The Line Wall Curtain is a
defensive curtain wall that forms part 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 ...
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 ...
.
Description
The Line Wall runs from the
North Bastion south along the western coast of the town to
Engineer Battery
Engineer Battery was an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
Description
Engineer Battery was at the southern end of the Line Wall Curtain which starts at the North Bastion. The battery was at the end of what was the ...
, just south of the
South Mole. It protected the town from bombardment from ships in the
Bay of Gibraltar and from troops landing from the sea. The Line Wall Curtain, as it stands, was built by the
British in the 18th century running north–south as part of the Line Wall western defenses.
History
The wall incorporates, and is to some extent built upon, older
Spanish and
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 ...
fragments. The earlier wall from the
Moorish period incorporated square and round towers along its length, whose traces were still visible in the 1770s. It was pierced by clay pipes that carried water from a well down the slopes, used for supplying water to galleys moored in the bay. An
aqueduct ran along the Line Wall, enclosed in its masonry, to the Waterport, where it replenished a reservoir from which water for the galleys was drawn. The Waterport was where the galleys were built (now
Grand Casemates Square
Grand Casemates Square (colloquially Casemates Square or Casemates) is the larger of the two main squares within the city centre of Gibraltar (the other being John Mackintosh Square). The square takes its name from the British-built Grand Casema ...
), and where they could be anchored alongside the
Old Mole
''Old Mole'' was a radical New Left oriented underground newspaper published in Cambridge, Massachusetts from September 1968 to September 1970. ''Old Mole'' was continued by a second volume titled ''The Mole'', which published five issues from Nov ...
that extended from the shore to the north.
As of 1836, the main defensive position in the Line Wall was the
King's Bastion
King's Bastion is a coastal bastion on the western front of the fortifications of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, protruding from the Line Wall Curtain. It is located between Line Wall Road and Queensway and overlooks the Bay of ...
, at the centre of the
harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
. This was built by General Sir
Robert Boyd in 1772 on the site of an old Moorish gate that had been replaced by a Spanish
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 ...
. It played a key role in the defence of Gibraltar during its
Great Siege (1779–1783), providing the platform from which
red hot shot was fired at the
floating batteries
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.
History
Use of timber rafts loaded with cannon by Danish defenders of Copenhagen a ...
of the Spanish forces. At that time, the main sea defenses consisted on the North,
Montagu,
Orange, King's and
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
bastions, with the line wall curtain connecting these positions.
In 1841 General Sir John Jones assessed the defenses at Gibraltar and made recommendations for improvements that set the pattern for many years. This included building new white
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
limestone walls along the Line Wall, which was straightened and in some places relocated to make room for new
batteries
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
.
References
Citations
Sources
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City walls in Gibraltar
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