North American Martello Towers Author(s): Willard B. Robinson Source: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 1974), pp. 158-164 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/988909 . Accessed: 01/08/2013 20:57 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and Society of Architectural Historians are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Thu, 1 Aug 2013 20:57:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 158 North American Martello Towers As with all architecturefor defense,once the effectiveness of the basic configuration was proven, the defense was WILLARD B. ROBINSON formulated; only minor changes were thereafter made, either to improve efficiencyor to adaptto a particularsite. The Museum, Texas Tech University Circular or elliptical in plan, most Martello towers had diametersof thirty or more feet-in additionto being very HISTORICALLY, military architecturehas been noted for strong, curved forms enclosed a large amount of area per its beauty and logic. Characterizedby handsome geo- length of perimeter.On an open platform at the top were metrical configurations, fortifications were unified by mounted one or more smoothbore cannons, en barbette, functions which organically determined their forms and usually on traversingcarriages. The facilities necessaryto their relationships.Among the numerousworks for defense support both the garrisonand the battery were contained wherein purpose beautifully and clearly generated form within, on severalfloors. was the Martello tower, a work which is little military in towers were to known but which was once an to Simple form, designed effectively today, importantadjunct resist assault.Built either of stone or the walls were the defensesof several North American cities. brick, usually between six and fourteen feet thick, to provide a The Martello tower was named after a tall cylindrical bombproof enclosure,and over twenty feet high, to resist structuresituated in the Bay of Martellain Corsica.' In 1794 escalade.Then, accessto the interiorwas furnished this tower, one cannon, became only by mounting only heavy a located ten or more feet above the famous authoritieswhen two British men- single door, ground. among military to this entrancewas a ladder or small of-war were defeated from behind its the Communication up parapet.During wooden stair. encounter, little damage was inflicted on the Frenchwork The victims of the Bay of Martellaincident were natu- by the ships, well demonstratingthe strength of the struc- ture.2 tise on Fortification(London, 1862), pp. 375-376; and U. S., Congress, 1. The word "Martello" is evidently a corruption from the House, Joseph G. Totten, Report on Fortifications,House Ex. Doc. geographical term "Cape Martella." In virtually all nineteenth- 5, 32nd Cong., ist Sess., 1851, p. 72. See also Hilary P. Mead, century treatises on the art of fortification, the corrupted term is "Martello Towers, Coast Defense Against Napoleon," Country used to identify the architectural type. Life, 87 (10 Feb. 1940), 152-153, and, for a detailed discussion of the 2. The incident which made the Martello tower famous and battle, Sheila Sutcliffe, Martello Towers (Cranbury, N.J., 1973), PP. which evidently gave the tower its name was noted in numerous 19-21 (drawings of the Corsican tower are reproduced on pp. 18 documents on fortification. For example see Captain Lendy, Trea- and 35; a photo of a model on p. 36). SWTWN torw *,-?A., ..fA 4*At# 4w &s A6 ACwQ ? lr~ ~ 19 -O A'tr r..IJA q17 Fig. i. Tower No. 45 on the Coast of Sussex,England. Section (reproductionsof Crown-copyrightrecords in the Public RecordsOffice, London, appearby permissionof the Controllerof H. M. StationeryOffice). This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Thu, 1 Aug 2013 20:57:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 159 rally impressed with the inherent strength of the work which witnessed the defeat of their vessels. Subsequently, in 1796 Martello towers were adopted as basic adjunctsto the defenses of England, and were later erected in con- siderablenumbers along the shores of Kent and Sussex,3 in responseto a threatof aggressionby Napoleon (Fig. 1). 'I Later, designs for them were imported into Canada by English military engineers who were occupied with the defense of a land boundary on the south and a sea frontier on the east. Acting upon the need for strongerdefenses after Canada \ LIYr~ Ak'' had been won in the French and Indian War, Royal Engineers dedicated their efforts to either rebuilding de- stroyed works or constructing anew the fortificationsfor key cities as well as for their arteries of communication. Repairs were made on the enceinte of Quebec until the 01 /yaw . A?