Along the East coast of the UK, there were originally 29 Martello towers built, between 1808 and 1812, stretching between St Osyth in Essex and Aldeburgh in Suffolk. 

Eleven martello towers were originally constructed along the 13 mile stretch of Essex coastline known as the Clacton Beach, some adding to existing batteries or replacing earlier signal stations. The line of towers, identified by the letters A to K, ran from Stone Point on the north bank of the Colne Estuary northwards to Walton on the Naze - with the large circular redoubt at Harwich punctuating the northern end. In addition to tower D, six towers now remain standing at Stone Point (A), Jaywick (C), Clacton Beach (D), Clacton Wash (E), central Clacton (F) and Walton Mere (K).