating rink and had a flat built on top (subsequently removed).
Dispite this the interior retains many original features although a new
concrete stairway has been installed
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| Tower
73
Known as the Wish Tower this Eastbourne Martello is now a puppet museum often surrounded by childeren screaming "look behind you". It was one of the few towers to be surrounded by a dry moat but about half of this has been destroyed to build awfull sea-sidey things.   Right: The magazine |
 
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| Tower
66
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Tower
64
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Tower 64 sits on a lonely stretch of beach between Langney
Point and Pevensy. It is in poor condition but not beyond repair and it's
isolation gives you a feel for the possible scene during Napolionic times.
No. 64 has been greatly hacked about especially during WWII with a new
door, enlarged windows and the concrete bunker plonked on top. Much of
the stuco finish has come away and the brickwork is starting to erode.
Another view of 64 because I like it so much. Here you can see the blocked original enterance and some of the WWII bunker on top. |
| Tower
61
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| Tower
60
Tower 60 is now a residence with new windows, steps and an additional room on top. All of the stuco has been removed which is odd as its original purpose was to prevent the brickwork becoming damp. |
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