I worked In one of these towers that had been turned into a museum called the East Essex Aviation Museum and they are so beautiful from the inside. The stairs are tiny and worn down with foot marks from decades of people walking up and down the stairs. The walls on the entrance are so thick that the doors have to be on tracks and the view from the top is always beautiful. If any people who read this comment are in the area its well worth a check
One of Dublins Martello towers, located in Sandymount, was once home to Irish writer James Joyce in the early 1900's. It is now a museum. Several of these towers can be seen on the coastal roads around south Dublin and North Wicklow.
I was inside one of these! It's in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax Canada. Very impressive. Halifax was in it's time a very important British military base with amazing defenses, many of which still exist. As a North American who didn't get to see castles growing up this was as close as you could get.
This is true! I'm on the west coast (Vancouver) and western history is very young here only 150-180 years. Plus, a lot of the buildings were made of wood so there are are long gone. Indigenous history goes back thousands of years, of course, but I'm into castles!
There is a Martello Tower in Leith Docks, Edinburgh. At one time surrounded by water, land reclamation now allows easier access but the centre was still full of water in thec1970s. Access was 'unofficial' - my father and I however 'visited' it twice. (Not to be confused with the much older watchtower at the foot of Tower Street)
We have a Martello Tower in Simon's Town, Naval base in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the oldest British built building in the village and the only one in SA and was built early 1800's shortly after the second British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope!
I worked for the MOD in a big fort near Dymchurch in Kent it was called the Redoubt it was part of the martello group. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the road it's dug into a mound and has a dry moat. It was used in WW1 and 2 as a gun emplacement. Very interesting place.
There are two Martello Towers in the southern hemisphere. One at Simonstown in the naval dockard there. Unfortunately this has been allowed by the South African Navy to largely fall into a state of disrepair. The other is on an island in Sydney Harbour. It is known as Fort Dennison and is open to visitors for a fee, which includes a return ferry trip from Circular Quay. I visited Fort Dennison some 15 years ago when holidaying in Australia. The island has also been known as Pinchgut Island.
@@theministryforhistory Yes, we did. There are a number of cannons embedded into the roof and the views are spectacular. We also were able to go down to the storerooms and what appeared to be the powder magazine.
Also the name for a hammer in Portuguese, is martelo or martillo in Spanish. You could see these defences as coastal hammers against any invading force. It's surprising how many English words are derived, not only from military sources, but specifically from Portuguese or Spanish origins. Hardly surprising given the eight years spent living alongside Portuguese and Spanish forces in Iberia, during the Peninsular War.
Dear Minister for History, I would like to express my heartfelt regards for your most recent video on the Martello Towers. It is always interesting to hear about our island nations history and the efforts made in the defence of the realm. It is a testament to the formidable nature of these towers that not even the Corsican upstart would dare a single boat against them. Yours faithfully ERH
Seems a very Mediterranean concept to have these small towers everywhere - torn from the pages of Eastern Rome, no doubt. Reminds me of the beacon tower system nearly. Would love to see a standalone video on those from you one day! I am a keen follower of your channel! Thanks very much for watching! R
Good to see these towers. One in Canada was used by the eccentric (posh for looney) Sir Charles Ross as part of his Ross Rifle saga. We have some excellent Palmerston forts here in Plymouth too. A Ministry of History item on the Palmerston forms would be welcomed.
You may want to visit East Sussex Coast Line from Newhaven to Seaford onwards Eastbourne until you reach Hyde, still plenty of Martello Towers a long this route and redoubt fort (Eastbourne). Happy to assist you on this as I’m local historian for Napoleonic War, WW1 & WW2.. And much more. 😊
You forgot about the French invasuon of . Carrickfergus Co Antrim. In 1760 by Admarial Thutot. The castle at the time was run down and 200 defenders held the castle to the last bullet and in fact when their shot was finished they used the buttons on their tunics. Because of this a regiment of the British army to this day has one button missing on their tunics in Commeration. The French numbered 600 but only held the towns for 5 days before escaping before regiments came from Belfast and other garrisons . The Southern invasion is always mentioned but never the more interesting one at Carrick. Carrick acastle has a tower which is higher than any Martello tower yet it was vulnerable.
