Built to defend one of the Pevensey Sluices with Tower 53, Tower 54 also supported the Rockhouse Bank gun battery, situated between it and Tower 55.
The tower, along with many of its neighbours, was stated to have been in a precarious position in 1873, as can be seen from the photograph above, taken in 1869. It shows a beached 72-ton whale, washed ashore near the tower on November 16th.
The tower was put up for auction in 1908, the August 26 edition of the Eastbourne Gazette describing the sale:
"Two Martello Towers [54 and 55] were included in the sale. The one nearest the new bungalow and the coastguard station has been used as a dwelling for sometime, and a part of the masonry had been cut away to afford an entry into the basement. This gave anopportunity of ascertaining the thickness of the walls, which consist of some 6ft. of solid brickwork, so that the material alone must represent a considerable value.
Lot 27. Martello Tower, near the coastguard station. The bidding reached £430, and the property was withdrawn....The reserve price of the Martello Tower was £500."
However, it was not the sea, as was previously thought, but a Mr. John Smith who destroyed the tower, at some point in the early twentieth century. Mr. Smith can just be seen on top of the tower in the photograph at left, demolition in progress,the cannon having been dismounted and set up on the beach, straddled by the boy on the left.
The tower may be that referred to in I. Hannah's 1912 book 'The Sussex Coast', which mentions that: "at the tower at Norman's Bay the central column was in the spring of 1911 taken down, leaving the vault to rest with perfect security on the surrounding wall." It is possible that the tower, unsold from 1908, was in danger of being undermined, so the column was removed as a part of Mr. Smith's demolition work, but it is not known exactly when Tower 57 went, as it may have still been standing in 1911.
The coastguard station is just visible behind the tower, the building on the right, possibly the 'new bungalow' referred to above, being lost to the sea at some point. The door in the wall at ground level matches that described above. The site of the tower was subsequently built upon, and today is known as 'Tower House.'
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| Tower 53 | Tower 55 |