Walls and Gardens
Walls and Gardens is a five-year European Union-funded Project, which has seen 22 partners from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK work together to preserve fortified towns and sites as well as their surrounding landscapes. Their mission was to preserve and promote the region's fortified heritage sites. For more on the project, please visit the Walls and Gardens website.
Highlights from the Walls and Gardens Project included a touring exhibition about Tendring during the Napoleonic wars, public artwork, a photography competition, improved access to Jaywick Martello Tower and ecology work.
Martello Tower Trail
Discover the history of Tendring's Napoleonic towers.
Follow the trail along the coastline from Point Clear to Walton and join in the games along the way.
Leaflets illustrating the route may be picked up from Essex libraries, Tourist Information Centres and Jaywick Martello Tower or you can download your copy from here.
Free App Download
The free Martello tower Trail app is now available to download for free via Google play or iTunes.
Use the app to guide you along the Tendring Coastline and learn interesting facts about the towers, towns and coastline.
Fun for all the family
The Martello Tower Trail includes children's activities and games to ensure it entertains the whole family.
Follow the trail, walk in the footsteps of the soldiers and decode a semaphore message to win a free Martello Tower Badge (one per child).
Semaphore and Rubbing Plate activity sheets can be downloaded here or collected from Jaywick Martello Tower.
Once you have completed both of the games then please return to Jaywick Martello Tower with your completed activity sheets to collect your badge.
Download Rubbing Plate Activity here
Download Semaphore activity and instructions here
Public Artwork
During the summer of 2013, poet Julia Bird worked with Tower staff, Jaywick residents and visitors to create a poem to be installed at the Tower in September 2014.
The Project was an exciting programme developed by Place Services at Essex County Council, Jaywick Martello Tower and the Friends of the Tower. The programme saw the recent improvements around the base of the tower further enhanced through the incorporation of an interpretive text created with the community of Jaywick.
During the project Julia also wrote another poem inspired by her day spent at the Tower during the annual Clacton airshow. This poem can be seen on the windows of the roof room on the Tower.
Keep up to date with the project through Julia's blog.
The Napoleonic Home Front Touring Exhibition
In the early 1800s Britain was fearful of attack from France. The Napoleonic Home Front tells the story of people's lives under the threat of invasion and the impact of militarisation throughout the Tendring coastal area.
The exhibition is available to hire for free. If you are interested in exhibiting it, please contact Jaywick Martello Tower on 01255 822783 or jaywickmartellotower@hotmail.co.uk.
Landscape
The Martello Tower sits in 1.3 ha of grassland landscape. The projects were to carry out an ecological survey of the site, to prepare a management plan for the surrounding land, improve access to the tower and engage with the local community.
The ecological survey can be download from here.
Access to the tower was improved with a new woodern path around the Tower.
It was decided to encourage awareness and enjoyment of this distinctive and rich landscape by focusing particularly on younger schoolchildren. Year six students at Frobisher Primary School spent six days with artist Nicola Burrell and ecology specialist Nicky Slee from the University of Essex. During this time they explored various sites in Jaywick, learnt about local ecology and made various artworks including sculptures of birds that they saw during their visit to the Martello Tower.
Events
During the delivery of Walls and Gardens we held many community events to help raise awareness of the project, gain community involvement and celebrate our success along the way.
Events included a lively local walk with Essex Wildlife Warden Bob Seago.
Two performances were by Riotous Assembly and the 95th Rifles to open the Napoleonic Home Front exhibition and another for a open weekend.
A finale event was held to launch the app and celebrate the end of the project. The free family fun event included circus workshops by The Grand Theatre of Lemmings, magic, balloon modelling, face painting, creative workshops, storytelling and a human Jukebox.
Acknowledgements
Jaywick Martello Tower would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their support and hard work during this project:
Arc Creative
Brenda Jones
Bob Seago
Christopher Thornton
Clare Cleary
Crispin Downs
David Neame
David Whittle
East Essex Aviation Museum and Society
Essex Police Museum
Essex Record Office
Essex Wildlife Trust
Friends of Jaywick Martello Tower
Frobisher Primary School
Judith Wolton
Julia Bird
Kerith Ririe
Martyn Green
Matthew Bowman
Nicola Burrell
Norman Buckland
Park Resorts
Paul Gilman
Pixelwork
Riotous Assembly
Roger Kennell
Scott Sullivan
Stuart Warburton
Take 27
Tendring Distict Council
The Grand Theatre of Lemmings
The Harwich Society
Thurrock Council
Ugly Studios
Vic Miller
1st Battalion 95th Rifles Living History Society
95th Rifles and Royal Horse Artillery Battle Re-enactments and Living History Society
