A model tower (''tour-modèle''), also known as an

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

tower or a

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

tower, was a standardised defensive fortification created in 1811. Construction began along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines the following year but the project was abandoned in 1814 with only 12 towers being completed.

History

Napoleon I wished to organise France's coastal defences and so demanded the construction of a fortification combining powder magazines, food storehouses and gunners' lodgings in one building Napoleon's idea was that the cannons in coastal batteries were very vulnerable to enemy raids and so they could be made safer by combining these elements in a single building.Fortifications littorales : les tour-modèles "1811", in the general inventory

consulted 14 June 2011 As a coastal defensive chain, they can be compared to the United Kingdom's near-contemporaneous chain of

Martello towers Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

(built between 1804 and 1812). This defence programme is known by the name "model towers and redoubts, 1811 type". Their construction programme was begun in 1812 and was originally intended to run for ten years, but it was abandoned on Napoleon's abdication in 1814. Of the 160 model works originally planned (106 on the Atlantic coast, and 54 in the Mediterranean), only 12 towers were completed by 1814, including six in

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

around the

roadstead of Brest The roadstead of Brest (''rade de Brest'') is a roadstead or bay located in the Finistère Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. The surface area is about 180 km² (70 sq ...

(listed below).

Louis-Philippe of France Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

attempted to emulate Napoleon and complete this defence chain in 1846 with a set of standardised crenellated guardhouses.

Types

1 (model tower)

Model 1 is 16m wide and could house 60 men, along with four 24- or

18-pounder The Ordnance QF 18-pounder,British military traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately or simply 18-pounder gun, was the standard British Empire field gun of the First World War ...

cannons. *

Pointe de Cornouaille La pointe de Cornouaille is a cape to the north of the hamlet of Kerviniou in France. They are both situated on the Roscanvel peninsula and, facing as it does the Fort du Mengant, a battery on the point forms part of the defences of the goulet de ...

Roscanvel Roscanvel (; br, Roskañvel) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Roscanvel are called in French ''Roscanvelistes''. See also * Quélern *Communes of the Finistère departm ...

Pointe des Espagnols The Pointe des Espagnols is the north-east extremity of the Roscanvel peninsula, an outgrowth of the Crozon peninsula closing off the roadstead of Brest. It also marks the south-east limit of the goulet de Brest (the other limits are marked by ...

(parapet razed),

2 (model tower)

Model 2 is 10.5m wide and could house 30 men, 1 field gun and 2 caronades.

3 (model tower)

Model 3 is 9m wide and could house 18 men (or 12 men and a battery 'guardian') and 2 caronades. *

Pointe du Toulinguet The Pointe du Toulinguet is a promontory at the end of the Crozon peninsula in the commune of Camaret-sur-Mer in France, in western Brittany. Its known fortifications include a prehistoric fortified site, as well as a lower battery by Vauban (of ...

Camaret-sur-Mer Camaret-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department in northwestern France, located at the end of Crozon peninsula. Sights Camaret-sur-Mer is home to the ''Tour Vauban'' or ''Tour dorée'' (lit. "Golden Tower"), a historic fortificati ...

* Pointe du Créac'h Meur (second level and razed parapets),

Plougonvelin Plougonvelin (; br, Plougonvelen) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Plougonvelin has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Pl ...

* Pointe du Grand-Minou, Locmaria-Plouzané * Saint-Marzin,

Plougonvelin, Saint-Marzin, model 3 (demolished), in the general inventory, http://patrimoine.region-bretagne.fr/main.xsp?execute=show_document&id=MERIMEEIA29002140 , Retrieved 11 June 2011

4 (defensive guardhouse)

9m wide, it was built on 2 levels.

5 (defensive guardhouse)

9m wide, it was only built on one level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Model-Tower, 1811 Type * 1811 establishments in France Napoleonic Wars