Castillo la Mota - Torre Urique, Alhaurin el Grande (Málaga)

12 09 2022

Castillo La Mota – Torre de Urique

This walk starts adjacent to Puerto de los Pescadores; about 200m in the direction of Coin, there is off road parking for several cars at the base of the ‘La Mota Castle’.
From here just head up to the castle, you can’t really get lost. Not sure if you can get in. I didn’t check but there metal door used to be open and you could get to the top where there are great views.

The path going downhill from the castle towards La Mota is a bit slippery and steep, so I would recommend using walking poles to be on the safe side.

The route to the Urique Tower is on a quite road. This short walk links two of the ‘famous’ landmarks of Alhaurin el Grande.


Castle of La Mota – Built 1993

The Castle of La Mota is part of a large residential project with a golf course, which was ultimately not developed due to complications that arose during the financing.
Clearly unique, the castle was built on top of one of the hills of the land, and was the only one that was completed of the five that had been projected. Its exterior was built following the traditional methods of the area, with the stones and tiles of the place and without having mounted a crane. In the middle of the façade was located an old Virgin, which was later stolen. Inside, the reinforced concrete structure is striking, including the elevator shaft forecast.
The initial function of this work would be to act as a sales office of the urbanization and later would become a repository of facilities for the complex. From the top of all the castles there would also be light shows, as well as the broadcast of the golf championships that were on the course of the urbanization.
Today it is an emblematic landmark of the area and the object of different stories, even forming part of medieval legends.

The Urique Watchtower is located in the Andalusian municipality of Alhaurín el Grande, at the Camino de las Torres de Urique.
It is located on a plain whose land is dedicated to fruit and vegetable exploitation; its previous owner used it as a party room. The internal organization of the space in these constructions remains to be studied, although they are usually made up of two or three floors raised on another basement floor that was used as a warehouse and in sporadic cases as dungeons. The general entrance was located on the first floor and was carried out by means of a wooden staircase that was removed once the entire population had been confined; a spiral staircase connected the different floors.
The Urique Watchtower, about 13 meters high, is made up of three floors, the last one being discovered and crowned with a merlatura that we assume after the original construction, next to a bell tower with a round arch built in brick. Both these elements and the staircase that serves as access to the tower can be considered as additions. In the same way the primitive distribution has changed considerably. The entire work is made of very regular masonry, with well-defined rows separated by lines of small stones that fill the gaps cleared by the larger ones and cover them at the same time. The corners were reinforced with ashlars separated by courses of brick.
On the northeast face of this tower there are two openings with similar characteristics: built with brick and with a semicircular arch. The first of them must have corresponded to the main access in Muslim times.
Its state of conservation is currently quite good, since it has had a special dedication, undertaking its restoration and consolidation by the Provincial Council of Malaga, aimed at correcting and preserving the most damaged areas of the monument, paying special attention to the discharge of weights and strange thrusts to the walls. Around the tower you can find surface materials from the time of use, estimated to be in the 14th century.