The Watchtower of Guainos was part of the coastal defensive system built to protect the area from Berber pirates against the Catholic Monarchs in the 16th century.
Of cylindrical shape and 12 metres high, the tower is brick built. Inside there is a first section of about 6 metres across and a main section with a vaulted chamber of 3 metres in diameter. Access is through a door-window that leads to a staircase, then on to its interior, while on the outside it is surrounded at the base with a buttress through which you enter the historical structure.
This is a tower built on a hill over the current neighbourhood of Guainos Bajos of Adra. The tower had the function of giving the alert if a pirate was glimpsed on the horizon. When that happened, a pyre was lit inside the watchtower, thus achieving smoke signals that were observed at great distances by the military in charge of defence of the coast.
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