Martello Tower is a Grade II listed building in the East Suffolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 31 August 1988. Defensive tower. 1 related planning application.
Martello Tower
- WRENN ID
- upper-corbel-magpie
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- East Suffolk
- Constituency
- Suffolk Coastal MP: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 31 August 1988
- Type
- Defensive tower
- Address
- Martello Tower, (Off) Shingle Street, Bawdsey
- OS grid reference
- TM 365 425
- Coordinates
- 52.03084, 1.44773
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Martello Tower in Bawdsey is a defensive tower built around 1810 to 1812, designed by Colonel Twiss and Captain Ford. It is constructed from rendered brick with ashlar dressings and features a tear-drop shaped plan, with the pointed end facing east towards the sea. The tower has battered walls and stands three storeys tall.
At ground level, there is a 20th-century door opening facing northwest, along with a large cambered-headed window opening facing north. On the first floor, there are four window openings with cambered heads, each featuring slightly projecting ashlar surrounds with lugs at the top, center, and bottom of each side. Also on the first floor, facing west, is a doorway with an ashlar surround and an inset ashlar ladder-slope below the sill, which is now accessed by a set of 20th-century concrete steps. A 20th-century glazed porch is located on the roof.
Local climate
Martello Tower sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 96% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 50% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 87% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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