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MARTELLO TOWERS IN IRELAND                      

    Cape Mortella, San Firenza Bay, Corsica © Mark Prokop

The locations of the majority of Irish Martello towers are at coastal locations and near popular holiday resorts and the towers feature high on the list of local tourist attractions being promoted, showing photographs of the Towers. Others are located on remote headlands and on Islands and even at the present time can only be accessed by sea, with the assistance of local boatmen or on “horseback”, except for those who are well trained in hill walking or rock climbing.   Alternative methods of access deprive one of arduous but enjoyable experiences and in many cases the advantage of obtaining  local lore that relate to the history of the towers and their uses previously unrecorded. In some instances, the original and official place names of towers had changed with the passing of time and local information was very useful.

As I confess to being in the category of an “armchair researcher”  I wish to specially acknowledge the authors of many publications that have provided by their research, in the true sense of the word, facts about the  Martello Towers in Ireland that are now  preserved for posterity.   It is deemed to be noteworthy to point out that Martello Towers were not the only coastal defences in Ireland at the time of the threat of a French Invasion.   Large military camps and Forts also existed and reinforced by some of the Martello Towers, also approx. 100 Signal Towers were constructed around the Irish Coastline  to scan the horizons for unusual ship movements. Care has been taken to have permissions to use many images on the site and to give due acknowledgements and also to show appreciation of the many eminent authors of publications listed ; Webmasters of websites , that assisted my research.

A further Chapter in my proposed publication: (The Silent Towers A Guide to the Martello Towers in Ireland ) was also added to show Martello Towers built around the coasts of many other countries and islands to warn of invaders , smugglers and privateers.  As time passed, armaments advanced from musket and sword to heavy cannon and it was inevitable that tower design would also change. Martello Towers and signal towers became obsolete as further changes took place, sail to steam and the speed of wireless telegraphy. 

                                         One of the many old posters on display at the Vintage Radio Museum         

Martello Tower Howth, Dublin.

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