Photo: Clare Wilkinson (CC BY 2.0)

O'Hara's Battery

The summit gun. A 9.2-inch barrel at 421 metres, range 25 kilometres.

4.1 / 5the Nature Reserve pass, from 504 reviewsHow we score

45 minutes1 of 17 on the Nature Reserve ticket →

The highest point you can reach on the Rock, at 421 metres, and the site of a 9.2-inch Mark X gun installed in 1901 with a range of nearly 26 kilometres.

It is named after General Charles O'Hara, Governor from 1795, who tried to build a watchtower here to keep an eye on the Spanish fleet at Cádiz. It did not work — Cádiz is far beyond visual range — and the locals called the ruin O'Hara's Folly. The battery that replaced it a century later was rather more effective.

Our tip

The highest point in the reserve, and with the cable car closed until 2027 everyone arrives on foot or by taxi. Worth it on a clear day; pointless in cloud, which happens more than you would think.

Where this rating comes from

This is the rating for the ticket, not for this site on its own.

4.1out of 5 for the Nature Reserve pass on GetYourGuide, from 504 reviews, shown unchanged

O'Hara's Battery is not sold or reviewed separately anywhere we can licence, so it carries no score of its own — and we would rather show you nothing than invent one. What we can tell you is how people rate the ticket that admits you to it, which is the thing you actually buy.

The facts

Elevation: 421 metres — the summit
Gun: 9.2-inch Mark X, installed 1901
Range: Nearly 26 km
Named after: General Charles O'Hara, Governor from 1795

What we read

One ticket · 17 sites

Also in the Nature Reserve

Your ticket covers all of these, not just this one. There is nothing further to buy once you are through the gate.

Plan a route through the reserve →

Around £45 per adult · under 5 free. What the ticket covers