The
King's Lines
are a walled rock-cut trench on the lower slopes of the north-west face of the
Rock of Gibraltar
. Forming part of the
Northern Defences
of the
fortifications of Gibraltar
, they were originally created some time during the periods when
Gibraltar
was under the control of the
Moors
or Spanish. They are depicted in a 1627 map by Don
Luis Bravo de Acuna
, which shows their parapet following a
tenaille
trace. The lines seem to have been altered subsequently, as maps from the start of the 18th century show a more erratic course leading from the
Landport
, Gibraltar's main land entrance, to the
Round Tower
, a fortification at their western end.
[1]
A 1704 map by Johannes Kip calls the Lines the "Communication Line of the Round Tower".
[2]
In 1704, an
Anglo
-
Dutch
force
captured Gibraltar
in the name of
Charles, Archduke of Austria
who claimed the
crown of Spain
during the
War of the Spanish Succession
. The Lines were named after him. They saw use during the
Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar
(1704?5), when the Spanish and their French allies succeeded in breaching the defences but were repelled; during the
Thirteenth Siege
(1727), when they were bombarded by the Spanish; and during the
Great Siege
(1779?83), when they were again under Spanish bombardment.
[1]
During the tenure of
William Green
as Gibraltar's Senior Engineer from 1761 to 1783, the Lines were repaired, improved and fortified, and the cliffs below were scarped to make them impossible to climb.
[3]
Facing west towards the
Bay of Gibraltar
, they were intended to make it possible to
enfilade
any attacking force trying to reach the gates of Gibraltar; they are connected to the Queen's Lines via a communication gallery completed on 13 September 1782.
[4]
Fleche
Causeway
Forbes'
Barrier
Bayside
Barrier
Clickable map of the Northern Defences of Gibraltar in 1810
(north is to the left)
Following the Great Siege, the British bored a tunnel called the
Hanover Gallery
to connect the King's Lines to the Landport near
No. 3 Castle Battery
. A communication trench was also dug to the nearby
Prince's Lines
. Behind the King's Lines, the British dug a tunnel, called the
King's Gallery
, which ran parallel with the Lines to link them to the
Queen's Lines
and could be used as a bombproof shelter.
[1]
Together with the Landport Front defences, the three sets of Lines constituted such a formidable obstacle that the Spanish called the landward approach to Gibraltar
el boca de fuego
, the "mouth of fire".
[5]
A British clergyman, William Robertson, recorded his impressions of the Lines from his visit there in 1841:
The lower lines consist of two lines of excavations, one above the other, communicating by subterranean passages and stairs. They are much shorter than the
upper lines
, and as excavations less remarkable, but as batteries they are far more formidable, and are considered exquisite specimens of fortification. The batteries here are not subterranean, like this in the upper lines, but stand out from the face of the rock; but the communications are chiefly excavated through the rock, in which there is also hollowed out a spacious hall for a mess-room, and, in fact, a complete barrack for the soldiers.
[5]
The King's Lines were used as an artillery platform for over 200 years. During the
Anglo-Spanish War of 1762?3
, five
9-pdrs
and one
6-pdr
were recorded as being mounted on the Lines. Two 14-gun positions were established on the Lines for the Great Siege, at a point which was called either King's Battery or Black Battery.
During World War II
the Lines were redeveloped with a second wall built behind the parapet and the resulting space roofed over, to provide positions for machine guns and
Hotchkiss anti-tank guns
.
[1]
-
The Communication Line of the Round Tower, 1704
-
1908 Ordnance Survey map of the King's Lines
-
Second World War casemated trench in the King's Lines
The Lines are now abandoned, overgrown and not officially open to the public, although they have been described as "not merely one of the most, [but] perhaps
the
most, hauntingly vivid experiences of a visit to Gibraltar . . . [standing] comparison with some of the most famous military sites in the world."
[6]
As John Harris of the
Royal Institute of British Architects
has put it, they are "capable of providing one of the great architectural experiences in the western world . . . the atmosphere of the Great Siege is vivid and evocative in the extreme."
[7]
The Gibraltar Conservation Society proposed a £500,000 scheme in the early 1980s to preserve and reopen the Lines and the surrounding batteries, galleries and bombproof magazines,
[6]
but the scheme did not go ahead and the Lines have continued to be neglected and vandalised despite being scheduled as an Ancient Monument.
[8]
It is possible to visit the King's Lines with guided tours, the area has been cleaned up and prepared for this.
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Allan, George (1982). "Safeguards for Gibraltar's Heritage".
Save Gibraltar's Heritage
. London: Save Britain's Heritage.
ISBN
0-905978-13-7
.
- Binney, Marcus; Martin, Kit (1982). "Tourism, Conservation and Development".
Save Gibraltar's Heritage
. London: Save Britain's Heritage.
ISBN
0-905978-13-7
.
- Fa, Darren;
Finlayson, Clive
(2006).
The Fortifications of Gibraltar
. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
ISBN
1-84603-016-1
.
- Hughes, Quentin; Migos, Athanassios (1995).
Strong as the Rock of Gibraltar
. Gibraltar: Exchange Publications.
OCLC
48491998
.
- Kenyon, Edward Ranulph (1938).
Gibraltar Under Moor, Spaniard, and Briton
. London: Methuen.
- Kip, Johannes (1704).
An exact Plan of the town, castle, moles and bay of Gibraltar
. London: Edward Castle.
- Robertson, William (1845).
Journal of a clergyman during a visit to the Peninsula in the summer and autumn of 1841
. London: W. Blackwood & Sons.