The Martello tower was introduced in consequence of an incident of the French revolutionary wars.
While the Martello tower owes its reputation and its widespread adoption in Great Britain to a single incident of modern warfare, the round masonry structure entered by a door raised high above the base is to be found in many lands, and is one of the earliest types of masonry fortification.
The small Martello tower contains a museum about Guernsey shipwrecks, with many salvaged artifacts and related illustrations.