Indeed! The French are always up to something! I was specifically talking about the French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars, but that 1760 invasion is fascinating. It was the 62nd Foot, Wiltshire, that fought at Carrickfergus and apparently ended up melting down their buttons to make bullets. Quite a story! 🇮🇪🇬🇧
@@theministryforhistory I worked for a Utility in Carrickfergus and we found the remains of a Chevalier ( excuse spelling if incorrect ) in his armour at the seafront of Carrick just beyond the town walls. There were many stories about that invasion. We also found remains which were thought to be the town dead from the invasion. It is known that the French dead were buried somewhere in the castle green just outside the castle. It is not known if they were later removed. There are many Martello towers around Northern Ireland From the Foyle to the Ards Peninsula. I don't know if any are open to the public.
The Guernsey towers were described as Loop Hole Towers. They were never intended to have cannon mounted only muskets. The Island towers were built of granite, the local stone. A lot had extensions put on them during the Occupation of the Islands by the Germans from July 1940 till May 9th 1945. In addition , range finder and gun control towers were built by the Germans to a similar design. Two intresting ones were built at Mont Orgueill on Jersey. In order not to detract from the castle, the towers though made from reinforced concrete are faced in granite.
Interestingly enough the Loop Hole Towers were built much earlier in 1778-1779 to repel a potential Franco-Spanish invasion during the American Revolution. They did get three 'true Martellos' during the Napoleonic Wars: Forts Grey, Hommet, and Saumarez. Saumarez is the one I showed with the German additions you mentioned. Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching! 🇬🇬 🇬🇬 🇬🇬
Given you’re in Aldeburgh with its M R James connection, is the Ministry going to indulge in a Halloween video? I’m imagining something like this: Lord Rivers stands on the beach reading Paxton’s death scene from ‘A Warning To The Curious’. At the same time, Captain Gibbons makes a mad dash across the beach after being told that there’s a free bottle of Bushmills 21 year single malt at the other end for him if he gets there first.
A similar design was used in places. There are a number of director towers for battries in the Channel Islands. Also existing towers were modified or garrisoned.
I have never seen your content before, but the TH-cam algorythm showed me this video this morning and colour me impressed! it was Informative, entertaining and well presented, keep up the good work :)
Would these be England's last defence. I thought the Martello towers were built after the cessation of the kingdom of England. Remember, there are many Martello towers in Ireland and at least two in Scotland (one at Leith and another at Hackness in Orkney).
England continued and continues to exist within the UK. I’m specifically talking about Martellos along the coast of England. I understand your point, but even if I wasn’t - so many British sources just say England for the whole Union anyway, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. I also mentioned both Irish and Scottish Martellos pretty extensively. Thanks for watching! Cheers! 🇬🇧🏴🏴🇮🇪🏴
Strange that a British flag is pictured in the thumbnail. It was England that that was Napoleons nemesis not Scotland,Wales,or Ireland.Why you may ask. Simple , common law and the constitution,the one that America modelled its own from.
This comment is a work of art of historical delusion. Obviously geopolitical decisions do not hinge upon legal systems. It was fun to read though. Cheers! 🇬🇧
The video thumbnail had the text 'Englands last defence', except these attacks were an attack on Britian as a whole, not just England, which is why Martello towers were also built in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. These videos by Americans tend to paint the whole of the UK as England, and refer frequently to the UK, Britain and the British Isles as England, which is not only incorrect, but disrespectful to those of us that live here.
These particular martellos were designed to defend Sussex, Kent, Essex, and Suffolk against Napoleon’s Armée d’Angleterre. I pretty extensively covered the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Channel Islands towers, most of which were slightly different in their design, but here we’re mostly talking about England’s defence. Although I am specifically talking about English martellos, I’ve seen this misconception come up, and I’ll agree it’s annoying when people don’t grasp the difference between Britain and England. However, when we’re talking about the 18th and 19th centuries ‘England’ is, if rather arrogantly, used as a term for the whole of the Union quite often. The signal at Trafalgar did not read ‘Britain expects that every man will do his duty.’ Also some of us with rather American accents live here too. Cheers.
I spent Exercise Inside Right manning the tower opposite Parkstone Key with the RNR providing comms and backup for a minesweeping flotilla. That was in the mid 70's. I assume it is still there?
GOD I love coastal defence SO MUCH
We shall find you a pike in the East Suffolk Sea Fencibles!
Now England! Nows your time!
Oh shit it's Brandon lol
You got it Wrong!
Cheers from the Channel Islands!!!! We never get talked about!
