They're actually scattered around the area, mainly in and around small villages, and they are the now mainly abandoned homes of returning overseas Chinese 'coolies', built around 100 years ago.
Just as I'd read in the guide book, I was met at the bus station by an eager collection of taxi drivers, ready to negotiate a price to take me around the attractions. I agreed to one little chap's asking price of 300 yuan, as it was less than the 350 yuan suggested in Lonely Planet. It wasn't exactly cheap though, and my friend, horribly keen to show me absolutely everything, was a bit exhausting. Between us we knew about four words of each others' languages, he kept stopping and insisting I photograph yet one more tower, and in the end I cut the day short a bit early and told him I had to get back to Guangzhou quickly.
Apparently economic conditions in Guangdong Province in the 19th century were dire indeed, and there was a roaring trade in 'piglets for sale' - slavery basically, as poor rural folk were sent overseas, including to the goldfields of California and Australia. Some of these eventually made their fortunes in goldmining or various business enterprises, and eventually returned to their villages, where they built these huge McMansions, often using a defensive, tower-like style, to guard their wealth against the bandits who roamed around at the time.
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