Known as 'The Wish Tower', No.73 is easily the most well-known (and documented) of all the south coast Martellos, its name coming from the 'wish', 'wash' or marshland nearby, fed by a stream known as Shomer Dyke. Twiss himself first referred to it as the "Whish Tower" or "Wish Tower" in some of his early progress reports.
A shingle bank separated the wish from the sea. Sited on a natural hill overlooking the surrounding marsh, the Wish Tower has been the subject of many prints and postcards of Eastbourne over the years. A house on the hill was demolished and the hill enlarged with the spoil excavated from the moat.
The tower was probably built by John Smith, and, unlike the other surviving local towers, appears to have been entirely built with the distinctive yellow London bricks. The work was overseen by a Major Vidler, who at the time, was well known in East Bourne (as Eastbourne was then called).
It is thought that the tower was manned by the East Sussex Volunteer Corps from Eastbourne, with a regular officer and about 8 men garrisoning the tower at any one time between 1808-12. The Volunteer Corps was disbanded in 1817.
In 1818 the tower was handed over to Sergeant John McBean of the Royal Sappers and Miners, who was known to those involved in local smuggling operations.
The smugglers often used to run their vessels up Shomer Dyke to the wish and land their contraband, and so the tower was taken over by the Coast Blockade in 1819, initially under the command of Midshipman Charles Brand. Brand was later posted to many towers along the coast in the course of his duty.
It was in January, 1833 that a struggle between the Coast Guard and smugglers took place. 400 smugglers had just landed their cargo by the Wish Tower when the Coast Guard arrived and opened fire on them. Local residents became alarmed as fire was returned. The smugglers fled, but not before Coast Guard George Pett had been killed and three other officers seriously wounded. Even the offer of a £500 reward could not encourage anyone to step forward with information.
After use by Coast Guards, (the tower was not, however, an official station) Tower 73 was apparently again manned by tower keepers until the invasion scares of the 1830's.
After the scares receded, more caretakers occupied the tower, including a retired artilleryman by the name of Smith, who had fought in the Crimean war of 1854-56.
By 1871, calls were being made to demolish the tower, not for the last time in its history. The War Department disestablished the tower in 1873 and discharged the caretaker.
The hill became a potato field, the tower referred to as 'an objectionable outhouse.' As Eastbourne expanded as a seaside resort towards the tower, the latter was regarded as an eyesore.
In 1874, the Local Board took charge of the tower and grounds and demolition was again considered, along with many suggestions to use the tower as tea-rooms and arcades.
The tower's future was secured after 5 years of disuse when it was let to the Hollobon family in 1886, whereupon it became a museum of geology until the 1930's.
Harry Hollobon was the custodian, and, according to the Eastbourne Gazette of March 16, 1898, occupied four of the eight rooms in the tower. The remaining rooms became his museum, which included amongst geological exhibits: stuffed birds, weapons, pictures and curios. He shot many birds around Beachy Head and Langney Point, including a piebald blackbird he shot in the tower's moat at Christmas 1896. He also bought mannequinns from France, and a prized exhibit was a portrait of the fifth Duke of Devonshire. He cut and polished stones from the beach and sold some of them, one for as much as 30 shillings.
Harry Hollobon died in the tower in March, 1898 after suffering from neuralgia and sciatica. Appropriate for the tower number, he was 73 years old. His son, William, took over as custodian. It was announced in 1904 that the Technical Instruction Committee offered £20 for the Hollobon collection of polished pebbles at the Wish Tower, although it is not known if they were sold or not.
The tower may have been used briefly as a look out post during the First World War, but the Hollobons remained in the tower until the 1930's, despite plans to replace the tower with a bandstand in 1919. The plan incorporated a cafe and tea-rooms, and a model was displayed in the Town Hall. However, letters of protest and petitions flooded in and insults thrown at a Town Council meeting, where the tower was saved by 17 votes to 14.
Despite these attempts to demolish the tower, the Hollobons remained in tenancy. At some point the east window was enlarged to become a second door, a new bridge being constructed. A set of steps allowed visitors free access into the gardens laid out in the moat, although an entry fee was charged for the museum. Visitors to the building now reinforced the name by throwing money into a wishing well (the cistern), making a wish, and writing their names on the walls for good luck. By the early 1930's the tower was falling into disrepair, and it again passed into the hands of the local authorities. The Eastbourne Corporation considered redeveloping the tower site, but the outbreak of war put an end to this.
The tower was requisitioned by the War Office in 1940 and a pair of First World War 6" guns were mounted below and to the front of the tower. A concrete 2-storey observation post was built onto the roof to take a Barr and Stroud rangefinder for the guns. The guns were controlled from the tower which had a wall map and wireless equipment installed on the first floor.
The tower was also used by gun crews on standby, walls being erected on the ground floor to create seperate rooms and a door knocked through into the moat. The guns were manned by 342 Coast Battery, 552 Coast defence Regiment 14 Coast Group Royal Artillery. They were relieved in 1943 by 343 Battery, 521 Coast Defence Regiment, who were themselves pulled out to allow the Home Guard under the command of Captain Parsons, to take over in November 1943. Until then, the Home Guard had augmented the Royal Artillery at night.
The tower was derequisitioned in 1947, and the concrete roof removed. Yet again, the tower was put forward for demolition, with a conference hall, sun lounge and cafe suggested in its place. The Duke of Devonshire and Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement added weight to public opposition to the plans.The proposal was subsequently rejected.
By 1959, plans had again been made to demolish the tower and build a sun lounge. Some demolition work had already begun when protests from Eastbourne residents helped prevent the destruction of one of Eastbourne's most famous landmarks. Its salvation was assured when it was granted Ancient Monument status by the Minister of Works. There had, however, been some destruction, and part of the moat wall and hill had been removed, as well as the tower's brickwork being stripped of its stucco rendering. After talks with the Duke of Devonshire, a sun lounge and cafe were built on the site of the part of the mound that had been removed, and the tower restored to its former condition. The moat had been partly filled in, and a flower garden planted. The 64-pounder gun was mounted in the moat, and wooden steps to the tower door built. The scheme cost around £70,000, half of which was donated by Councillor Gilbert Foyle, of Foyles Bookshop in London.
The tower was further restored internally in 1969, a new wooden floor being laid around half of the tower, the total cost of the improvements coming to around £3,600.
The tower was eventually opened in May 1970 by Eastbourne Borough Council, the Duke of Norfolk officially opening the tower at the official ceremony. The museum was known as the "Tower 73, Invasion and Coastal Defence Museum", and contained displays charting the history of the Martello Towers.
Entry was charged at 1/6d for adults and a shilling for children. In the first season, the tower welcomed 20,804 visitors through its door, a massive total of 156,483 people visiting between May 23, 1970 and September 19, 1976.
In October 1970, the 64-pounder cannon was once more lifted to the roof by the Royal Engineers using sheer-leg apparatus. It was subsequently removed by a 100-ton crane in 1990 as it was not of a type that the tower should have been armed with, even though it had been mounted in the mid-to-late 19th century. The cannon was taken to the Redoubt, where it remains.
In 1995, the Tower passed became a museum devoted to puppetry, but now appears to be empty.
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