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

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

tower or a

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

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 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 to high (with two floors) and typica ...

(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 (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.roadstead of Brest The roadstead of 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 mi). The po ...

(listed below).

Louis-Philippe of France Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his thron ...

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 cannons. * Pointe de Cornouaille, Roscanvel * Pointe des Espagnols (parapet razed), Roscanvel

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, Camaret-sur-Mer * Pointe du Créac'h Meur (second level and razed parapets),

Plougonvelin Plougonvelin (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Plougonvelin has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate ...

* 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