- Heritage & Antiquities Act Listings
- 3. Fortifications
- Moorish Castle Complex including
- The Outer Walls, Towers and Gate House
The Outer Walls, Towers and Gate House
Ref: HLFP3/701
The lowest enclosure, which formed the outer walls, towers, and gatehouse, was known as the Qasbah (fortified citadel). It covered a much larger surface area than either the inner or outer keep. Almost rectangular in shape, it enclosed a perimeter of about 625 metres, making it the largest citadel in all of Al-Andalus.1
Its walls and towers date from the Muslim period. A 1627 drawing by Luis Bravo de Acuña depicts buildings and orchards within this enclosure, though by the 18th century only heaps of ruins remained, upon which the British later built barracks. These barracks were demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for the present Moorish Castle Estate.
Portillo adds further detail to Bravo de Acuña’s depiction, noting that:2
“It has gardens inside with fruit trees, vines, and vegetables, and there is woodland with rabbits and possibly deer and other animals. It contains many cisterns, artillery platforms, and is so large that it is only slightly smaller than the city itself”.
Luis Bravo de Acuña map of 1627 showing location of the gatehouses and towers in the Qasbah.
The outer walls were constructed of limestone faced with mortar, with large sections—particularly along the southern side—reinforced with tapia (rammed earth). Tapia was a medieval building material made from crushed pottery or pumice mixed with limestone and/or marble chips, bound with lime and red sand mortar. When compacted in wooden frames, tapia formed an exceptionally hard and durable surface capable of withstanding heavy damage. A testament to the strength of these defences is the fact that the walls and Tower of Homage were able to endure relentless cannon fire from Spanish land batteries along the isthmus for over three years during the famous Great Siege of Gibraltar.
Recent studies on the tapia construction technique used along the walls and within the main castle complex have identified it as being of Almohad origin.3
Moorish tapia curtain wall and Almond Tower.
The Qasbah and inner and outer keep was defended by at least ten towers. Three protecting the approaches from the north, four protecting the approaches from the south and southeast and three overlooking the lower section known as the Villa Vieja to the west.
Along the south side, the three towers facing the southeast have been largely preserved. The first tower, within the actual inner keep perimeter was known as La Gurilanda, which may in turn have been a corruption of the word Giralda [weathervane].
This is believed to be the same tower once thought to have protected the outer gate of the Calahorra and referred to by Portillo as La Giralda:4
“In front of it stands a strong outwork known as La Giralda, with very solid walls and large enough to hold enough men to defend the fortress, as was seen in the year 1333 when King Don Alfonso laid siege to it—though it did him no good, even after building a tower upon it, part of which still remains today and bears his name.”
The second tower defended the outer gate of the outer keep in much the same way as the first. The third tower, built where the curtain wall bends at a 145° angle, protected both the eastern curtain wall and the gatehouse to the west. Owing to this unusual angle, it was constructed with two convex sides forming an almond or beak-like shape, which gave rise to its Spanish name, “torre almendrada” [almond tower]. The tower stood 17.6 m high and 4 m wide externally. Its upper section was crenelated and crowned with ten merlons, while six arrow slits set at varying heights and angles made it a formidable defensive structure.
The fourth tower, situated on the southwest corner of the Qasbah enclosure, is known today as the Stanley Clock Tower. In 1845, this tower was chosen as the site for a public clock to help regulate Garrison time, as it was highly visible from within the Moorish Castle complex, the port, and much of the North District. During its conversion, the original Moorish masonry was coated with cement. It was named in honour of Lord Stanley, then Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The Almond Tower.
The Gatehouse stands about 400 feet west of the Tower of Homage. Originally a rectangular medieval structure, it was later converted by the British into a powder magazine, who added the current four-sided roof to protect its contents from enemy bombardment. It is the only surviving medieval gatehouse in Gibraltar.
Historically, two gatehouses provided access to the Qasbah: the existing one, facing southeast, and another—now demolished—located to the northwest where Jones’s Battery stands today. Both are shown on James Gabriel Montressor’s 1753 map of the Moorish Castle complex. By then, only the northwest gatehouse was still used as an entrance, while the southeast gatehouse had already been converted into a magazine—its new function ensuring its preservation. Later, when the military sought to create a new southern access point, they chose to open a gateway through the wall to the west of the existing gatehouse instead.
The Moorish gatehouse.
Originally, there was only a single gatehouse, located to the northwest. This makes sense, as the early city was limited to three main quarters: the Barcina (port area), the Villa Vieja, and the Qasbah. A second gatehouse facing south was likely added only later, when the city expanded into the southern suburbs. Leopoldo Torre Balbás, quoting the contemporary chronicler Ibn Sahib al-Sala affirms that view:5
. . . the city, which was entered through a single, solidly fortified gateway called Bab-al-Futuh. [Gate of Conquest].
