Martello turn

The turns Martello are small fortress S defensives built by the British Empire starting from the Napoleonean Guerres. They are high approximately 12 meters (with two stages) and can shelter an officer and 25 men. Their round structure and their solid and thick walls made them very resistant to the shootings of gun while their height made of it an ideal platform for a part of heavy Artillerie, assembled on the roof flat and able to turn on 360 degrees. Some were surrounded by a ditch to improve their defense.

Origins

The architecture of the turns were inspired by a round fortress, which belonged to a defense system génois, to the Corsica point of Mortella in (see the image in the external bond below). In 1794, the defenders of the tower resisted successfully an attack of two British ships, the HMS Fortitude (74 guns) and the HMS Juno (32 guns). The tower was then taken by a terrestrial force under the command of the British soldier John Moore, after two days of intense combat.

The British were impressed by the capacity of resistance of the tower to their most modern ships and copied architecture of it. But they did not retain the good orthography of it, naming them " Martello" instead of " Mortella".

The Martello turns in British Isles

Between 1804 and 1812 the British authorities built a chain of similar structures to defend the southern part and is England, Ireland and of Guernesey to prevent itself of a possible invasion coming from France. 105 turns were built in England, placed at regular intervals on the dimension of Seaford, Sussex, with Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The majority were set up under the direction of the general William Twiss (1745 - 1827) and of the Ford captain.

The French built similar turns on their own coast, which they used as platform of communication for the optical Télégraphe (of Claude Chappe). The capacity of the Martello turns was never tested in situation of combat against a fleet of Napoleonean invasion.

When the Napoleonean threat was isolated, the English Martello turns knew varied destinies. Many was used by the coastguards to fight against smuggling. Fifteen were demolished to re-use the stones. Thirty were carried by the sea and four were destroyed by the army to test a news Artillerie. During the Second world war, some Martello turns took again service, being used as platforms of observation and shooting for the Anti-aircraft defense. Forty seven are always upright in England, some having been restored and having been transformed into museum (it is the case of that of St Osyth), into center of visit, or gallery (as with the Martello tower of Jaywick). Many private, certain is even inhabited, others abandoned.

The Martello turns in the rest of the world

The Martello turns were exported in many colonies of the British empire, of which the South Africa (at the naval base of Simon' S Town close to the Cape) as well as a rare example inside the grounds with Fort Beaufort, with the Canada, Minorque, in the Chanel Islands and in Ireland. The construction of turns of Martello out of Great Britain continued until the end of the years 1860; it ceased when it was obvious that they could not resist the artillery shootings any more.

Australia

The last Martello tower built in the British empire is probably that of Fort Denison, an small island with Sydney Harbor, News-Wales of the South. It is about the only Martello tower set up in Australia. It was built to protect Sydney against the threat from a Russian naval attack during the Crimean War of the years 1850. Preserved well, it is now a very popular tourist attraction.

Mauritius

In the island Maurice, five Martello turns were built by the British authorities of 1831 to 1834, with Port-Louis, in Extremely-George, two in Large-River-North-West, two with River-Black: The Harmony and the Taking one. From the three which was preserved, that of Taking, located close to the public beach of the same name at Tamarin, was restored by conservationists and is today a museum open to the public.

Canada

Sixteen turns of Martello were set up with the Canada, eleven were preserved. The Canadian Martello turns were built with removable conical roofs to protect them from snow and the majority of those which were restored have from now on fixed roofs in order to facilitate their maintenance.

The town of Quebec had in the beginning four turns, the N°3 tower was demolished in 1905. The three others turns were restored with the beginning of the year 1990: the first, overhanging the Fleuve the St. Lawrence is on the Plaines of Abraham and acted as museum, the second is close to the entry of the park and is used at the time of event special, whereas the N°4 tower is in the suburb Saint-Jean-Baptist but cannot be visited.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the British feared that the Americans, in consequence of obtaining their independence (1776), do not try to annex Canada with their territory. In front of this threat, Gother Mann, ordering royal engineers of Canada (1785-1804) recommended the construction of turns in Quebec to prevent the invader from approaching the existing fortifications. Ralph-Henry de Bruyères, successor of Gother Mann, undertakes the construction of four turns at the summer of 1808. James Henry Craig, then governor of the colony, makes carry out work without the authorization of London which it puts in front of the accomplished fact. In 1812, the turns are finished, ready to be useful. Thanks to their own architecture, the Martello turns are inexpensive to build and easy to defend. They are laid out about parallel to the enclosure over all the width of the headland and are protected mutually. The western wall, which faces the enemy, is thicker whereas the wall is, thinner, can easily be destroyed starting from the enclosure in the event of catch by the enemy. The two turns of the center (#2 and #3) and those located at the two ends, smaller (#1 and #4), were respectively to shelter a garrison from about 20 and 12 men of the regiment of the Royal Artillery . These garrisons were to envisage their subsistence for one period of approximately a month, that is to say until their changing. The single access to the tower is located on the floor and is directed towards the east, i.e. towards the enclosure. The removable scale, once drawn inside, made the tower inaccessible to the enemy. There could be a hook or a hoist above the external door to enter and leave the heavy objects.

Four Martello turns are found with Kingston: that is to say fear it Cathcart (on the island Cedar), Fort Frederick with the royal military Collège of Canada, the tower Victoria or Shoal (with the marina of Kingston, entirely surrounded by water) and the Murney tower (with approximately a kilometer in the west of the Shoal tower, close to the Université Queen' S, on banks of the Lake Ontario).

There exists also one of these turns with Carleton.

Ireland

Martello turns mark out the Irish coast close to bay of Dublin; most known of them is that of Sandycove, Dun Laoghaire, in which James Joyce lived one week in 1904, which is described in the first chapter of its novel Ulysses . The Martello turns are mentioned in several other literary works from which the action occurs to Dublin.

External bonds

the Martello turns of Quebec
the Canadian national historic site of the tower Martello de Carleton
the turns Martello de Kingston, in Ontario
Martello Towers homepage a guide of the English Martello turns
Description of the English Martello turns
the tower of James Joyce, Dun Laoghaire
Strong Denison, Sydney
Images of the original tower with Mortella

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