Harding's Battery is a restored

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 ...

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 ...

. It is located at

Europa Point Europa Point (Spanish language, Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of ...

and includes the Europa Sunken Magazine that is now used as a visitor centre.

History

This battery is on

at the southern end of Gibraltar. Europa had been the site of earlier Spanish and Moorish fortifications as well as those constructed by the British which included walls, scarping and the batteries.

Europa Advance Batteries Europa Advance Batteries were a group of three artillery battery, artillery batteries in the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. They are located north east from Europa Point. Description The group of batteries ...

Europa Pass Batteries Europa Pass Batteries are a group of artillery batteries in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. They are located north west of Europa Point in the south of Gibraltar, just off Europa Road. In 1859 the battery had seven guns that looked ...

Europa Batteries The Europa Batteries are a group of artillery batteries in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Facing the North African coast, they are the most southerly batteries in Gibraltar and were built to cover ships approaching from the Mediterr ...

, Eliott's Battery,

Europa Advance Battery Europa Advance Batteries were a group of three artillery battery, artillery batteries in the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. They are located north east from Europa Point. Description The group of batteries ...

, Half Way Battery,

Lighthouse Battery Lighthouse Battery was an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Description Lighthouse Battery had four Anti-Aircraft guns during World War II. It was the penultimate battery at the southern end of Gibraltar which i ...

, Lady Louisa's Battery and

Woodford's Battery Woodford's Battery was an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located at Europa Flats between the Defensible Barracks and the ''Officer's Barracks'' and Eliott's Battery. The battery was built before 1738 ...

were supported by a local barracks. Harding's battery was built on the remains of the 7th Europa Battery in 1859. The battery was named after Sir George Harding, who was Chief Engineer in 1844 and had been involved with Sir Charles Holloway in the 1810 destruction of the Spanish fortifications including Fort St. Felipe and Fort St. Barbara.History of the Royal Sappers and Miners
/ref> At that time Europa Point was known as Harding's Point. For a few years the battery had two 18 pounder guns but these were replaced in 1863 with two 32 pounders. Five years later Harding's was given a Rifled Muzzle Loading gun as part of the recommendations put forward by Colonel

William Jervois Lieutenant General Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois (10 September 1821 – 17 August 1897) was a British military engineer and diplomat. After joining the British Army in 1839, he saw service, as a second captain, in South Africa. In 18 ...

who was inspecting and advised on the defences of British colonies including

and the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

from 1865.Robin W. Winks, 'Jervois, Sir William Francis Drummond (1821–1897)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jervois-sir-william-francis-drummond-3856/text6133, accessed 24 April 2013. Jervois's 1868 recommendations took time and the approval was not given until 1876 by which time the 9 inch gun had become a larger 12.5 inch 38 ton RML gun which could fire 800 pound projectiles. This gun was commissioned in 1878 although it was feared that the gun may be difficult to defend in its exposed position. In 1904, a plan was put forward to move a 9.2-inch Mk 1 coastal defence gun from

Inchkeith Inchkeith (from the gd, Innis Cheith) is an island in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, administratively part of the Fife council area. Inchkeith has had a colourful history as a result of its proximity to Edinburgh and strategic location for u ...

in Scotland to Harding's Battery, but it was never implemented. The large RML was eventually removed and from the start of World War II this battery was the location of a

Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

anti-aircraft gun.

Conservation

Harding's battery had been abandoned and buried under a mound of sand for years but it was unearthed and refurbished as part of a makeover of the whole of the Europa point area to include leisure facilities starting in March 2010. Harding's Battery was found to be in a condition where it could be restored and the magazine below was converted into a visitor centre with displays providing information on local history. The £4.4 million work on Europa Point was officially re-opened in October 2011 by the then

Chief Minister of Gibraltar The chief minister of Gibraltar is the head of His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar who is elected by the Gibraltar Parliament, and formally appointed by the governor of Gibraltar, representative of the British monarch. The incumbent chief ...

Peter Caruana Sir Peter Richard Caruana, (born 15 October 1956) is a Gibraltarian former politician who served as Chief Minister of Gibraltar from 1996 to 2011 and Leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) from 1991 to 2013. Caruana is a barrister by pr ...

Re-installation of a gun

In 2013 the restoration was made complete when a 12.5 inch 38 ton RML gun (actually weighing ) found half buried at the southern entrance to

Gibdock Gibdock is a shipyard in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It formerly operated as a Royal Navy Dockyard. Royal Navy Dockyard HM Dockyard, Gibraltar was first developed in the 18th century. After the Capture of Gibraltar, victuall ...

dating from the 1870s and identical to the battery's original gun, was installed on a replica carriage at Harding's Battery. This was made possible due to 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 ...

who had organised and partly funded the construction of a replacement gun carriage.

References

{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Batteries in Gibraltar