Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 15

A History of Martello Towers in the Defence of British North America, 1796-1871

by Ivan J. Saunders

Appendix B. Duke of Clarence's Tower (Fort Clarence Tower), Halifax

Built: 1798
Armed: before 1808
Disarmed: ca. 1864
Demolished: top storey, ca. 1865; middle storey, 1889; basement level extant in 1945.
Facing material: sandstone rubble masonry
Diameter: 50 ft.
Height: 42 ft.
Wall thickness: 6 ft.
Parapet height: originally 6 ft. Partially cut to 3 ft. in 1812.
Storeys: three
Purpose: in 1798, it was intended to be a keep and barrack for the Fort Clarence sea battery and redoubt. In 1870, it was a barrack and magazine for the rifled muzzle-loading battery. In 1889, it was a magazine.

18 Fort Clarence, plan, 1853. (Public Archives of Canada.)

19 Plan of Fort Clarence, 1853. (Public Archives of Canada.)

20 Fort Clarence, 1879. Section of the revised fort and tower. (Public Archives of Nova Scotia.)