A seaside town is battling to save its historic Victorian gun tower, built to block an invasion by Napoleon's nephew, after the council puts it up for sale for £70,000.
The Cambridge Gun Tower, or Martello Tower, has stood in the water, defending Pembroke Docks, west Wales, since it was put up in 1851 to protect against the French.
It was constructed at a time when Britain's Foreign Minister, Palmerston, was convinced that the French were planning under Louis-Napoleon, after he was elected president of the second French Republic in 1848.
Pembrokeshire county council is planning to auction the historic tower off in July, however, as it is costing the council too much to maintain.
Pembroke is battling to save its Cambridge Gun Tower, also known as the Martello tower, after the council announced plans to auction off the historic fortification next month
Chair of community group Pembroke Dock Town Team, Mark Carter, said the town 'does not want to see another asset sold off'.
'We are going to do everything we can to make sure it is there for the community in the future,' he said.
'Too much of our heritage is left standing empty when it should be used.
'We have got to lobby the council to get us more time. The time they have given us is ridiculous.'
County Councillor Jon Harvey has called for the council to 'pull' the auction while Councillor Josh Beynon said that although the sale is 'disappointing', the town needs to come up 'with a plan' to save the building.
It is one of two Cambridge towers at the dock and the last in public hands, the other being owned privately.
The grade-II listed tower went up in 1851 along with two others, named as 'Palmerston's follies', as well as Portsmouth's Fort Elson (1853) and Gosport's Fort Gomer (1855).
It was armed with roof-mounted guns, 12-pound brass howitzers and 33 men to defend against an expected French invasion, although it never fired a shot.
Panic had struck Palmerston, who was foreign secretary at this time, that the second French Republic, which had been formed in 1848, would attempt to invade Britain.
However by 1854 the military preparations were considered obsolete as France and Britain found themselves in an alliance against Russia, cooling tensions.
A state visit by Louis-Napoleon in 1855 to London, reciprocated four months later to Queen Victoria, further eased fears of a French attack.
A French invasion of Italy in 1860, nonetheless, re-ignited fears that a Republican army would try to land on British shores.
Eight more forts were constructed around Portsmouth to defend the naval city, while the smaller Martello towers received no further attention, considered to be too small to be useful.
They were disarmed in 1882, having never seen active service, and only used again in World War I and World War II.
In 1904, four brick barracks were built on nearby hill Llanion to
