King's Bastion is a coastal

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

on the western front of the fortifications 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 ...

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 ...

, protruding from the

Line Wall Curtain The Line Wall Curtain is a defensive curtain wall that forms part of the fortifications of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Description The Line Wall runs from the North Bastion south along the western coast of the town to Engineer ...

. It is located between

Line Wall Road Line Wall Road is a road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is one of the main roads leading into the city centre. It runs immediately east of the Line Wall Curtain in a north–south direction, connecting Smith Dorrien Avenue ne ...

and Queensway and overlooks the Bay of Gibraltar . It played a crucial role in defending The Rock 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 ...

. In more recent history the bastion was converted into a generating station which powered Gibraltar's electricity needs. Today it continues to serve the community as Gibraltar's

leisure centre A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people ...

Design and early history

The Siege of Gibraltar, 1782 by George Carter

King's Bastion is located at the junction of Queensway and

Reclamation Road Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid a ...

on the western side of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The bastion is believed to have started as a

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

but was later developed by the Spanish in 1575 to become the es, link=no, Plataforma de San Lorenzo. Construction began in 1773, when

Lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Robert Boyd (1710–1794), then Governor of Gibraltar, laid the first stone and declared: "This is the first stone of a work which I name the King's Bastion: may it be as gallantly defended, as I know it will be ably executed." The bastion was designed by

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 colone ...

Sir William Green, Chief Engineer of the Soldier Artificer Company which later became the Corps. of

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. At the time it was built, the King's Bastion was the most important of Gibraltar's defences on the west. Its arrowhead shape extended from the curtain wall fortification, known as the Line Wall, along Gibraltar's western coast into the Bay of Gibraltar. It was consistent with traditional notions of a bastion. It included casemates, which fulfilled the need for

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

, and housed 800 men. Less than a decade later, in 1782, King's Bastion served ably as the command post in the defence against the attacks of the Early modern France, French and Enlightenment in Spain, Spanish during the

. It was from the bastion, that the "Grand Attack" of the Spanish floating battery, floating batteries was orchestrated. The floating batteries had been adapted to withstand heavy shelling and were anchored only or so off the Rock. Designed by French engineer Jean Claude le Michaud d'Arcon they were equipped with specially reinforced hulls, irrigation pumps to quench any fires and pitched roofs to protect against plunging fire from shot. These modifications were thought to have made the ships unsinkable. The garrison quickly realised that heated shot, red hot shots known as "hot potatoes", were extremely effective against the floating batteries and they were all eventually destroyed by fire. It was from King's Bastion that the first "hot potatoes" were fired at the Spanish floating batteries. Twenty-five guns had been installed in the bastion by 1859. They included seventeen 32-pounders, six 8-inch smoothbore weapons, and two 10-inch howitzers. In 1874, the embrasures at the front of the bastion were eliminated to permit installation of five muzzle-loading rifles (RMLs). All five RMLs had been mounted by 1878, where they remained until 1902. By the late 19th century, the bastion no longer served as a principal military defence. The turn of the century was remarkable for the land reclamation, reclamation of land in front of King's Bastion, as part of the new dockyard. The bastion was Repurposing, repurposed, and the casemates, no longer needed as barracks, housed coal stores. In addition, the area's first electricity-generating station was built there, with construction starting in 1896. A plaque ''(pictured below)'' installed on the northern façade of King's Bastion acknowledges the role of General George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, the Governor of Gibraltar, in his command during the Great Siege. In addition, Major General Sir Robert Boyd was at his request interred inside a vault at the bastion's base, which he had included at the time of construction. However, there is no record of the exact location of the grave. A memorial stone was placed within the King's Chapel, Gibraltar, King's Chapel but the marble stone in the King's Bastion read:

"Within the walls of this bastion are deposited the mortal remains of the late General Sir Robert Boyd, K.B., governor of this fortress, who died on 13 May 1794, aged 84 years. By him the first stone of the bastion was laid in 1773, and under his supervision it was completed, when, on that occasion, in his address to the troops, he expressed a wish to see it resist the combined efforts of France and Spain, which wish was accomplished on 13 Sept. 1782, when, by the fire of this bastion, the flotilla expressly designed for the capture of this fortress were utterly destroyed."

20th century

The bastion underwent further modifications in the 20th century. Concrete bunkers were constructed and the structure became a observation post, lookout post. In addition, a Ordnance QF 6 pounder, 6 pounder anti-tank gun was mounted. After the 20th century wars, the bastion also became a saluting Artillery battery, battery, employing four Ordnance QF 25 pounder, 25 pounders. The bastion's years as a military structure came to an end in 1961, when the ''King's Bastion Power Station'', designed by local architect Natalio Langdon was built adjacent to the bastion's northern façade and opened in October of that year. While the previous electricity-generating station was under military authority, the ''King's Bastion Power Station'' was under the civil authority of the Government of Gibraltar. oil depot, Oil storage and administration offices, among other facilities required for the day-to-day running of the station were housed within the vaults of the bastion itself. However, the generating station became obsolete during the late 1980s and closed down during the early 1990s.

King's Bastion Leisure Centre

The ''King's Bastion Power Station'' was demolished in October 2005, during which the original façade of the bastion was revealed. King's Bastion is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. Alexis Almeida, Chairman of the Trust indicated that the bastion was "the last major battery built in this style and so is very important. We would love to restore King's Bastion to its former glory, it is magnificent and deserves to be seen." After extensive refurbishment, the ''King's Bastion Leisure Centre'' opened on 28 February 2008. It was officially inaugurated as a leisure centre on 1 March 2008 by the then Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana. Facilities include, ice skating, movie theatre, cinemas, bowling, arcade games, Health club, fitness gym, al fresco dining, youth lounge, internet area and a nightclub. Following the demolition of the adjacent modern building which housed part of the generating station, the bastion was redeveloped for leisure activities while still maintaining the integrity of the bastion architecture as an important heritage site. The ice skating rink and cinema are housed on the upper level. The new building has not compromised the structure of the bastion, as the main part of the leisure centre sits within the bastion's courtyard and is only lightly tied to the walls of the historic building. Old maps, photographs and diagrams on the history of the bastion are on display at various locations within the centre.

Gallery

File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre aerial view.jpg, Aerial view of King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion west façade wide angle.jpg, Wide angle view of the western façade of the King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre barracks exterior.jpg, Barracks at King's Bastion. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre left flank (south).jpg, Cannon on south facing left flank of the King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre displays.jpg, Historical displays inside King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre casemates interior.jpg, Restaurant in casemates at King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre wash room.jpg, Wash room inside King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion Leisure Centre hoist.jpg, Original hoist inside King's Bastion Leisure Centre. File:King's Bastion refurbishment RML 10 inch 18 ton gun 3.jpg, Refurbishment of an RML 10-inch 18 ton gun at King's Bastion. File:King's Bastion refurbishment rope mantlets.jpg, Rope mantlets at King's Bastion. File:King's Bastion refurbishment courtyard.jpg, Refurbishment of the courtyard at King's Bastion. File:King's Bastion Plaque.png, Plaque on King's Bastion northern façade.

References

External links

Short video of King's Bastion

Official website of King's Bastion Leisure Centre
{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Bastions in Gibraltar Coastal artillery Cinemas and movie theaters Power stations in Gibraltar Infrastructure in Gibraltar