The Martello Towers did, of course, see some use in the invasion scare that afflicted Britain during the Second World War. Being high up, their roofs made ideal observation posts or machine-gun emplacements. Standing high over open beaches, it cannot be thought otherwise that if invasion had come in 1940-41, then the heavy guns of the German Navy would probably have reduced those towers on the invasion beaches to rubble in a matter of minutes prior to troops landing.
The policy in Sussex, where the low beaches were more attractive for a modern motorised army to land, was to build a concrete roof on the top of the tower. Embrasures allowed almost 360 degree fields of fire for commanding the surrounding beaches. Tower 73 (left) had two 6-inch guns emplaced before it in 1940, and a 2-storey command and observation post was built on top, and removed when the tower was derequisitioned in 1947. Towers 55, 62, 64 and 66 had the same roof type added, which contained several embrasures. By the two main south-facing slits a concrete block was placed on the firestep to allow a Vickers machine-gun to be set up to command the beach. Tower 64 had its windows concreted over to take a Vickers gun mount to fire through a small aperture, while 66 had its windows widened on the inner side, possibly to allow a Vickers to be set up with enough space for a no.2 gunner to get alongside the gun. Tower 66 (above) had an extra room added just after the war for use by the Coastguard. The downside of the new roofs was that the gun carriages and cannon were either dismounted or scrapped in order to fit the roof on. Tower 64 has its carriage, and 66 its cannon.
Tower 61 had a bigger and more complex roof added. (left) Two 5.5 inch guns were emplaced on the beach in front of the tower in 1941, and the roof was designed to take Barr and Stroud range-finding equipment for the battery and act as a command post.
Tower 3 at Folkestone (below) was the only tower in Kent to have an extra roof added. It had one gunslit to take a Hotchkiss gun to command the harbour. It was also used as a control centre to detonate nine remote-controlled mines placed in the harbour. The seaward-facing half of the tower was roofed over, and an observation platform built on top, although it was later removed.
Many people see the extra concrete roofs as eyesores and an act of vandalism, but it is often overlooked that these additions are just as much a part of the history of the Martello Tower, and illustrate the continued use of the towers against invasion. Indeed, those towers that have stood derelict since the war have probably been better preserved by these roofs which must have prevented more serious rain penetration and damage of the roof and internal brickwork.