# Martello Tower



## gaspirator (Jan 5, 2010)

Back in 2006 I gained access to a Martello Tower; some contractors were doing a basic survey inside and I got permission to have a look round.

I actually did four visits over a couple of months before the contractors left, taking the means of access with them.

This exploration will always be my no.1 of all time and nothing can ever eclipse it - I can promise you an interesting twist at the end...


This is not the actual tower, but a similar one to give you the general idea. Built 1805-1808, the tower in question was slightly modified in the 1870's to have a larger magazine area and a pair of ammunition hoists fitted.









Entry was via one of the two first floor windows; the workmen (the white things are hard hats) built the scaffolding bridge, which leads to the stairs. On the right is the original doorway; the other window is behind the central pillar. (This is a photoshopped panorama).








Another panorama looking back to the entry window. Perspective is distorted; the bridge is skewed.








Much of the original floor was present; pretty rare in these towers, but a lot of rot had set in and you could see some old repairs to some of the joists.








Original door on the right; halfway between it and the pillar is the hatch with ladder down to the magazine. A few nervous moments were spent crawling across the joists to reach the hatch. The workmen hadn't tried to get down, as they were only interested in the roof.







View towards window, with fireplace. The joists here (and under the bridge) have the vaulted magazines below to support them.








1950's grafitti on pillar.








Better view of window and fireplace; this would have been in the soldiers' quarters and was the main cooking range. A smaller fireplace was in the Offcier's room on the opposite side. The windows have been widened, possibly 1870's.








Details of drawbridge mechanism above original entrance.









Nervous explorer about to test a 200-year-old ladder that looks rotten and has broken and missing rungs...














The ladder held, although I propped it at the point where it was buckling. Doorway is to what I'll call No.2 magazine. Top right is slate cistern for drinking water; just behind is ammo hoist shaft.














No.1 Mag; small windows are lantern shelves. Second ammo hoist to left of door (where the airbrick is). No.2 mag door just visible to right of ladder.








Thru door and into No.1 mag; wooden shelving possibly WW2. The far chamber is the original magazine area. In the 1870's the wall was removed (see the vertical grey strip on left and corresponding straight edge on pillar on right) and the vaulted arch extended over.








1953 newspaper; don't think many people have got down here since then.








Looking up ammo hoist to roof.








Joist detail; floor rests on stone corbels. Note copper grille on ventilation shaft; this runs up inside the walls to the roof. The birds nests were unoccupied - this is the only derelict tower I've been in that isn't full of dead pigeons. 








Inside No.2 mag looking back towards ladder. Original mag door was in wall on extreme right, but bricked up 1870's and the vault extended round as seen here. Ladder just visible at top left of lantern window.








Looking up through the floor at the vaulted ceiling.








Looking down from original doorway.








Steps up to the roof; these are built into the thickness of the wall.








Doorway and shot locker. The iron racer (rail) on which the gun carriage ran is just visible on the firestep. Iron ring in wall just left of the locker.
















At the top I promised you a twist and this is why this exploration is my no.1...

Two years after these photos were taken, I got an email from a long-lost branch of our family. One of my ancestors had been in the Royal Artillery and he and his family had lived in a tower. One of his children was born in 1878 and the birth certificate proves it was this particular tower! 

Little did I know at the time that I was walking on the very same floorboards on which a member of my own family had been born 128 years earlier...


- Pete


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## DigitalNoise (Jan 5, 2010)

Nice, I want one! Great twist at the end there, I bet you almost feel like you own it. 
I wish I had some of these nearby, think Sussex is where Ill find the closest ones.


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## sallybear (Jan 5, 2010)

Great report, really enjoyed reading and looking at the pics


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## Newage (Jan 5, 2010)

WOW

Love it, great report

Cheers Newage


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## acen2006 (Jan 5, 2010)

Excellent report and loved the twist at the end. 

Iv seen afew of these out on my travels in Pevensey Bay and Rye but never inside until now.


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## godzilla73 (Jan 5, 2010)

Hmmm....smashing pics. Is this the one at the Rye end of the Royal Military Canal I wonder?


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## mr_bones (Jan 5, 2010)

Excellent report, nice writeup and good set of photos.


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## Foxylady (Jan 5, 2010)

Excellent stuff, Pete. Really interesting report and pics...what an ending, too! 
Love seeing all the original details...and the sleepy looking owl. 
Nice to see you back on DP, btw.


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## gaspirator (Jan 6, 2010)

DigitalNoise said:


> Nice, I want one! Great twist at the end there, I bet you almost feel like you own it.
> I wish I had some of these nearby, think Sussex is where Ill find the closest ones.



I wish I did own it...but I don't know what I'd do with it! There's a lot or moisture in there (dripping in places) and it's mixing with crumbling brickdust to create a reddish sludge. The thing is, the atmosphere is fantastic in there - there's a certain dignity that goes with there not having been any vandalism (aisde from a failed arson attempt) - it's just been left to its own devices and it really hits you when you're in there. To renovate would remove a lot of the atmosphere. I'll worry more about that once I'm a millionaire and own it though 




sallybear said:


> Great report, really enjoyed reading and looking at the pics






Newage said:


> WOW
> 
> Love it, great report
> 
> Cheers Newage






acen2006 said:


> Excellent report and loved the twist at the end.
> 
> Iv seen afew of these out on my travels in Pevensey Bay and Rye but never inside until now.






godzilla73 said:


> Hmmm....smashing pics. Is this the one at the Rye end of the Royal Military Canal I wonder?






mr_bones said:


> Excellent report, nice writeup and good set of photos.



