The Great North Road is a large

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. It was constructed by the British military during World War II inside the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...

and remains property of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

to this day. The road allowed lorries to travel from the north to the south of Gibraltar entirely within the Rock. The tunnel still contains the remains of World War II buildings such as

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s, kitchens, offices as well as a generating station and period

anti-submarine net An anti-submarine net or anti-submarine boom is a boom placed across the mouth of a harbour or a strait for protection against submarines. Net laying ships would be used to place and remove the nets. The US Navy used anti-submarine nets in the ...

Background

During World War II the British military constructed an underground bombproof city for 16,500 troops with enough supplies to last three months, entirely within the Rock of Gibraltar. Facilities included a

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...

, a

generating station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, a water desalination plant, a hospital, a frozen food store, a bakery, ammunition magazines, a vast

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...

(REME) shed where damaged vehicles and equipment could be repaired and roads. The road was built within a tunnel started when the 180 Tunnelling Company of the

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

was created in 1940. The following year the 180 Company was joined by the 170 and 178 Companies.

The road tunnel

The tunnel starts at

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

behind the old Casino at

Europa Road Europa Road is a major road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It begins near Trafalgar Cemetery and Trafalgar Road and connects the centre with the southern tip of the territory at Europa Point. Along its way the road passes The R ...

and travels north behind the Rock Hotel to Brigade Headquarters and Doncaster Adit. At this point the road forks into several other minor tunnels dug to house kitchens and an ammunition magazine. The entrance to

Wilson's Cave Wilson's Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Location A 1944 map of the ''Batteries and underground tunnels of Gibraltar'' by Colonel Joseph Marie Emile "Pop" Gareze shows Wilson's Cave n ...

is also located here having been discovered while carrying out blasting the rock during the magazine's construction. The wide road continues north where it joins the Raglan Battery Shelter. The tunnel would allow military lorries to travel within the Rock. The Great North Road ends at the now abandoned Calpe Hole Generating station; however, the tunnel system continues all the way to the north face of Gibraltar where the World War II tunnels join the Galleries dug out during the latter part of the 18th century, now known as the

Great Siege Tunnels The Great Siege Tunnels in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, also known as the Upper Galleries, are a series of tunnels inside the northern end of the Rock of Gibraltar. They were dug out from the solid limestone by the British dur ...

. With the addition of

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

in 1944 it was also possible to travel from the tunnel system within the

Northern Defences Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

down the complete length of the Rock to emerge on the southeast side of Gibraltar. After 1941 much of the

spoil Spoil or spoils may refer to: * Spoils, the proceeds of looting taken from an enemy or victim * Overburden, or spoil, the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation * Spoil, material removed by earthworks * Spoi ...

from mining was used for

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

into the

Bay of Gibraltar The Bay of Gibraltar (), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait of Gibraltar and the Med ...

to extend the runway of what is now

Gibraltar International Airport Gibraltar International Airport, previously known as North Front Airport, is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway and aerodrome is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and operated by the Ro ...

to long and later to in length with a width of . Tunnelling created about 7,500 tons of spoil a day and the surplus was used for other land reclamation projects. The runway was required in order to carry out

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

, the allied attack on French

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, from Gibraltar. In November 1942, U.S. General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

set up his headquarters within the

Admiralty Tunnel Admiralty Tunnel is a tunnel in Gibraltar.Eley, Colonel D.M. (1957). ''The Gibraltar Tunnels''. The tunnel was used for the purpose of bringing stone from the east side. During the Second World War the tunnel contained an operations centre where ...

to plan the Allied invasion of North Africa which would lead with the help of Montgomery's 8th Army to capturing the whole of North Africa.

After World War II

In 1956 a dinner was served within one of the Great North Road's large side chambers to celebrate the centenary of the formation of the Royal Engineers. It was an apt celebration as the Royal Engineers can trace their history back to the

Soldier Artificer Company The Soldier Artificer Company was a unit of the British Army raised in Gibraltar in 1772 to work on improving the fortifications there. It was the Army's first unit of military artificers and labourers – the existing Corps of Engineers was enti ...

which was formed on the Rock to dig Gibraltar’s first tunnels during its Great Siege. Today the tunnel system remains

property and they are used to train troops for subterranean work. Guided tours can be arranged to view the remains of the World War II installations such as the kitchens,

s, the abandoned generating station and anti-submarine nets which would have been used to close off

Gibraltar Harbour Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean (Strait of Gibraltar). It has an area of ...

to protect the Allied ships berthed there. The approximately two-hour tour normally starts at Maida Vale, at an entrance behind the old casino on

, and proceeds through several large chambers visiting Brigade Headquarters and continues for almost arriving at the Calpe Hole Generating Station.

References

: {{Coord, 36.1444, -5.3491, region:GI, format=dms, display=title Tunnels in Gibraltar Road tunnels