Alcalá de los Gazules Castle

Alcalá de los Gazules Castle

The Castle of Alcala de los Gazules is located on top of the hill, next to the Parish Church of the Martyr St. George in the andalusian town of Alcala de los Gazules, Cadiz province.

Of the Castle, an Almohad construction of the “fortress with a fence” type, only the tower remains today. Foundations from Roman times have been found under it and could belong to the Turris lascutana. At the end of 1731, beginning of 1732, the tower was converted into the residence of the Corregidor, appointed by the Duke of Medinaceli. This will be its use until the War of Independence, although the walls must have presented a deplorable state then, which forced the French troops in 1810 to start repair works on them. These works were not completed due to lack of material, the Gauls being forced to bring them from Medina, as the neighbors stole the little accumulated material.

At the beginning of June 1811, while the castle was in the hands of the Spanish troops, the engineer Salvador Quirós was commissioned to repair it. After starting the works on June 3, they were not completed due to the arrival of new French troops, who stormed the castle on the morning of September 18. After 24 hours of assault, when the Gauls were about to undermine the defenses, Captain Monesterio surrendered the square. On the 21st the French, before abandoning it, blew up the walls to prevent the Spanish troops from occupying it again. However, they left the tower intact, which was just another house. Its current state is due to its abandonment after the war and the reuse of its stones to make water tanks next to it in the early 1940s. A piece of the wall can also be seen on the Paseo San Juan de Ribera. and two albarrana towers on the west side of the town. From the old door of the town, the only thing that remains original is the stone shield that flanked the door. Read more…