Martello Tower #24 Dymchurch

Image: © Rob Farrow Taken: 7 Aug 2012

This Martello Tower in Dymchurch is Number 24 of 103 along the South and East coasts of England (there were others elsewhere e.g. in the Orkneys). These little towers are massively strong and were built around 1805 as a defence against the threatened invasion by Napoleon. This particular tower in Dymchurch is owned and cared for by English Heritage, and is open to the public, but only by prior arrangement - see http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/dymchurch-martello-tower/prices-and-opening-times The name "Martello" is a corruption - or more accurately a false spelling (and anagram) - of "Mortella" after a tower constructed in 1565 on the Corsican peninsula of that name which had withstood hours of intense battering by two Royal Naval gunships in 1794. So impressed were the military authorities by this little fort's fortitude that it inspired the creation of this row of defences. There is quite a good Wikipedia article on Martello Towers here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martello_Towers See http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Martello-Towers for a Geograph Collection page on Martello Towers

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