Atalaya del Sabinal or Arbona Watchtower

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Historic sites · Year: S. XVI

This was, along with those of Tafada and Igueste, one of the three watchtowers installed very early on in the heights of Anaga. Its function was to observe the horizon and warn by means of a code of optical signals of the arrival of vessels that posed a danger or risk to the port of Santa Cruz and, by extension, to the rest of the island.

The Atalaya del Sabinal, also known as Arbona, is perched about 700 metres above sea level, very close to the hamlet of El Lomo de las Bodegas, near what is now the Ijuana Integral Natural Reserve. It was an intermediate lookout point between Tafada to the north and Igueste to the south; the latter being the only one of the three watchtowers with direct views of Santa Cruz.

Ancient documents refer to this type of important enclave for the safeguarding of the island: “ it has on the tip of Anaga three ordinary sentinels, which are in such a place and height that, no matter how small a ship is, it is discovered 10 to 12 leagues out at sea and as many as it discovers and sees, it makes as many fires or smoke signals, which the fortress then sees, and if there are many it makes the same signal to another sentinel who spots the city, which then provides the necessary aid ”. 

We suppose that the Atalaya del Sabinal, of which today only a natural mound of stones remains, may have come into operation during the second half of the 16th century. Its work was carried out occasionally over centuries, with its use being intensified in times of threat of war, invasion or pirate activity.

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