Torre del Catalán, 17th century observation tower in Lepe, Spain

Torre del Catalán is a truncated-cone watchtower of rough stone and brick on a reddish hillock 37 m above sea level, 1.22 km from the shore between La Antilla beach and El Terrón port. A mid-height step marks two building phases, and its door sits 4.93 m above ground, reached by a removable rope or wooden ladder. Inside, a 16-step staircase curves with the wall to a circular chamber with a well mouth and a rooftop parapet.

The tower was ordered in 1577 by Philip II's official Luis Bravo de Lagunas as part of a plan of coastal watchtowers against Barbary pirates. In June 1587 it stood about 5.60 metres high; works stalled over cost disputes and were completed by 13 June 1597 under judge Fernando Álvarez de Bohórquez.

The tower was officially called Torre de Sierra Bermeja until well into the 18th century, after the reddish hill it stands on. The name El Catalán already appears for this area in the 16th-century Old Ordinances kept in Lepe's municipal archive. Lookouts watched for Barbary pirates and signalled with fire at night and smoke or white cloths by day.

The tower stands on a hillock 37 m above sea level, 1.22 km from the shore and 2.4 km from the port of El Terrón, between La Antilla beach and the port. The entrance door is 4.93 m above the ground and was reached by a rope or wooden ladder that was then withdrawn. From the terrace you can see the Marismas del río Piedras and Flecha del Rompido.

A 1618 inspection assigned the tower three guards and no artillery; the guns were expected at the nearby Torre del Terrón, closer to the mouth of the río Piedras. That same year the planned Torre de Vaciatalegas, which would have stood between this tower and the Torre de Canela, was apparently abandoned. Coastal defence at the Catalán and El Terrón fell to the town of Lepe.