Thanks guys! I can't give the location as yet - I did have permission to enter, but I need to be discreet for the time being, but I can say that it's not in Rye. 

Many moons ago (1980's-90's) you could get into Tower 64 and 66 at Pevensey, but they are now competely sealed up. I may post some pics from these, but I need to locate and scan as most are pre-digital.

As a slight addendum to the twist, it seems the family were living in another tower by the 1881 census, so I may see if I can visit that one too!





Foxylady said:


> Excellent stuff, Pete. Really interesting report and pics...what an ending, too!
> Love seeing all the original details...and the sleepy looking owl.
> Nice to see you back on DP, btw.




Thanks Foxy! The owl was just a lucky spot - I took the general shot, happened to see the brown thing in the middle, zoomed in and got lucky!

Yes - had a couple of years off of DP. I joined, posted about 5 times and then got a job that took over my life, but due to the recession have had a lot of time on my hands of late to sort photos and do stuff online 

- Pete


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 6, 2010)

What a cracker of a Report, backed-up by some decent pics. Thanks for sharing -must have been fantastic to discover about the Family connection!


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## gaspirator (Jan 6, 2010)

Lightbuoy said:


> What a cracker of a Report, backed-up by some decent pics. Thanks for sharing -must have been fantastic to discover about the Family connection!



Thanks Lightbuoy!

It was a nice surprise to get the news - I'd been studying these towers for 20 years and had never for a moment imagined that I was lucky enough to have had an ancestor connected with any of them, let alone a tower that still survives, let alone untouched for decades with so many original features, let alone one that I spent 4 days in!

Even without the family connection it was a special tower because it was untouched, but it was also very welcoming. Other derelict towers I've been in have been full of dead birds and are dark and smell very damp - the overall stench is like urine - not sure if it's the (dead) birds, the damp or both. None of that in this tower and, as can be seen from the pics, it got the sun through either window depending on the time of day.

I took hundreds of pics and will eventually do a full tour on my Martello website, but that's one for the future!

- Pete


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 6, 2010)

gaspirator said:


> Thanks Lightbuoy!
> 
> It was a nice surprise to get the news - I'd been studying these towers for 20 years and had never for a moment imagined that I was lucky enough to have had an ancestor connected with any of them, let alone a tower that still survives, let alone untouched for decades with so many original features, let alone one that I spent 4 days in!
> 
> ...



Your idea for a Martello website sounds brilliant -please let us know when it goes live! I wish you well with this


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## outkast (Jan 9, 2010)

Lightbuoy said:


> Your idea for a Martello website sounds brilliant -please let us know when it goes live! I wish you well with this



fantastic report, informative and with great pics too, the twist at the end was something else. 

thanks for posting

Dave


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## the_historian (Jan 9, 2010)

Superb pics; I've always wondered what the inside of these actually looked like.


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## Artypie (Jan 11, 2010)

The "RC Meyrick 21-8-56" graffiti looks more 1856 than 1956 in style, although the rest of the signatures look more recent.


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## spacepunk (Jan 11, 2010)

Wonderful story and report.


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## gaspirator (Jan 13, 2010)

Lightbuoy said:


> Your idea for a Martello website sounds brilliant -please let us know when it goes live! I wish you well with this



The website already exists LB - I didn't phrase my previous post very well! http://www.martello-towers.co.uk

This particular tower will eventually be covered in full...




outkast said:


> fantastic report, informative and with great pics too, the twist at the end was something else.
> 
> thanks for posting
> 
> Dave






the_historian said:


> Superb pics; I've always wondered what the inside of these actually looked like.





spacepunk said:


> Wonderful story and report.



Thanks guys!




Artypie said:


> The "RC Meyrick 21-8-56" graffiti looks more 1856 than 1956 in style, although the rest of the signatures look more recent.




Yes, it does look very ornate and 'scroll-y' but in 1856 writing your name on army property wasn't a very smart move... I've seen documents in the archives from the 1950's describing intruders getting into this tower and the other scribbles are dated 1950's.

If only one of my ancestors had taken the time to put pencil to brickwork in the 1870's...

- Pete


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 14, 2010)

gaspirator said:


> The website already exists LB - I didn't phrase my previous post very well! http://www.martello-towers.co.uk.....
> - Pete



Ah yes! Great lot of info. I found it very easy to navigate around too


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## ac427 (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks for the great write up. i also wondered what it would be like on the inside.


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## night crawler (Jan 25, 2010)

Wonderful report and photo's. Great connection at the end.


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## retro (Mar 6, 2010)

gaspirator said:


> Thanks guys! I can't give the location as yet - I did have permission to enter, but I need to be discreet for the time being, but I can say that it's not in Rye.



Can i? 

There were 74 built, but only 25 remain. Not a whole lot of them are sunken like that - those that are mostly are in Rye and Folkestone. you said it isn't one of the two in Rye, it isn't the Girls school one as that's concreted.. that leaves three in Shorncliffe Camp. I'd say it's Tower 6, as it was sold not that long ago


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## klempner69 (Mar 6, 2010)

Deathly silence decends over this report!!!

Damn interesting all the same with some very good shots thrown in too.


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## Faing (Mar 6, 2010)

thas a fist class report and good pics aas well, i seen some martelo tower in great island once but didnt hav a clue how they was laid out inside.thanks for the detales.


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## chris (Mar 7, 2010)

Really good set of pictures there, especially some of the building details that tell one so much more


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## zender126 (Mar 7, 2010)

Great pictures and report Pete, amazing twist at the end!


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