Hackness Martello Tower and Battery

Hackness Martello Tower and Battery is a former British Army barracks and currently a museum located on the island of South Walls, in Orkney, Scotland.

Hackness Martello Tower and Battery
Orkney
Hackness Martello Tower
Site information
Type	Barracks
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	British Army
Location
Coordinates	58.8039°N 3.1468°W / 58.8039; -3.1468
Site history
Built	1815
Built for	War Office
In use	1815-1918
Scheduled monument
Official name	Hackness, Battery and Martello Tower
Type	20th Century Military and Related: Battery, Secular: battery; martello tower
Designated	29 October 1969
Reference no.	SM90211

History

Barracks

The Martello tower, together with another on the north side at Crockness, was built in 1815 to protect British ships in the bay of Longhope against attack by American and French privateers, during the Napoleonic Wars, while they waited for a Royal Navy escort on their journey to Baltic ports.^[1]

The towers were upgraded, with the installation of new guns and other structures, in 1866 at a time of concern about the possibility of another French invasion.^[2]

See also

• Tally Toor, Leith