Keeps reminding the Grokes up North we own them. They don't like it.😁
I worked In one of these towers that had been turned into a museum called the East Essex Aviation Museum and they are so beautiful from the inside. The stairs are tiny and worn down with foot marks from decades of people walking up and down the stairs. The walls on the entrance are so thick that the doors have to be on tracks and the view from the top is always beautiful. If any people who read this comment are in the area its well worth a check
Brilliant! That’s the first one in the line of Suffolk martellos! I’m glad it has a second life as a functional museum. Would love to see it one day!
It's amazing to think that there was a time when a full 1/5 of Britain's GDP was spent on the Royal Navy.
One of Dublins Martello towers, located in Sandymount, was once home to Irish writer James Joyce in the early 1900's. It is now a museum. Several of these towers can be seen on the coastal roads around south Dublin and North Wicklow.
Indeed! I mentioned the Sandymount tower and a few of the others around Ireland. There were 29 built to defend Dublin alone! Thanks for watching! 🇮🇪🇬🇧
Thankyou for this presentation... Chris ... Norwich, England
Thank you for watching! 🇬🇧
I was inside one of these! It's in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax Canada. Very impressive. Halifax was in it's time a very important British military base with amazing defenses, many of which still exist. As a North American who didn't get to see castles growing up this was as close as you could get.
Indeed! That’s a great comparison! I’d love to see some of the Canadian ones. 🇬🇧🇨🇦
This is true! I'm on the west coast (Vancouver) and western history is very young here only 150-180 years. Plus, a lot of the buildings were made of wood so there are are long gone. Indigenous history goes back thousands of years, of course, but I'm into castles!
There is a Martello Tower in Leith Docks, Edinburgh. At one time surrounded by water, land reclamation now allows easier access but the centre was still full of water in thec1970s. Access was 'unofficial' - my father and I however 'visited' it twice.
(Not to be confused with the much older watchtower at the foot of Tower Street)
That’s brilliant! See anything interesting on your unofficial visit?
We have a Martello Tower in Simon's Town, Naval base in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the oldest British built building in the village and the only one in SA and was built early 1800's shortly after the second British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope!
Great work Sir thank you
Thank you! 🇬🇧
Very, very interesting. Thanks a lot.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching! 🇬🇧🇨🇵
I worked for the MOD in a big fort near Dymchurch in Kent it was called the Redoubt it was part of the martello group. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the road it's dug into a mound and has a dry moat. It was used in WW1 and 2 as a gun emplacement. Very interesting place.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching! 🇬🇧
There are two Martello Towers in the southern hemisphere.
One at Simonstown in the naval dockard there. Unfortunately this has been allowed by the South African Navy to largely fall into a state of disrepair.
The other is on an island in Sydney Harbour. It is known as Fort Dennison and is open to visitors for a fee, which includes a return ferry trip from Circular Quay. I visited Fort Dennison some 15 years ago when holidaying in Australia. The island has also been known as Pinchgut Island.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I’d like to see those, along with the Kasteel de Goede Hoop. Thanks for watching! 🇬🇧🇿🇦🇳🇱
Apparently Fort Denison was the last Martello tower built in the British Empire.
Very informative - thankyou!
Another greatly informative video
Thanks for watching! 🇬🇧
Excellent thanks 👏you not made a video for a while? Thought you had stopped 😂
Thank you! Still making videos, just very slow at editing them!
Thank you for a very interesting video on the famous Martello towers. We stayed in the Aldeburgh tower in February 2022, quiet an experience.
That’s brilliant! I’ve never heard from anyone who stayed there. Did you go up on the parapet?
@@theministryforhistory Yes, we did. There are a number of cannons embedded into the roof and the views are spectacular. We also were able to go down to the storerooms and what appeared to be the powder magazine.
Also the name for a hammer in Portuguese, is martelo or martillo in Spanish. You could see these defences as coastal hammers against any invading force. It's surprising how many English words are derived, not only from military sources, but specifically from Portuguese or Spanish origins. Hardly surprising given the eight years spent living alongside Portuguese and Spanish forces in Iberia, during the Peninsular War.
Thanks for watching! 🇬🇧🇵🇹
Excellent video. Thank you! Regards from Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks for watching! I always appreciate your comment! 🇨🇦🇬🇧
@@theministryforhistory You're welcome! We all enjoy your work and content. Please publish more!
Dear Minister for History,
I would like to express my heartfelt regards for your most recent video on the Martello Towers. It is always interesting to hear about our island nations history and the efforts made in the defence of the realm. It is a testament to the formidable nature of these towers that not even the Corsican upstart would dare a single boat against them.
