Former watchtower on Gibraltar’s Rock summit, nicknamed O’Hara’s Folly.
O’Hara’s Tower was a stone and iron watchtower on the highest point of the Rock of Gibraltar, within today’s Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Built between 1787 and 1791 for Lieutenant Governor Charles O’Hara, it failed to observe Cadiz as intended, was ruined by lightning, and finally demolished in 1888.
O’Hara’s Tower was a watchtower in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Initially known as St. George’s Tower, it stood at the summit of the Rock of Gibraltar, at about 426 metres above sea level, near the southern end of what is now the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. The tower’s site is now occupied by O’Hara’s Battery. The tower was proposed by General Charles O’Hara, then Lieutenant Governor of Gibraltar, later Governor from 1795 to 1802. He believed that a tower at the Rock’s highest point would allow observation of the Spanish fleet at the Port of Cadiz, roughly 60 miles, or 97 kilometres, away. Despite others doubting this idea, O’Hara succeeded in having the tower constructed between 1787 and 1791, using hewn stone and iron. Once completed, it became clear that Cadiz was not visible from the tower because intervening mountains blocked the view. The structure was then struck by lightning shortly after it was built, seriously damaging it and leaving it largely in ruins for much of the nineteenth century. The failed project earned the derisive nickname “O’Hara’s Folly”. The ruined tower was finally demolished in 1888.
