Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II. Built in 1806 as part of the coast defences. Circular tower built of brick with walls 5.5ft to 6ft thick. Most of the cement coating has peeled off. In the centre is a brick pillar with vaulted arches springing from it. On the ground floor was the magazine and above it quarters for the garrison divided into 2 rooms with a gun emplacement on the roof. Ditch with ramparts lined with ashlar. Bridge. 2 chimneys. The door is about 20ft above the ground. Martello Tower no. 7 is in the Shorncliffe Camp area and has been sealed by bricking up the door to stop further damage by vandals. No maintenance work is carried out on it and the exterior is not in good repair. Inside is a wooden floor laid in the original way with the boards radiating from the central pillar. It is not known whether it is a replacement.

Summary from record TR 13 NE 99:

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1806 to 1806

Monument Types

• MARTELLO TOWER (Post Medieval to Modern - 1806 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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(TR 19863530) Martello Tower (No.7) (NAT) (1)

Martello Tower No.7: W.D. property. Intact and in good condition.(2)

TR 19863533. Martello Tower No.7 built in 1805, with a surrounding moat. (3)

Martello Tower no. 7 is in the Shorncliffe Camp area and has been sealed by bricking up the door to stop further damage by vandals. No maintenance work is carried out on it and the exterior is not in good repair. Inside is a wooden floor laid in the original way with the boards radiating from the central pillar. It is not known whether it is a replacement. (4)

Martello tower no. 7, south of Martello Road and one of four martello towers surviving along the edge of the cliff at Sandgate. (5)

5281 Martello Tower No 7. TR 1935 SE 9/19E Grade II. Built in 1806 as part of the coast defences. Circular tower built of brick with walls 5.5ft to 6ft thick. Most of the cement coating has peeled off. In the centre is a brick pillar with vaulted arches springing from it. On the ground floor was the magazine and above it quarters for the garrison divided into 2 rooms with a gun emplacement on the roof. Ditch with ramparts lined with ashlar. Bridge. 2 chimneys. The door is about 20ft above the ground. (6)

Scheduled as an ancient monument - Kent 292b. (7)

Scheduled Area amended 15/12/99 (9)From the National Heritage List for England:
Details
The monument includes a martello tower, set within a dry moat and outer glacis, and situated above a steep, south facing slope overlooking Sandgate and the sea beyond. The tower, which is Listed Grade II, is one of a cliff top series of six moated towers, constructed in 1805-6 to defend the coastline between Hythe and Folkestone, and lies around 360m south west of tower no 6. The slightly elliptical, brick built tower measures up to 13m in diameter externally and stands complete to its original height of about 10m. The upper half of the tower protrudes above the lip of the stone retaining wall of the moat, which encircles the base at a distance of around 10m and was intended to provide further protection against both cannon fire and ground assault. Beyond the moat, an earthen bank, or glacis, was constructed against the outer face of the retaining wall, sloping away from the lip of the moat for a distance of up to 20m, and a portion of this survives to the south. The tower was constructed on three levels, with battered (inwardly sloping) walls, designed to deflect cannon shot, ranging from around 1.6m to 4m in thickness, the most substantial section being the wall base on the southern, seaward side. The external face of the tower was rendered in a cement mortar, or stucco, which served to strengthen the outer skin of bricks, and traces of this survive. A thick central column rises from the basement to the top of the tower, from which springs the barrel vaulted first floor ceiling which supports the gun platform on the roof. Access into the tower was by way of a first floor doorway to the north, which was originally approached by a footbridge which spanned the moat. The section nearest the tower was designed as a drawbridge, capable of being raised to seal the entrance. The bridge does not survive, although part of the mechanism used to raise it remains in place within the tower. The first floor was divided into three rooms by wooden partitions and provided accommodation for the garrison of 24 men and one officer. The partitions, along with the suspended timber floor, have not survived although the two fireplaces which heated the rooms, and the two splayed window openings to the east and west, remain. The ground floor was reached by a trap door near the entrance, leading down through the wooden floor. This was used to store ammunition and supplies, and provision for these includes a vaulted magazine, partly recessed into the thickness of the outer wall. The magazine was enlarged, and a smaller room added, during later, 19th century refurbishments. Safety features included a lantern window in the partition wall, separated from the magazine by a pane of glass. Ammunition lift shafts, linking the gun emplacement to the ground floor level, and air vents between the ground and first floors, were also inserted into the thickness of the wall during later refurbishments. The open gun platform is reached from the first floor by an internal stone staircase constructed in the thickest part of the tower wall. The circular roof space, designed to accommodate a 24-pounder cannon mounted on a wooden traversing carriage, was subsequently sealed in asphalt but retains many of its original features, including the central pivot and perimeter traversing step. Four ammunition stores in the form of arched recesses, and a smaller niche, thought to have housed a gunpowder flask and later modified to form the head of a lift shaft, also survive within the parapet wall which encircles the roof. Two brick stacks remain in place, on top of the parapet coping stones, over the original chimney positions. The cannon, which had a range of around 1.5km and could be turned through 360 degrees, was operated by a series of rope pulleys, and six iron hauling-rings, used for traversing and preparing the cannon, were set into the parapet wall. All modern fixtures and fittings, such as the modern danger signs and the bricks used to seal the doorway are excluded from the scheduling, although the structures to which they are attached are included. All modern fences are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included
Reasons for Designation
Martello towers are gun towers constructed to defend the vulnerable south eastern coast of England against the threat of ship-borne invasion by Napoleonic forces. Built as a systematic chain of defence in two phases, between 1805-1810 along the coasts of East Sussex and Kent, and between 1808- 1812 along the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, the design of martello towers was based on a fortified tower at Mortella Point in Corsica which had put up a prolonged resistance to British forces in 1793. The towers take the form of compact, free-standing circular buildings on three levels built of rendered brick. The towers of the south coast were numbered 1-74 from east to west, while those of the east coast were identified by a system of letters (A-Z, and then AA-CC) from south to north. Although they exhibit a marked uniformity of design, minor variations are discernible between the southern and eastern groups and amongst individual towers, due mainly to the practice of entrusting their construction to local sub-contractors. Most southern towers are elliptical in plan, whilst the eastern group are oval or cam-shaped externally, with axes at the base ranging between 14.4m by 13.5m and 16.9m by 17.7m. All are circular internally, the battered (inwardly sloping) walls of varying thicknesses, but with the thickest section invariably facing the seaward side. Most stand to a height of around 10m. Many martello towers are surrounded by dry moats originally encircled by counterscarp banks, and/or have cunettes (narrower water defences) situated at the foot of the tower wall. The ground floor was used for storage, with accommodation for the garrison provided on the first floor, and the main gun platform on the roof. The southern towers carried a single 24 pounder cannon, whilst the eastern line carried three guns (usually a 24 pounder cannon and two shorter guns or howitzers). Three large, circular ten- gun towers known as redoubts were also constructed at particularly vulnerable points, at Dymchurch, Eastbourne and Harwich. All three survive. As the expected Napoleonic invasion attempt did not materialise, the defensive strength of the martello tower system was never tested, and the tower design was soon rendered obsolete by new developments in heavy artillery. Many were abandoned and fell into decay or were demolished during the 19th century, although some continued in use into the 20th century as signalling or coastguard stations and a few saw use as look out points or gun emplacements during the two World Wars. Of the original 74 towers on the south coast, 26 now survive, and of the 29 on the east coast, 17 now survive. Those which survive well and display a diversity of original components are considered to merit protection.

