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Willis' Battery
Willis' Battery is a former artillery battery (now known as Princess Royal's Battery) on the north side of the British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ... of Gibraltar. It overlooks the isthmus between Spain and Gibraltar. The battery was originally built during the period of Spanish Gibraltar, Spanish rule over Gibraltar and was known as ''Batería de San Joaquín''. It was renamed, as was the adjoining plateau, after a British artillery officer called Willis who distinguished himself during the 1704 Capture of Gibraltar. The battery was the first British battery on Willis' Plateau, mounting two guns, and saw active service during the Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar in 1727. Although it was above sea level, it proved vulnerable to Spanish bombardm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications Of Gibraltar
The Gibraltar peninsula, located at the far southern end of Iberia, has great strategic importance as a result of its position by the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. It has repeatedly been contested between European and North African powers and has endured fourteen sieges since it was first settled in the 11th century. The peninsula's occupants – Moors, Spanish, and British – have built successive layers of fortifications and defences including walls, bastions, casemates, gun batteries, magazines, tunnels and galleries. At their peak in 1865, the fortifications housed around 681 guns mounted in 110 batteries and positions, guarding all land and sea approaches to Gibraltar. Hughes & Migos, p. 91 The fortifications continued to be in military use until as late as the 1970s and by the time tunnelling ceased in the late 1960s, over of galleries had been dug in an area of only . Gibraltar's fortifications are clustered in three main a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
