Zoca Flank 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 ...

on the west 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 ...

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 ...

Name

The unusual name of the battery comes from the Moorish name for a market place, ''soko''. The area around the battery was used as a meat market until the complaints about the smell made it necessary to stop butchery at this location. The rest of the market persisted and ''Market Lane'' records this use.

History

Zoca was originally a small bastion between the two larger Orange and

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 ...

s. This had been the site of a fortification since Gibraltar's Moorish period when there was a tower here on the old Moorish city wall. In 1627 when Gibraltar was under Spanish control, the tower was reduced and by the time of the Great Siege (1779-1783) it had become a broad platform incorporating an artillery battery. Its Spanish-era appearance is shown in a 1627 drawing by Luis Bravo de Acuna, and John Drinkwater depicts its rebuilt form in his contemporary account of the Great Siege. During construction of the battery the line of defence was moved 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 ...

Prince Albert's Front Prince Albert's Front is a curtain wall that formerly comprised part of the seafront fortifications of Gibraltar. It runs between the King's Bastion and Orange Bastion. The Front was constructed in 1842 after a report by Major General Sir John Th ...

. Today an underground garage has been constructed in the gap but visitors can still see the remains of the original round tower. The battery was upgraded between 1877–79 with the installation, at a cost of £4,095, of a 12.5 inch

rifled muzzle-loading A muzzle-loading rifle is a muzzle-loaded small arm or artillery piece that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore. The term "rifled muzzle loader" typically is used to describe a type of artillery piece, although it is technically accurate fo ...

(RML) gun installed in a casemate built on top of the platform. The gun was protected by an iron shield known as a "

Gibraltar Shield ) , 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 = Gibra ...

", like two similar RML guns on

and Wellington Front. During World War 2 the Anti-Aircraft Searchlight at King's Bastion was moved here, there was also a Gun Laying Radar installed. The Catholic Community Centre was built on top of the battery in 1969 after

Charles Caruana Charles Caruana CBE (9 October 1932, Gibraltar – 1 October 2010, Gibraltar"Former ...

raised funds for its construction via the Gibraltar International Song Festival. Although the battery itself remained intact, the 12.5 inch gun was removed from its mounting and relocated to a nearby position on the ground. In 2010 plans to demolish the community centre and expose the battery were announced. The news was welcomed by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.

References

{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Batteries in Gibraltar