Bastions defending Gibraltar over the years

Monday, January 17, 2022 - 09:36

FOCUS by RYAN ASQUEZ

SOUTH BASTION
South Bastion was built during the later 16th century. It was constructed as a result of a need to update Gibraltar’s medieval defences, especially after the city had been sacked by Barbary corsairs in 1540. At the time it was known as ‘el Baluarte de Nuestra Señora del Rosario’ (the Bastion of Our Lady of the Rosary). 

There was a nearby church dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary (today the Income Tax Office), and it may be that the bastion was named after this building.
The bastion would have been upgraded in the decades following the Anglo-Dutch conquest of the Rock in 1704, after which it was renamed South Bastion. Lieutenant Governor Robert Boyd was present on the Bastion encouraging the troops during the defence against the Franco-Spanish floating batteries in September 1782 at the time of the Great Siege (1779-83).

MORE IN PANORAMA PRINT EDITION

17-01-22 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR