Battery of San Telmo

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1655

The battery of San Telmo was located very close to the hermitage of the same name, on its southern flank. It was built in 1655, then abandoned and rebuilt between 1768 and 1775 based on the project drafted by the military engineer Luis Marqueli. It was triangular in plan and was armed with three guns facing three embrasures opened in the wall itself that ran along the entire coast of Santa Cruz. It had no guardhouse, only a large carved stone sentry box for the sentinel. It covered the beach front of this coastal area which was very deep and free of reefs until very close to land. In 1788 it was armed with two 24-pounder cannons and two 16-pounders, and garrisoned by a corporal and four soldiers. In 1918, already useless for defence, it was demolished.

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