 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2017) |
| Torre Nueva (New Tower) | |
|---|---|
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| Location | La Línea de la Concepción, Spain |
| Coordinates | 36°12′30″N5°19′32″W / 36.20825°N 5.32565°W Coordinates: 36°12′30″N5°19′32″W / 36.20825°N 5.32565°W |
| Built | 16th century |
| Official name: Torre Nueva | |
| Type | Non-movable in ruins |
| Criteria | Monument |
  Location of Torre Nueva (New Tower) in Spain | |
The Torre Nueva, also called Torrenueva and sometimes Torre Sabá, is a beacon located in the Andalusian town of La Línea de la Concepción and is one of the 44 towers of the same characteristics that dotted the Spanish coast from the river Guadiaro to the border with Portugal. All of them were built during the reign of Felipe III, along with others located along the Mediterranean coast from Málaga to Catalonia.
La Línea de la Concepción is a town in Spain, in the province of Cádiz in Andalucia. It lies on the eastern isthmus of the Bay of Gibraltar, north of the Gibraltar–Spain border, which lies north of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, with which it has close economic and social links. It is situated on the sandy isthmus which unites the Rock of Gibraltar with the coast in the eastern flank of the Bay of Gibraltar, between Sierra Carbonera and the Rock of Gibraltar.
The Guadiaro is a river in the Spanish provinces of Cádiz and Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It flows southward from the Sierra Bermeja through the Sierra de Grazalema and discharges into the Mediterranean at Sotogrande. The river is notable for having some of the only marshland on the Costa del Sol. This marsh is protected by a 27 hectares nature preserve. There are several towns and communities near its mouth, Pueblonuevo de Guadiaro, Guadiaro, Torreguadiaro, Sotogrande, San Enrique, and Venta Nueva, all located within the San Roque municipality.
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe. It is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments.
The purpose of these watchtowers was to warn the coastal population of the presence of Berber pirate ships, for which smoke signals and bonfires were used. At the top of each tower, there was always a bundle of dry wood to be burned immediately in case of danger, transmitting the alarm signal to the towers nearby.
The Torre Nueva communicated visually with the Torre Nueva de Guadiaro and the Torre Carbonera. As of 2017 [update] it is in a relatively good state of conservation, integrated with the beach of Playa de Torrenueva to which it gives its name.
Playa de Torrenueva is a beach in the municipality of La Línea de la Concepción, in the Province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, located to the northeast of Gibraltar. It has a length of about 1,250 metres (4,100 ft) and average width of about 120 metres (390 ft). It is a busy little beach north of the city and bordered on the south by the Playa de La Atunara and north by the Playa de La Hacienda. In the vicinity are the remains of the Torre Nueva, a watchtower belonging to coastal surveillance system developed during the sixteenth century. It has all the basic services required of an urban beach, daily waste collection season, toilets and showers as well as the presence of police and local rescue equipment.
It is a circular tower 7.25 meters (23.8 ft) in diameter and 12 meters (39 ft) high, with a brick-domed interior room 4.4 meters (14 ft) meters in diameter and 7.5 meters (25 ft) high, which is accessed through a door located 3.7 meters (12 ft) above the ground. In this room was a hearth for the guards of the tower, a secondary door that allowed ascent to the roof by means of a spiral staircase integrated into the walls, and a window. The roof has a parapet of a little more than a meter in height, in which a machicolation is located on the same level as the door, with scaffolds to its sides.
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. A smaller version found on smaller structures is called a box-machicolation.
This tower was capable of housing 5 men (4 soldiers and a corporal), and at its feet was stationed a guard corps consisting of a corporal and 6 soldiers of infantry and a corporal and 4 soldiers of cavalry.
The Torre Nueva was declared a national monument on April 22, 1949. [1]
