Farringdon's Battery (previously Willis' Battery
[) is an ]artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...
in 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
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. Named after Sir Anthony Farrington, 1st Baronet, it is located above the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...
within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve
The Gibraltar Nature Reserve (formerly the Upper Rock Nature Reserve) is a protected nature reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar that covers over 40% of the country's land area. It was established as the Upper Rock Nature Rese ...
.
History
The site of Willis' Hill on which Farringdon's Battery was built came to notice during the Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar in 1727 when the Spanish besiegers attempted to mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
under the British positions on the Rock in an attempt to blow them up. Their plan was unsuccessful as the Rock proved too difficult to mine with the technology available at the time and the siege ended before completing their plan, although the journal of that siege said the mine had been loaded.[
This battery is first known to have been used during the ]Great Siege of Gibraltar
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...
which ran from 1779-83. The battery was named after Sir Anthony Farrington in 1790.[ Farrington was then a ]lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in charge of the artillery on the Rock. Farrington only briefly held this position but he had also been in Gibraltar from 1759 to 1763 before he had left to fight in the American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.[H. M. Chichester, ‘Farrington, Sir Anthony, first baronet (1742–1823)’, rev. P. G. W. Annis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 19 March 2013
/ref> The battery's name seems to have been corrupted to be spelt with a "d" early on as John Drinkwater Bethune
Colonel John Drinkwater Bethune (1762–1844), born John Drinkwater, was an English army officer, administrator and military historian, known for his account of the Great Siege of Gibraltar that came out in 1785.
Origins
Born at Latchford on 9 ...
spells it this way in his ''A history of the late siege of Gibraltar'' in 1786.Parson's Lodge Battery
Parson's Lodge Battery is a coastal battery and fort in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
History
The Moors had been in Gibraltar, and the Spanish had occupied The Rock for over 250 years. In 1704, the British took possession and, ...
near Rosia Bay (which had been found lying in Princess Lines) was originally from Farringdon's Battery as this is the only recorded historic position of this type of gun in the area.[
Modifications were made to the battery during the ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and a fixed beam searchlight
A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
was installed in its right casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
to illuminate a fixed area on the rock face.[ Various concrete additions are thought to have also been constructed during this period.]
Today
Today the battery is still in good order[ and is listed with the ]Gibraltar Heritage Trust
The Gibraltar Heritage Trust is a non-profit charity established by statute on 1 May 1989 to preserve and promote the cultural natural heritage of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
Funding and responsibilities
The Trust collaborates wit ...
.
References
Gallery
Farringdon's Battery 2.jpg
Farringdon's Battery 3.jpg
Farringdon's Battery 4.jpg
Farringdon's Battery 5.jpg
Farringdon's Battery 6.jpg
{{Fortifications of Gibraltar
Batteries in Gibraltar