Mar·tel·lo tower

(mär-tĕl′ō)

A short, circular tower, usually made of stone and located near a shoreline as a defensive fortification.

[After Cape Mortella, Corsica, where such a tower was taken from French control by British forces in 1794 (influenced by Italian martello, hammer, in torre di martello, hammer tower, a kind of watchtower of the coasts and islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea from which an alarm signal was given by striking a bell with a hammer rather than by lighting a fire).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Martello tower

(mɑːˈtɛləʊ) or

Martello

(Fortifications) a small circular tower for coastal defence, formerly much used in Europe

[C18: after Cape Mortella in Corsica, where the British navy captured a tower of this type in 1794]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Mar•tel′lo tow`er

(mɑrˈtɛl oʊ)

n.

a circular fort.

[after Cape Mortella, Corsica, where a tower of this kind was taken by British forces in 1794]

martello tower

An English artillery coastal fortification copied from a tower captured in Corsica 1794; 74 were built on the east and south coasts of England against the French invasion threat 1805–12.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

martello tower - a circular masonry fort for coastal defence

fortress, fort - a fortified defensive structure

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

At its opposite extremity the street leads to a deserted martello tower, and to the forlorn outlying suburb of Slaughden, between the river Alde and the sea.

Magdalen drew her hand from the captain's arm, and led the way to the mound of the martello tower. "I am weary of walking," she said.

View in context

A dilapidated windmill near by lifting its shattered arms from a mound no loftier than a rubbish heap, and a Martello tower squatting at the water's edge half a mile to the south of the Coastguard cottages, are familiar to the skippers of small craft.

View in context

It has in its park a martello tower, autographed all over by tourists, a dismantled old French fort on the hills beyond the town, and several antiquated cannon in its public squares.

View in context

Meanwhile, Luminous has also been commissioned by the Suffolk Coast & Heaths to create a virtual model of a Martello Tower.

Luminous motoring with virtual training for car factory

On Friday 16 through to Sunday 18 August, light was projected from Jaywick Martello Tower and Golf Green Hall to highlight the current flood plain and the extent of the devastating floods of 1953.

Light extravaganza to raise flood awareness at Tendring

While water near the pier was found to be poor, water at Clacton Beach Martello Tower is safe to swim at and was classified at excellent.

The beaches near London you definitely shouldn't swim at; The Environment Agency collects water quality data to test how safe the water is

Contact: 028 7776 6050 VINEYARD CAR BOOT SALE, FARMERS' MARKET AND CRAFT SALE Date: Tomorrow Time: 9am-1pm Venue: The Vineyard Complex Hillmans Way, Ballycastle Road, Coleraine MARTELLO TOWER Date: Tomorrow Time: 11am & 3pm Venue: Martello Tower, Magilligan Come and see Napoleonic soldiers and the way that they lived.

CAUSEWAY COAST & GLENS

The ultimate result will be an interactive, immersive, experience (with participants employing virtual reality goggles and gloves) to digitally visit the Martello Tower in Sandycove, south of Dublin, where Joyce's novel Ulysses begins.

Digital Joyce

DIPPY DWELLING: Martello Tower sits on the beachfront of the Suffolk town, near the mouth of the River Alde.

BREAK from the NORM; Travel