Martello tower no 7 survives well, and retains many of its original components and associated features, such as a section of its glacis bank and part of its drawbridge mechanism. When viewed as one of a series of six cliff top towers, no 7 illustrates the strategically planned integration of the martello tower system and provides a valuable insight into the defence of Britain during the early 19th century.

Description from record TR 13 NE 99:
The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5281 Martello Tower No 7 TR 1935 SE 9/19B II 2. Built in 1806 as part of the coast defences. Circular tower built of brick with walls 5½ ft to 6 ft thick. Host of the cement coating has peeled off. In the centre is a brick pillar with vaulted arches springing from it. On the ground floor was the magazine and above it quarters for the garrison divided into 2 rams with a gun emplacement on the roof. Ditch with ramparts lined with ashlar. Bridge. 2 chimneys. The door is about 20 ft above the ground.
Listing NGR: TR1986535302 (11-12)

<1> OS 25" 1958 (OS Card Reference). SKE48274.

<2> F1 CFW 17-JAN-1964 (OS Card Reference). SKE42608.

<3> Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 39 (D Bennett) (OS Card Reference). SKE43680.

<4> Martello Towers 1972 87 (S Sutcliffe) (OS Card Reference). SKE46558.

<4> Sutcliffe, S., 1972, Martello Towers, Martello Towers 1972 87 (S Sutcliffe) (Monograph). SKE7818.

<5> Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1980 445 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37749.

<5> John Newman, 1969, The Buildings of England: North East and East Kent, Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1980 445 (J Newman) (Monograph). SKE7874.

<6> DOE(HHR) Dist of Shepway Kent 11 3 75 1 (OS Card Reference). SKE41046.

<7> DOE(IAM) Record Form 27 11 74 (OS Card Reference). SKE41442.

<8> Wardale, C., 1964, Field report for monument TR 13 NE 24 - January, 1964 (Unpublished document). SKE5348.

<9> English Heritage, 1965, Dover Castle (Scheduling record). SKE6594.

<10> Bennett, D., 1977, A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945, Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 39 (D Bennett) (Monograph). SKE7811.

<11> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<12> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading