In its current form, this tower, located in the north-west corner of the town wall and on a point on the rock where the town of Saint-Malo was built, dates back to the 15th century.
It has a horseshoe-shaped layout that is highly characteristic of that period. Its lower part still has gun-ports for artillery which were filled in when the tower served as a powder magazine from 1691 to 1889.
It was against this tower that the Anglo-Dutch forces directed their ship filled with explosives in 1693 in an attempt to blow up Saint-Malo’s ramparts. But this attempt failed when the ship ran aground on the rocks slightly further to the north-east, in-between the town and Fort National.
The fortification located behind the tower, on the town side, is called the Cavalier des Champs-Vauverts. Its corner turret featuring corbelling, bears the date 1652. On its platform stands the statue of the famous corsair Robert Surcouf (Saint-Malo 1773 - 1827).
In-between the ramparts and this work is the artillery park. The buttresses up against the walls were used for storing cannonballs.
