Situated on the west bank of the River Rother in Rye Harbour, Tower 28 is the first in the numerical sequence in Sussex. The tower currently stands about a mile inland, ironically protected by the build-up of material moved by the very tides that once washed the moat wall and also destroyed Tower 29.
The tower has been referred to as the 'Enchantress Tower'1, but not because of its romantic and picturesque setting and liberal covering with ivy. The name probably originates from HMS Enchantress, an old Revenue Cruiser (used against smugglers), that grounded and fell onto her beam in the harbour in 1818.2
Tower 28 is one of only eight of the Sussex towers to have been protected by a dry ditch, with an earth and shingle bank built up around the moat retaining wall, and an impression of its original appearence can still be gauged, as the tower is still relatively isolated from development.
In 1873, it was recorded that the tower was armed with a 7-inch Armstrong gun, similar to that used in the test against Tower 71 in 1860. 3 Despite this modern armament, the tower was at this time vulnerable: "No. 28 Tower, though in a favourable position for the defending the mouth of the harbour, is in its present state much exposed to fire from the sea - a defect which is somewhat difficult to remedy." 4
A brick platform appears to have been added to the roof at some stage prior to 1936, when the tower was inspected by the Works Department; local rumour has it this was once a coast guard station. By 1936, a coast guard station in the form of a hut had been erected on the western side of the glascis.5
In the 1950's, Tower 28 became an Ordnance Survey trigonometrical station, used to help with the accuracy of triangulation in map-making by providing a fixed reference point. This was achieved simply by fixing a brass centre mark to the eastern side of the parapet.6
Tower 28 also made an appearance in Monica Edward's 1952 children's novel Hidden in a Dream, set around the fictional places of Dunsford, Winklesea and Westling Harbour, which in real life are Rye, Winchelsea and Rye Harbour respectively. Tower 30 is that referred to as the 'Dunsford Martello Tower', while 28, (the 'Westling Martello Tower') is thus described:
"Half hidden in its deep circular moat it squatted there between the Harbour and the sunset, the banked shingle reaching up to the rim of the moat wall on the landward side but sloping down steeply to a wooden door set in the high brick wall to seaward."7
Tower 28 is recognisable not only from the above description, but also from the illustrations in the original edition of the book.
 |
 |  |
| Tower 27 | Tower 29 |