The Coastal Towers of Andalucia in Spain

The History of the Chain of Towers Built to Warn of Corsair Raids

Jan 30, 2009 Tony Allen

For centuries the picturesque watchtowers ringing the coast of Spain from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees gave warning of attacks by the Barbary Pirates from North Africa.

For centuries the people of Andalucia lived in fear of attack by the pirates of the Barbary Coast, hungry for treasure and slaves. The swift corsair galleys could appear from nowhere, strike at an undefended stretch of coast, disappear over the horizon and re-appear hours or days later in another vulnerable spot far faster than any land based force, even of cavalry, could react.

The only protection for most people was to run and hide - either within the walls of the nearest garrison town or simply by taking to the hills until the coast was clear - until “no hay moros en la costa” (there are no Moors on the coast) - an expression which still survives today.

The Purpose of the Towers

Timely warning was vital - a few minutes delay meant slaughter or slavery - and at the end of the 15th Century, after the Reconquest, los Reyes Catolicos Ferdinand and Isabella created a surveillance system covering every mile of coast. Only major cities like Malaga and Almunecar had military garrisons: the role of the towers was purely to watch and warn - they had no heavy weapons, and most were manned by only a single watchman.

Construction of the Towers

As the sketch below shows they were normally round with a solid base to offer good protection against canon fire, and had a single raised chamber, a store below, and an observation and signal platform above. The single entrance port high on the tower was accessible only by a ladder, and if an enemy was sighted, the watchman would raise the alarm, pull up the ladder, and wait - doubtless shivering with terror - praying that the pirates would head off for an easier target.

Warning of Pirate Attack

The alert was given by smoke signals by day or a flaming beacon by night possibly augmented by an audible warning - blowing on a conch shell or firing a gunshot, with a simple code to signal the number of ships seen and their direction. But quite complicated messages could also be composed and transmitted with remarkable speed over long distances, both along the coast and, via towers like the Torre de Atalaya north of Velez Malaga, inland as far as Granada and beyond.

The Towers’ Watchmen

Manning the towers was, unsurprisingly, an unpopular job, and a fascinating Royal Ordinance of 1497 ordered how this should be done and paid for. For lesser towers like the Torre de Ladrones west of Marbella and the Torre de Isdabe at the mouth of the Rio Gudalmedina, the local community was made responsible for providing a permanent watchman with a daily wage of 25 maravedies ( just under one real).

By contrast, towers at more critical points had a stronger complement; the village of Torremolinos was required to provide three men for the Torre del Pimentel, one of them to be on watch at all times while the others remained on call in the tower itself or another nearby tower. Again each man was to be given a daily wage of 25 maravedies. One hundred and seventy years later, little had changed; the Torre del Diablo near Almunecar was still occupied by a corporal and two men. Not until the 19th century was the pirate threat lifted when the French occupied Algiers.

Today the towers stand mostly silent and deserted, some crumbling, some hemmed around by smart urbanisations, others on lonely headlands with a beauty that belies their violent, tragic history.

The copyright of the article The Coastal Towers of Andalucia in Spain in W European History is owned by Tony Allen. Permission to republish The Coastal Towers of Andalucia in Spain in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

The Torre de Maro

Five Towers Guard this Stretch of Coast

A Typical Watchtower