The rest of what was once an imposing structure has been destroyed or obscured by indiscriminate building – a whole housing estate was built within the castle courtyard in the 1950s, and even in the 90s a hole was hacked in the castle wall to allow for motor access, and a hideous metal structure added to further obscure the remains of the wall.

Now, only the Tower of Homage and the original gatehouse to the south of it have survived relatively intact. An idea of how impressive the original castle would have been can be seen in the illustrations in George Palao’s “The Guns and Towers of Gibraltar” or in the 19th century model of the Rock in the Gibraltar Museum.

The Castle is often assumed to have been built by Tarik ibn Zeyad when he landed in Gibraltar in 711 AD, but it is doubtful whether he remained in the area long enough to undertake any building works. In fact, it dates to 1160 when the town was built on the orders of the first Emir of the Almohades, Abdul-Mamun.

The Tower of Homage may have been built after the Moorish recapture of Gibraltar from the Spaniards in 1333. From 1436 it housed the bones of the Count of Niebla, who had died in a failed attack on the Rock in that year.

Part of the Castle now houses the Civil Prison, which is long overdue for transfer elsewhere. The interior of the Tower of Homage has been recently restored and can be visited.