Another notable Andalusī chronicler of the Almohad period, Ibn Ṣāḥib al-Ṣalāt—renowned for his work al-Mann bi-l-imāma—also confirms the existence of a single gatehouse. He dates its construction to 1160, when Caliph ʿAbd al-Muʾmin founded the first urban settlement on the slopes of the Rock, naming it Madinat al-Fatḥ [City of Victory]:
Beforehand, several sites on the mountainside had been excavated where springs emerged; these were collected through small channels into an irrigation ditch that entered the city and poured into a large cistern built for that purpose. The water was used both for drinking (by people and animals) and to irrigate the gardens planted next to the city. The city was entered through a single, strongly fortified gate called Bāb al-Futūḥ [Gate of Conquest].
Detail of the Moorish Castle by Gabriel James Montressor dated 1753 showing the location of the two gatehouses.
In 1333, Gibraltar was re-captured by the Moors. Gibraltar’s governor, Vasco Perez de Meira had squandered the money sent to him for weapons and the castle’s food supplies. Abd’I Malik, Governor of Algeciras landed 7,000 troops from Barbary and laid siege to the poorly prepared garrison, which was starved into surrender within four months.
Alfonso XI of Castille immediately attempted to re-take the castle and town of Gibraltar. The Christians had attempted to storm the gatehouse, the only entry point into the Qasbah. Unbeknown to the attackers, a sally port from the rear of the Calahorra tower allowed the Moors to counterattack using the advantage of the high ground to deadly effect causing the would-be attackers to flee for their lives. The remains of such a sally port, although now bricked up, remains visible on the Tower of Homage’s eastern wall.
Alfonso then brought six siege catapults all the way from Seville, hauling three of them up the Rock above the tower. Battering rams, siege towers penthouses, mantlets and an attempt to lay a mine under the Qasbah walls were successfully repelled by the Moorish defenders. According to the Crónicas de Don Alonso XI:6
“And another force of men encamped upon the Rock, near the main tower of the keep. These two groups of men were positioned close to the town, in such a way that they had it surrounded on that side, and could easily come to each other’s aid. Those stationed on the Rock had a descent leading down toward the King’s camp; they went down the Rock tied to a rope, and many men on foot went up and down whenever it was necessary. Meanwhile, the Moors in the town were already besieged and did not venture outside.
While the King arranged the camps and set his forces in order, six siege engines were brought to him. He commanded that three be placed upon the Rock—two of them aimed at the main tower of the keep, and the third at the Moorish galleys stationed in the dockyards of Gibraltar. Many stones struck them, but the Moors had them covered with heavy timbers and beams, so they could not easily be broken.
Because of this, the King resolved to assault the town from all sides. That same day he ordered Admiral Alfonso Jufre to bring men by sea in ships, so that they might set fire to the Moorish fleet and burn it. Then all the men in camp went to attack the town and the castle all around. And while the assault was underway, the Admiral brought forward the ships needed for the task, in order to burn the Moorish fleet.”
Similar attempts to attack the lower castle (Villavieja) and dockyard by sea (La Barcina) was equally unsuccessful. The ability to supply the castle from the sea and the arrival of a relieving force from Granada eventually broke the siege.
It was likely this attack later prompted the Moors to construct a second gatehouse facing southeast. This new gatehouse came to be known as Bab-al-Fath [Gate of Victory], probably in honour of the victorious defence of the city.
Inscription upper castle gate, Thomas James.
Thomas James reported that one of the gatehouses contained several inscriptions which he recorded in his book the History of the Herculean Straits.7
However, James simply referred to this gate as being over a gate in the Upper Castle. Francis Carter who also studied the texts stated that the inscription was found “on the wall of an ex-Mosque inside the Qasabah”. The inscription in question read as follows:
“Prosperity and peace to our sovereign, and slave of God, king of the Moors, our sovereign Aby Al Hajaj, son of Joseph king of the Moors, son of our sovereign Aby Al Walid, whom God preserve."
As a result of the inscription, the gate came to be known as the Gate of Yusuf I, who was Sultan of Granada between 1333 and 1354. However, during his reign Gibraltar was under Marīnid control. This misattribution was later corrected when a new analysis of the Arabic transcription linked the gate instead to Yusuf’s son, Muhammad V of Granada, who seized Gibraltar in 1374.
Archaeological stratigraphy from test pit 3.
Archaeological excavations have since uncovered material dating to the 14th century. Stratigraphic studies further revealed that once the gate was built, layers containing ceramics from the same period accumulated against its walls. The most plausible conclusion is that the gate was constructed in the final quarter of the 14th century and later covered with Islamic materials from both the 14th and 15th centuries. This evidence firmly places its construction during the reign of Sultan Muhammad V of Granada.
