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Round gun towers on the coast

Martello towers, brick by brick.

Why Britain built squat round gun towers along its coasts when Napoleon threatened to invade, how a tower worked from the gunpowder store to the gun on the roof, and Martello towers from Dymchurch and Aldeburgh to Orkney, Dublin and Canada. Every fact is checked against English Heritage, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, Royal Museums Greenwich, Parks Canada and other sources, and where sources disagree we show each one.

The history Places to see

Our own drawing of a squat round tower on the shore, with a ladder up to its first-floor door. Not any one tower and not to scale. Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower
74towers built along the south coast of Kent and East Sussex English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower
250,000bricks or so for each south coast tower English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower
360°turn of the platform under the roof gun English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower
25men meant for each tower: one officer and 24 others English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower

The short version

Historic England describes Martello towers as small coastal artillery forts, built against the threat of invasion from France in the Napoleonic era (roughly 1799 to 1815). Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers

The name and the shape come from a small defensive tower at Punta Mortella, in the bay of San Fiorenzo in Corsica. Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers Letters written at the time misspelt Mortella as “Martello”, and the misspelling has stuck. Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers

The towers were sited close together so that their fire crossed, protecting each other. English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower

English Heritage says no invasion came, and the towers never saw any fighting. English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower

Gun platformParapet24-pounder gunBarrack roomCentral pillarMagazineDoorLadderA slice through the tower. The sea is on the right. Not to scale.
Our own labelled slice through a south coast tower. Not any one tower and not to scale. Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers

Start exploring

The history, from Corsica to CanadaMortella in 1794, the invasion scare of 1803, the south and east coast chains, Ireland, Orkney and Canada. How they workedThree floors, one door up a ladder, thick seaward walls, a gun that turned all the way round and towers that covered each other. Places to seeDymchurch, the Wish Tower, Seaford, Jaywick, Aldeburgh, Hackness, Sandycove and three Canadian towers. Life & peopleEngineers and builders, militia garrisons, smugglers and coastguards, wartime watchers and a famous writer. Visiting & spottingWhat to look for on the ground, and what the people who look after the towers say. The big facts pageEvery fact on the site in one list, each with its source.
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Things to play

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A tower that beat two warships

Royal Museums Greenwich says the tower beat off two British ships by firing red-hot shot from the large gun on its roof. Royal Museums Greenwich: Mortella Tower, Corsica (elevation), 1794 The red-hot shot started a fire in the Fortitude, which also had six men killed. Royal Museums Greenwich: Mortella Tower, Corsica (elevation), 1794 The British Army struggled to capture the Mortella tower in 1794, and when they left Corsica in 1796 they demolished most of it. Historic England, Heritage Calling blog: A Brief Introduction to Martello Towers

And a tower in the marsh

Dymchurch Martello Tower is tower no. 24. Historic England: Martello tower no 24 at Dymchurch (list entry 1014626) Tower 24 guarded the Marshland Sluice, one of the main outfalls that control the water level in Romney Marsh. English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower If the enemy took the sluice, the defenders could not flood Romney Marsh to stop the French army crossing it. English Heritage: History of Dymchurch Martello Tower More on the places to see.

Our own drawing of a small round tower with a gun on a rocky point and two sailing warships. An impression inspired by the 1794 story, not a picture of the real tower. Royal Museums Greenwich: Mortella Tower, Corsica (elevation), 1794 Royal Museums Greenwich: Mortella Tower, Corsica (elevation), 1794
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Free Martello towers printables sample, 6 pages. Pick your paper size:

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Martello towers printables

Fact-checked PDFs in A4 and US Letter, for KS2 classrooms, ages 11 to 14, families and visitors to Martello towers.

  • Martello Towers KS2 Topic Pack

    Ages 7 to 11, schools and families

    The tower that beat two warships, label a slice through a tower, inside a tower, before-or-after-1810 sorting cards, put-it-in-order date cards, a true-or-false quiz, a crossword where every answer is a real fact, a word search, a comic strip, a gun to colour, a certificate and a full answer key

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  • Martello Towers History Detective Pack

    Ages 11 to 14

    What happened at Mortella in 1794, and why do the sources tell it differently? Six short sources with their provenance, an evidence table, a dates task, questions the sources answer differently, what Britain built next, and a judgement task, with full answers

    $4.49

  • Martello Towers Family Activity Pack

    Families, ages 5 and up

    Colouring pages, a tower maze, spot-the-difference, design your own Martello tower, Useless the Eraser’s Martello tower jokes and a 20-question quiz to do together

    $3.49

  • Martello Towers Spotter’s Field Guide

    Adult history fans and walkers

    How to read a Martello tower, inside and from above, why they stood in chains, the gun, who built and manned them, 12 places in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and Corsica with what the people who look after or describe them say, a timeline, open questions and a checklist

    $5.99

  • Martello Towers Visit Journal

    Visitors of all ages

    Before-you-go checklist, what-to-spot tick lists for outside and inside a tower, six sketch pages, a log for up to 12 visits, and a visit stamps page

    $3.99

  • Martello Towers Timeline & Poster Set

    Classrooms and home

    Six poster pages: a timeline from 1794 to 2007, a slice through a tower, three tower shapes, a chain of towers, the tower at Mortella, and Martello towers in numbers

    $3.49
Best value

The Complete Martello Towers Printables Bundle

All six packs plus a bundle guide, A4 and US Letter, in one download. $12.99 instead of $26.44 bought separately.

$12.99