Carbonera Lighthouse

Optical Array Details

• Location: San Roque, Punta Mala.
• Coordinates: 36°14,672' N 05°18,076' W
• Signal Type: Lighthouse
• Height: 16m
• Light Source: Single-Level, SABIK-Manufactured LED Lantern (Mod LED 350 H)
• Year: 2016
• Colour: White
• Focal Length: 250mm
• Light & Sound Character: 4-Second Flashes (L: 3, occ. 1)
• Remarks: White tower.

Map of Location & Visibility

History

The lighthouse was installed on top of an old watchtower built originally in 1588 at Punta Mala, only a few metres from the beach between La Alcaidesa and Sotogrande, in the Borough of San Roque. Its tapered tower is built of unrendered masonry, stands 16 metres high and still retains the warden’s gatehouse on the rooftop. Accessed by a single French door that leads to a vaulted living space, the approach to the door was via a ladder, and then up to the rooftop by a spiral stairway embedded into the wall.

The lighthouse had fallen into a semi-derelict state. The decision for its construction under the Maritime Signalling Plan in 1984, and the conversion project from watchtower to lighthouse – as presented by the civil engineer Carlos Prieto and the architect Enrique Martinez Tercero – was taken from a Contest of Ideas to Build Lighthouses in 1988. The contest had been set up to by the Department of Public Works & Development’s General Directorate of Ports and Coasts (Maritime Signalling Division) try and furnish the new Maritime Signalling Plan with light and radio signalling for shipping at the required technical and efficiency levels. Another of the goals set out in what was to become the 1985-1989 Maritime Signalling Plan (still in effect today) was to restore some of the area’s old 16th Century towers, built to sound an advance warning of Berber pirate raids, and all of which made up a significant historic heritage collection.

As with the new lighthouse at Punta Camarinal, the restoration project and conversion to a lighthouse from the old tower at Punta Mala was also undertaken by Carlos Prieto and Enrique Martinez in 1989. The project provided the tower with a modern, external spiral staircase in concrete that adapted to its profile, but in such a way as to separate the modern, refurbished parts of the original building from the aesthetics of the old watchtower. The façade of the tower was then rendered in sand-coloured mortar, which gives it its characteristic appearance. A lighthouse lantern was installed on the rooftop, and it was put into service in 1989. The lighthouse has an electrically-operated barrel array with a 39-metre focal plane over the sea, beaming a pattern of two 4-second flashes of white light and a visibility of 14 miles.

The year 1997 saw it become monitored and operated by remote control; and, in 2016, the horizon optical array was replaced with a VEGA-manufactured LED lantern (although it still retained the original optical array, albeit out of service).

Heritage & Conservation

• Included into the General Declaration under the Spanish Historical Heritage Act (Law 16/1985, 25/06/1985 and registered as an Asset of Cultural Interest in Official Govt. Bulletin Nº 155, 29/06/1985) by the 25/06/1985 Decree; and under a special acknowledgement normally granted to castles by the Andalusian Government in 1993.
• Registered as a Cultural Asset of Interest (Real Estate) under the name of “Tower of Cabo de Gracia” under the General Catalogue of Andalusian Historical Heritage.
  General Catalogue of Andalusian Historical Heritage
• Included into the Port of Algeciras Bay Authority’s Conservation & Historical Asset Enhancement Plan, in 2021.

Features

• The lighthouse was erected on top of a 16th Century watchtower that had been commissioned by King Felipe II and built in 1588.
• The tower’s conversion to a lighthouse was envisioned in the 1984 Lighting Plan.
• The conversion project from tower to lighthouse was a prize-winner in the idea contest set up by the Department for Public Works & Development in 1988.
• It is located only a few metres away from the beach, next to the ruins of an old Civil Guard Headquarters.
• Further down from the lighthouse, there is a concrete bunker that made up part of the Southern Frontier Defence System’s coastal fortifications, built during the Second World War to repel a possible Allied invasion.

Find out more

If you would like to find out more about this lighthouse, we recommend the following articles:

• “Latest Restoration of Watchtowers on the Cadiz Coast: from Leisurely Respect to Blended Utilitarianism” [Study of Medieval History & Archaeology]
• “The Lighthouse that Holds a Spanish Civil War Bunker in San Roque” [Europa Sur]

Visits

Carbonera Lighthouse is not currently open to visitors. However, as it is located on the Sotogrande seaboard, you can access it by means of several dirt tracks that lead to the beaches, as follows:

• Carbonera Lighthouse Trail – Guadiaro Estuary (San Roque)
• Carbonera Lighthouse Trail – Trocadero Beach Restaurant (San Roque)

Video

Find out more about Carbonera Lighthouse in the following video by Buho Drone:

Watch the video

Photo Gallery