Yours faithfully
ERH
Seems a very Mediterranean concept to have these small towers everywhere - torn from the pages of Eastern Rome, no doubt. Reminds me of the beacon tower system nearly. Would love to see a standalone video on those from you one day! I am a keen follower of your channel! Thanks very much for watching!
R
there's one in holywood n. ireland .. used to play in it as a kid..
There's a fantastic example and museum in Orkney on Hoy, excellently maintained and a Hell of coverage area with its sister tower across the sound.
Brilliant - I'd love to see that one day! Thanks for watching! 🇬🇧🏴
Great,always the maker of my day.....! Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
A few of these in my city in Canada, cool little museum in them
Indeed! Thanks for watching! 🇨🇦🇬🇧
Good to see these towers. One in Canada was used by the eccentric (posh for looney) Sir Charles Ross as part of his Ross Rifle saga. We have some excellent Palmerston forts here in Plymouth too. A Ministry of History item on the Palmerston forms would be welcomed.
You may want to visit East Sussex Coast Line from Newhaven to Seaford onwards Eastbourne until you reach Hyde, still plenty of Martello Towers a long this route and redoubt fort (Eastbourne). Happy to assist you on this as I’m local historian for Napoleonic War, WW1 & WW2.. And much more. 😊
I would love to some time! The Eastbourne redoubt looks very interesting! Please reach out on Instagram or Facebook 🇬🇧
Wonderful video, presentation and artwork, but can we please see more of Winston in future?! 😉
Been for a meal in one as a kid ,great food by the way and right next to a holiday camp ironically not Martellos that is at Walton on the Naze
Brilliant! I love to hear how everyone has interacted with martellos over the years. Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!
I remember seeing such forts on the Islands of Ibiza and Formentera
We still have a number of these scattered around the Irish coast
Quite a few! Thanks for watching! ☘️
@@theministryforhistory you're welcome. Love that you cover topics some of the more obscure topics
Note they also have Martello towers in Montreal and other places around the world.
Indeed! I showed quite a few of them, including Tower No.1 in Quebec. Thank you for watching! 🇨🇦🇬🇧
You forgot about the French invasuon of . Carrickfergus Co Antrim. In 1760 by Admarial Thutot. The castle at the time was run down and 200 defenders held the castle to the last bullet and in fact when their shot was finished they used the buttons on their tunics. Because of this a regiment of the British army to this day has one button missing on their tunics in Commeration. The French numbered 600 but only held the towns for 5 days before escaping before regiments came from Belfast and other garrisons . The Southern invasion is always mentioned but never the more interesting one at Carrick. Carrick acastle has a tower which is higher than any Martello tower yet it was vulnerable.
The French also tried it on in Jersey on 6th January 1781. They didn't stay the night. 😁
Indeed! The French are always up to something! I was specifically talking about the French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars, but that 1760 invasion is fascinating. It was the 62nd Foot, Wiltshire, that fought at Carrickfergus and apparently ended up melting down their buttons to make bullets. Quite a story! 🇮🇪🇬🇧
@@theministryforhistory I worked for a Utility in Carrickfergus and we found the remains of a Chevalier ( excuse spelling if incorrect ) in his armour at the seafront of Carrick just beyond the town walls. There were many stories about that invasion. We also found remains which were thought to be the town dead from the invasion. It is known that the French dead were buried somewhere in the castle green just outside the castle. It is not known if they were later removed. There are many Martello towers around Northern Ireland From the Foyle to the Ards Peninsula. I don't know if any are open to the public.
The Guernsey towers were described as Loop Hole Towers. They were never intended to have cannon mounted only muskets. The Island towers were built of granite, the local stone. A lot had extensions put on them during the Occupation of the Islands by the Germans from July 1940 till May 9th 1945. In addition , range finder and gun control towers were built by the Germans to a similar design. Two intresting ones were built at Mont Orgueill on Jersey. In order not to detract from the castle, the towers though made from reinforced concrete are faced in granite.
Interestingly enough the Loop Hole Towers were built much earlier in 1778-1779 to repel a potential Franco-Spanish invasion during the American Revolution. They did get three 'true Martellos' during the Napoleonic Wars: Forts Grey, Hommet, and Saumarez. Saumarez is the one I showed with the German additions you mentioned. Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching! 🇬🇬 🇬🇬 🇬🇬
@@theministryforhistory Just found you. Very impressed, I am a Crapuad (Jerseyman) so the various fortifications were my playground as a kid.
