Castillo de la Herradura, 18th century coastal fortification in La Herradura, Spain.

Castillo de la Herradura is a coastal battery at 8 metres above sea level, built 1765–1771 to a design by engineer José Crame. Its rectangular enclosure has a north-facing main facade with semi-circular towers at the northeast and northwest corners, and a lower semi-circular artillery battery on the south side. Walls are sloping masonry with lime-mortar joints, topped by a brick moulding and a high plastered parapet with elongated embrasures.

Engineer José Crame designed this defensive installation in 1765 under King Carlos III to protect local inhabitants from repeated attacks by Barbary pirates. The fortification was part of a series of coastal defenses built to shield the region during that era.

The name La Herradura, "the horseshoe", matches the fort's plan: a rectangular enclosure with a north-facing front and a lower semicircular battery at the south. The only possibly French element is the tall rendered parapet with long embrasures above the brick moulding. Since 2021 the building has housed the Museum 1562 La Fuerza del Mar, devoted to the naval disaster in the bay.

The fort sits at 8 m above sea level at the foot of the La Herradura bay, with mountains rising to the northeast and the sea to the southwest. The entrance is on the north facade, where the drawbridge recess and mechanism holes remain in the doorway. Inside, the staircase in the southeast corner climbs to the terrace covering the whole building; the battery is reached through the gap between the staircase and the water trough.

The museum opened in 2021 and takes its name from the 1562 naval disaster: 25 ships of a fleet carrying 4,000 soldiers to reinforce Oran and Mazalquivir sank in the bay. Look for the recess in the entrance wall where the drawbridge once fitted, and the holes for its mechanism.