our current archaeological project at Walton-on-the-Naze

On Thursday (10th March), the Trust began work on a site which surrounds the Martello Tower at Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. The site was formerly the Martello holiday caravan park. It is going to be redeveloped with housing, but it will also include public open space around the Martello Tower itself. Walton-on-the-Naze is a traditional seaside town and also a historic town on the great Essex coast, which combines remarkable natural environments, history and the seaside, including centuries of invasion and defence (by people and by the sea).

Martello Towers were small coastal artillery forts, some of which are associated with a forward gun battery. Martellos were round and had thick, cannonball- proof walls – each one was, in effect, a large gun platform, on top of which one or two cannon could traverse and fire in a range of 360°. Each Martello had its own envelope of land, up to 4 acres in area, and most of these envelopes were defined by boundary stones, although some were defined by a ditch and bank. Each Martello was manned by a mini garrison of one officer and 15-25 men. Martellos were installed around the British empire. They were built along the south coast of England in 1805-1808 and here on the east coast in 1808-1812, forming a coastal defensive system during the Napoleonic Wars.

Walton’s Martello is part of this system on the east coast of England. The other Martello Towers along this coast extend all the way from Point Clear at St Osyth in Essex to Aldeburgh in Suffolk, and these are Point Clear (1 Martello), Jaywick (1), Clacton on Sea (3), Shotley Point (2), Felixstowe (3), Felixstowe Ferry (2), Bawdsey (2), Alderton (1), Shingle Street (1), Slaughden (1), and Aldeburgh (1). There is also a Redoubt at Harwich, which is part of the same defensive system: it was a defensive structure and also functioned as a supply depot for its local Martellos. Originally, 103 Martellos were built in England, but only 46 survived in 1948. Of the 29 built on the east coast, only the 18 listed above now survive – and at least two seem to have been lost to the sea. Some Martellos were even re-used for defence during the two World Wars! Read more about the east coast Martellos in An assessment of the east coast Martello Towers (English Heritage, 2007) online at www.coastwatch-felixstowe.co.uk/pdf/english-heritage-martello.pdf .

Originally there were two Martellos at Walton-on-the-Naze, but this tower is the only survivor: the other was dismantled and, apparently, its bricks were used to build Tower Cottages, Martello Cottages and Tower Terrace in Walton. The surviving Walton Martello and its associated forward gun battery are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The Martello was built to provide a defence for the Walton Backwaters during the Napoleonic Wars. More recently, however, it was used as the generator room for the caravan park. Other east coast Martellos have been given new roles: for example, the Point Clear Martello now houses the East Essex Aviation Society Museum. The Jaywick Martello is a community building which is used as a workshop, gallery space and meeting-place. The Aldeburgh Martello belongs to the Landmark Trust and can be rented for holidays. Coincidentally, only a few days ago, the coastal road to the Martello at Aldeburgh was breached by the sea…

The site is being supervised by Trust archaeologist Ben Holloway with a team of Trust excavators. The first results from our excavation on the site consist of prehistoric pits and some prehistoric pottery.

You can see a 1920 aerial view of the Walton Martello online at www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw001842 . The images show the Martello and the site and the Martello Tower in more detail.

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