HISTORIC FORTIFIED WHARF
It is a quarry pier made of ashlars of ostiera stone from the quarries of the town with port destination that maintains facilities to be used as a fortification, in this case with lunettes that were equipped with artillery in times of war.
Recent studies suggest that this pier must have been built in the middle of the 18th century, with the military engineer Ignacio Sala, then a resident of Puerto Real, participating in its construction as director of the works, possibly following a design by the military engineer Jorge Próspero de Verboom.
In 1805 it would be reformed by the architect Torcuato Benjumeda and during the occupation of Puerto Real by the Napoleonic troops (1810-1812) the pier was equipped with artillery. The current preserved length is 113 meters, and the width is 17 meters in the wharf area; in the central area there were two semicircular lunettes (Media Luneta) intended for a possible fortification of the wharf in a punctual way.
One of the lunettes was buried during the filling of the area in the middle of the 20th century. The other is still preserved, the so-called half lunette of the pier, a semicircular construction of about 13 meters in radius with a continuous parapet.
At the end of the 19th century, several works were carried out, including the installation of an iron bridge in the area known as “puntilla del muelle”, where the famous Santa Marina spa was located, in operation until the beginning of the 20th century.