~? walls separatingthe city from the Plains of Abrahamhad been reconstructedentirely, largely upon French founda- tions.4In addition to the main works, consisting of a series of curtains and bastions, an outer line was proposed by Gother Mann (1747-1830), a military engineer sent to Canada to command the Royal Military Engineers from 1785 until 1791 and again from 1794 until 1804.s The projecteddefenses included a chain of advancedlunettes- / 00 works with two faces and two flanks,open at the rear.6To I AA- be located some 800 yards from the enceinte, they were intended to force an enemy aggressorto commence siege operationsfar away from the city. Although the need for advanced works was controversial,7 the lunettes were re- and four Martello towers were erected be- jected finally Fig. 2. Martello towers, Quebec. Plans, section, and elevation tween 1805 and 1832, about 1,ooo yards west of the city (PublicArchives of Canada,Ottawa). walls along a line running northwest to southeast. Spacedabout 450 yardsapart, the towers were all similar. The centersfor the radii of the interiorand exteriorfaces of the stone walls were offset, creating a thicknessof thirteen feet on the side facing the field and seven facing the city (Fig. 2). The strongest part of the wall therefore was oriented to the directionfrom which enemy missileswould 3. Lendy, Treatise, 375; CharlesOman, Castles(London, 1926), p. should ever become unten- p. 24. Seventy-four Martellos were built in Sussex and Kent. come in an attack. If a tower Twenty-nine more were built north of these, along the shores of able, the lesser thicknessof the opposite side would facili- Essexand Suffolk:Sutcliffe, Martello Towers, p. 6o. tate destructionfrom the of the enceinte of the The of these fortificationscan be seen in nu- ramparts 4. development Accessible at the merous manuscriptdrawings deposited in the Map Room, Public city, to prevent enemy occupation. only Archives of Canada,Ottawa; the ArchivesNationales, Paris; and second floor, two stories were contained within each the BritishMuseum, London. tower. of all Martello towers, the powder maga- 2nd ed. Typical 5. Dictionaryof CanadianBiography, (Toronto, 1945), s.v. and the were in the GotherMann. zine was in the ground story quarters 6. GotherMann, "Planof the Fortificationsof Quebecwith New second. On the platform above, cannons were mounted Works Proposed," 1 August 1804, Public Archives of Canada, behind a thick parapet.This platformwas supportedby an H1/340, Quebec, 1804. annular the centerline of the crown of which was 7. the documents the natureof this controversy vault, Among relating an were, Committee of Royal Engineersto The Earl of Chatham,14 concentricwith the inner wall line, creating interesting March 1805, Public Archives of Canada, Military Series (R.G.8, structurewith a double curvature.Below this, the lower Series and GotherMann to The Earl of c, vol. 384); Chatham,23 floors were framed conventionally with timber. March 1805, Public Archives of Canada,Military Series (R.G.8, While the towers were to defend Seriesii, vol. lo). Quebec designed This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Thu, 1 Aug 2013 20:57:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 16o ,I c: za:. - :?.:; _--; C; ,*;?,? i.,iv I t? r ,^~ ?r'?:?-: ^~?e r; ?wi *i~, :`? ~???; IX?r:- :-;?'? ;?, Fig. 3. Branchtower, Fort Henry, Kingston,Ontario (courtesy:Amon CarterMuseum of WesternArt, Fort Worth, Texas). This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Thu, 1 Aug 2013 20:57:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 161 againstland approaches,others were developed for defense . againstthe attacksof ships. AnotherMartello tower erected near Lancaster,New Brunswick, during the War of 18128 further demonstratedthe confidence of Royal Engineersin this form. Later, a chain of towers appearedon the shores of Lake Ontario. Located at Kingston, Ontario, these were among the most importantfortifications of Upper Canada.Describing the strategic importance of the city in 1819, the Duke of Wellington reported that it "is the connecting point be- i i : aa::;: ~i:??~-r tween the Upper and Lower Province. It contains the B:B Dockyard on Lake Ontario,... is the most populous Town in the Province, and . [is] liable at all times to be at- tacked."9In 1826 LieutenantColonel Ross of the Wright Fig. 4. Murneytower, Kingston, Ontario (National Historic Sites Royal Engineers arrived to develop plans for new forti- Service,Ottawa, Ontario). fications to replace the outmoded works that had been thrown up after the opening of the 1812 hostilities.