Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genoese defence system, at Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica. The designer was Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino and the tower was completed in 1565. Since the 15th century, the Corsicans had built similar towers at strategic points around the island to protect coastal villages and shipping from North African pirates. The towers stood one or two storeys high and measured 12–15 m (39–49 ft) in diameter, with a single doorway five metres off the ground that one could access only via a ladder which the occupants could remove. The Martello Tower at Slaughden Quay is the largest and northernmost of 103 English defensive towers built between 1808 and 1812 to resist a Napoleonic invasion. Its of a unique quatrefoil design and stands at the isthmus leading to the Orford Ness shingle spit.
Comments