A Bird’s Eye View of History

HBPW drone pilot, William Withers, has been getting a bird’s eye view of two of Britain’s leading historical buildings including a Martello Tower, one of a series of such structures built to deter the military ambitions of Napoleon.

English Heritage and Forth Ports in Edinburgh have been taking advantage of his advanced flying skills, calling on the Senior Technician, to ‘map’ one of the structures and survey the wider site upon which the other is located.

“Each job proved to be a fascinating day out,” said Will. “English Heritage’s Odiham Castle is a ruined structure situated near Odiham in Hampshire and is one of only three fortresses built by King John during his reign.

“The 13th century site, which lays halfway between Windsor and Winchester, is in need of maintenance and repair work. Chris Ginn’s team from Tower Surveys South had already laser scanned the internal and external faces of the lower reaches of the circular structure.

“However, they needed to map the higher parts of the castle walls and a drone made far more sense than, for example, using a cherry picker.”

By merging Will’s Point Cloud coordinates with their own data, they were able to create a finished ‘real time’ image, enabling them to determine what and where work needed to be carried out.

Meanwhile, in Leith near Edinburgh, Forth Ports had a similar requirement only this time, they wanted the 175-acre site mapping that has been earmarked for the creation of Scotland’s largest and best located renewable energy hub at the Port of Leith.

It will support the country’s economic recovery and energy transition plans and the achievement of Scotland’s net zero carbon emissions targets.

“Again, another fascinating day out since the site also includes a Martello Tower,” added Will.

“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.

“They resembled that of a coastal defence tower at Mortella Point in Corsica, where the name martello comes from, and were designed to keep Napoleon’s army out. Ironically they were based on a design from the island of Corsica, the very place where France’s iconic military man was born.

“I may have been working on a drone survey but in 48 hours I learned more about my own history than any book could have taught me!”

Client:                                     English Heritage / Tower Surveys South
Supporting Information:         www.forthports.co.uk/latest-news