Tag:historic=martello_tower

historic = martello_tower

Description

Defensive tower built by the British Empire during French Revolutionary Wars.

Group: historic

Used on these elements

Requires

man_made=tower, building=*

Useful combination

ref:IE:niah=* and/ or ref:IE:smr=*
ref:canmore=*
HE_ref=*

Status: in use

More details at taginfo

Tools for this tag

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overpass-turbo
OSM Tag History

Martello towers are small forts built by the British Empire from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards, mostly in coastal locations (although two are found in the middle of Ireland near Banagher). They are usually circular or plectrum shape, and sometimes batteries were built alongside them. A few are larger with a cloverleaf profile from above (e.g. Tower CC at Aldeburgh 142638251 142638251). One or more cannons were usually placed on the top to give them a 360° range.

According to wikipedia, they were inspired by a 16th century defence system at Mortella Point in Corsica. According to the German wikipedia, there were 164 built.

Due to their building period and use, they cannot be classified as castles.

Towers were built all over the British Empire, at present only those in Britain & Ireland have been looked at closely to regularlise tagging.

Countries with Martello Towers

Some have been incorporated into newer buildings (residential, hospitals etc) and converted into residential or community use, others are used as museums.

How to map

Map as a building=tower or building part, depending on what applies or add a node where the actual position within the newer building is unknown and add the following tags:

building=tower or building=ruins, depending what the current state is. In addition, use building:use=house or building:use=office or whatever applies
historic=martello_tower
man_made=tower
tower:type=defensive

Additional tags

Usually, they were built with building:levels=2, so you can add that, if it still applies. Most are brick built, but some may have used different materials.

Additionally, you can add references to the local heritage register like ref:IE:niah=* (for Ireland) or ref:canmore=* (for Scotland), or HE_ref=* (for England). If the start_date=* is known, you can add that information as well.

Many martello towers already have their own wikidata=* entry which you may add or create on wikidata and then add. Many also have at least one photograph on Wikicommons, so you can use either wikimedia_commons=* with File or even link to the whole category for that martello tower (wikimedia_commons=Category:[Category name]).

If the martello tower was built during the Napoleonic Wars, you might want to add historic:era=napoleonic in addition to historic:civilization=modern.