There are also several of the Martello towers of the Napoleonic era.
The Martello tower was introduced in consequence of an incident of the French revolutionary wars.
The strong resistance offered by these three guns seems to have led to the conclusion that towers of this description were specially formidable, and Martello towers were built in large numbers, and at heavy expense, along the shores of England, especially on the southern and eastern coasts, which in certain parts are lined with these towers at short intervals.
The French tours modeles were somewhat similar to the Martello towers; their chief use was to serve as keeps to unrevetted works.
While the Martello tower owes its reputation and its widespread adoption in Great Britain to a single incident of modern warfare, the round masonry structure entered by a door raised high above the base is to be found in many lands, and is one of the earliest types of masonry fortification.