Built to supplement the firepower of the Martello chain, Eastbourne Circular Redoubt was of similar construction to its counterpart at Dymchurch.
It was situated roughly halfway between Langney Point with its shore batteries and Martellos, and the 'Wash' or 'Wish', which was the marshland area over which Tower 73 or 'Wish Tower' stood guard.
Work on the Redoubt began in 1805 and it took three years to complete, built of brick and with a dry ditch defence. The fortress consisted of 24 barrack rooms or 'casemates' above which eleven cannon could be mounted on the roof, giving rise to the occasional reference to the Redoubts as 'eleven gun towers.' The specification was changed, however, and only ten cannon were mounted. In 1812, the Redoubt actually fired two shots in anger, at a French ship which had strayed too close to shore. Both shots missed.
The illustration on the right was drawn by Harriette Harkness on July 31, 1830, and shows the low profile of the Redoubt, with Towers 72 and 71 to the east.
Attempts were made over the years to save the Redoubt from being washed away by the tide. A concrete escarpment was constructed in front of the moat wall on the seaward side, but it was really only the construction of the promenade that saved the Redoubt from the sea.
During World War One, the Redoubt became an observation post, stores and a convalescent hospital for troops evacuated from the trenches. World War Two saw the Redoubt again used as a store, later with a battery of anti-aircraft guns on the gun platform. Canadian troops garrisoned the fort prior to the Dieppe raid and D-Day.
By 1960, the redoubt had become a scheduled ancient monument, at which time it housed a model village in the parade ground and an aquarium in part of the moat and some of its casemates. Both have since closed.
In 1977 the Sussex Combined Services Museum Trust was set up, and a small museum was opened, and in 1983 the Royal Sussex Regimental Museum was moved to the Redoubt from Chichester. In 1988 the Regimental collection of The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars was added to the Redoubt's display.