I'd love to stay in Fort Leicester one day and reenact some sort of Jersey militia waiting to hold back the French in the 1830s!
Can you keep the location details up longer?
If only Napoleon had known about dinghies.
Hey I know that it was the old kent Road of the Aldeburgh themed monopoly set.
Splendid. Make sure the Frenchies don't get miss.
Stayed in there before, pretty cold and miserable but a fascinating piece of history nonetheless
Finally I might be able to win coastal sieges in Holdfast now!
Given you’re in Aldeburgh with its M R James connection, is the Ministry going to indulge in a Halloween video? I’m imagining something like this: Lord Rivers stands on the beach reading Paxton’s death scene from ‘A Warning To The Curious’. At the same time, Captain Gibbons makes a mad dash across the beach after being told that there’s a free bottle of Bushmills 21 year single malt at the other end for him if he gets there first.
That would be brilliant! 😂
👍
We have martello towers just like those in quebec city
TH-cam unsubbed me from this channel without my knowledge. If not for Brandon F, I might not have realised. Stupid TH-cam!
The last Martello tower installed in the British Empire still exists as Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Denison
Indeed! Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching! 🇿🇦🇬🇧
England excepts that every man will do his DUTY.
The Ministry Of History can you do a vidoe on why King Louis XVI was actually an amazing ruler and leader.
Now England. Nows Your Time.
What's the outro music?
Royal Artillery Slow March - The Duchess of Kent 🇬🇧
8:20
The Nazis had to build a Martello tower
A similar design was used in places. There are a number of director towers for battries in the Channel Islands. Also existing towers were modified or garrisoned.
Indeed! I wish they built their own towers instead of ruining the original Martellos. 😂
I have never seen your content before, but the TH-cam algorythm showed me this video this morning and colour me impressed! it was Informative, entertaining and well presented, keep up the good work :)
Thanks very much and thank you for watching! 🇬🇧
Rule Britannia.
Would these be England's last defence. I thought the Martello towers were built after the cessation of the kingdom of England.
Remember, there are many Martello towers in Ireland and at least two in Scotland (one at Leith and another at Hackness in Orkney).
England continued and continues to exist within the UK. I’m specifically talking about Martellos along the coast of England. I understand your point, but even if I wasn’t - so many British sources just say England for the whole Union anyway, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.
I also mentioned both Irish and Scottish Martellos pretty extensively.
Thanks for watching! Cheers! 🇬🇧🏴🏴🇮🇪🏴
Strange that a British flag is pictured in the thumbnail. It was England that that was Napoleons nemesis not Scotland,Wales,or Ireland.Why you may ask. Simple , common law and the constitution,the one that America modelled its own from.
Scotland has and always has had its own legal system, based on Romano-Dutch not Common Law.
This comment is a work of art of historical delusion. Obviously geopolitical decisions do not hinge upon legal systems. It was fun to read though. Cheers! 🇬🇧
The video thumbnail had the text 'Englands last defence', except these attacks were an attack on Britian as a whole, not just England, which is why Martello towers were also built in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. These videos by Americans tend to paint the whole of the UK as England, and refer frequently to the UK, Britain and the British Isles as England, which is not only incorrect, but disrespectful to those of us that live here.
These particular martellos were designed to defend Sussex, Kent, Essex, and Suffolk against Napoleon’s Armée d’Angleterre. I pretty extensively covered the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Channel Islands towers, most of which were slightly different in their design, but here we’re mostly talking about England’s defence.
Although I am specifically talking about English martellos, I’ve seen this misconception come up, and I’ll agree it’s annoying when people don’t grasp the difference between Britain and England. However, when we’re talking about the 18th and 19th centuries ‘England’ is, if rather arrogantly, used as a term for the whole of the Union quite often. The signal at Trafalgar did not read ‘Britain expects that every man will do his duty.’
Also some of us with rather American accents live here too. Cheers.
You can tell that this presenter just so wishes he were British and probably titled.
Cheers!
I spent Exercise Inside Right manning the tower opposite Parkstone Key with the RNR providing comms and backup for a minesweeping flotilla. That was in the mid 70's. I assume it is still there?
I believe it is! Thanks for sharing and thank you very much for watching! 🇬🇧⚓
You know the difference between Great Britain and England presumably?
Presumably.