The Torre de la Atalaya is a tower for civil use located in the city of Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia, Spain).[1]​.

It is also known as Clock Tower, Candle Tower or Council Tower. It constitutes one of the most important testimonies of the Gothic-Mudejar architecture of Jerez.

It is attached to the Church of San Dionisio "Iglesia de San Dionisio (Jerez de la Frontera)") and its base is the old Tabernacle chapel. We can see it externally raised in Plaza Plateros.[1]​.

It was built by the council in the middle of the century for the installation of what was the city's first clock, as well as to serve as a lookout using smoke signals from the bonfires of the proximity of any danger.[2]​ At the beginning of the century the building began to have the function of a watchtower or watchtower with the function of giving warning of the Berber attacks on the coast of Cádiz. In those times, light boats frequently arrived from North Africa to kidnap people and then demand payment for their release. This tower had the task of warning that there were Moors on the coast, hence the famous expression.[2]​.

The tower is attached to the Church of San Dionisio "Iglesia de San Dionisio (Jerez de la Frontera)"). Its base is one of the chapels of the church and consists of a belfry equipped with a bell. It is properly a civil building of municipal property that does not correspond in origin with the rest. Declared as an Asset of Cultural Interest "Asset of Cultural Interest (Spain)") with a code different from that of the church itself (RI-51-0004318).[3]​.

It has two rectangular bodies, the staircase being housed in the narrowest one. It is built with calcareous cement sandstone, a stone from the Sierra de San Cristóbal.[4]​.

It stands out for the abundance and variety in the decoration of its openings.[5]​ The tower is decorated on the outside with blind windows with double lobed arches, muqarnas capitals and tracery decoration.

In 2017, consolidation works were carried out, although there is the intention to carry out a deeper intervention that would allow it to be opened to public visits.[6]​ In 2018, the project is presented.[7]​.

In 2021, two pieces of its exterior coating come off.[8]​.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Watchtower Tower.

• - The Watchtower Tower in Jerez Intramuros [1].