Flat Bastion

The Flat Bastion is a bastion which projects southward from the Charles V Wall in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. At one time known as St. Jago's Bastion or the Baluarte de Santiago in Spanish, its construction was begun by the Spanish in the mid 16th century. The fortification formed part of the southern defences of the city of Gibraltar, together with Charles V Wall and, to its west, Southport Gate, Southport Ditch, and South Bastion. Flat Bastion takes its name from the angle that its south-facing walls form with each other and with the Charles V Wall. Within the eastern portion of the Flat Bastion is the Flat Bastion Magazine. The bastion and magazine within it are separately listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. The magazine has been restored and converted into a research facility.

History
The Flat Bastion (outline pictured in map at right) is a fortification in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. Its north end is along the Charles V Wall, from which it projects southward. The Prince Edward's Gate, Prince Edward's Road, and Trafalgar Cemetery are just to the west of the bastion (see maps below and at right). Flat Bastion Road extends to the bastion at the east side of its north face at the Charles V Wall and traverses the bastion. The road becomes Gardiner's Road at the south face of the bastion on its east side (see map below).

During the first quarter of the 16th century, a new type of military fortification emerged in northern Italy. It addressed the long-standing issue of "dead ground" near a fortress in which an opponent could hide. The fortification that was developed to resolve this problem was the angle bastion. This type of fortress was an angular, arrowhead-shaped projection from the line of a curtain wall. The bastion featured two faces and two flanks (sides). Cannons positioned on the flanks of a bastion could fire upon the ground adjacent to the curtain wall as well as that along the face of a nearby bastion, giving assailants no place to hide. To further protect the bastion, it was surrounded by a wide ditch, as well as a glacis (pictured below), the large area of cleared ground outside of the ditch which sloped up toward the bastion. The earth excavated from the ditch was also used in construction to fortify the bastion, absorbing the impact of gunfire.

The Spanish began construction of the Flat Bastion in the 16th century, in 1552, at which time it was referred to as St. Jago's or Santiago's Bastion (Baluarte de Santiago). Professor Clive Finlayson, Director of the Gibraltar Museum and the Heritage Division, indicated that the flat bastion was built by 1627. He speculated that Daniel Specklin may have designed it, as its outline was essentially identical to that in the architect's book, including the presence of a retired flank (pictured at lower edge of map at right). An earlier, 1608 map of Gibraltar by Cristóbal de Rojas includes the Flat Bastion and the South Bastion. However, England claimed that Spain had never finished the construction of the Flat Bastion. In 1859, six guns, four 12-pounders and two 12-pound carronades, were installed on the bastion. Four years later, in 1863, five 32-pounders were mounted on the fortification. The earliest defences of the southern end of the city of Gibraltar included the sixteenth century Charles V Wall, Flat Bastion, South Bastion, Southport Gate, and Southport Ditch.

The Flat Bastion and the South Bastion (Baluarte de Nuestra Señora del Rosario) were elements in the defence of the Africa Gate (Puerta de Africa), now referred to as the Southport Gate. Both the Southport Gate and the adjacent Southport Ditch, labeled as Puerta de Africa and Fosso, respectively, are depicted in a 1627 map of Gibraltar. The Southport Gate is the smallest of a trio of gates, west of the Flat Bastion and adjacent to Trafalgar Cemetery, that are known as the Southport Gates (pictured below). That smallest gate was the first of the three and was constructed by engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi at the same time that he designed the Charles V Wall, in 1552. The gate in the middle of the trio is ornamented with the arms of Queen Victoria and Governor of Gibraltar General Sir John Miller Adye and was built in 1883. The third gate is the largest and was constructed in 1967. Entitled the Referendum Gate, it commemorates the votes cast by Gibraltarians in the sovereignty referendum of 1967. The Southport Gates are listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. The name of the bastion refers to the faces of the fortification and not to the slope of the ground on which it was built. The Flat Bastion was constructed on sloping ground. A 1908 map of the Flat Bastion confirms that its south faces join at an obtuse angle which is relatively flat, and nearly parallel the Charles V Wall (pictured on map above). Finlayson indicated: "The Baluarte de Santiago is a flat bastion, with its faces almost parallel to the curtain wall on either side." The Flat Bastion includes the Flat Bastion Magazine within its eastern portion. The latter is now a geological research and exhibition facility. The bastion is a listed building with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. While St. Jago's Bastion has been said to be an early name for the Flat Bastion, it has a separate listing with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, next to those for the Flat Bastion and Flat Bastion Magazine.

The complex of defences also included Southport Ditch which was depicted in the 1627 map of Gibraltar by engineer Luis Bravo de Acuña. On that map which is held by the British Museum, the ditch is shown as a Fosso south of Southport Gate. It was a large trench which extended from the southwestern aspect of the sixteenth century South Bastion to the Flat Bastion at Prince Edward's Gate. The width of the ditch is now indicated by that of Ragged Staff Gates, which were initially a water gate. By the late nineteenth century, the ditch was utilised as an ordnance depot, with a magazine constructed in the 1880s. However, by the early twentieth century, that same magazine was used as a pump house, as confirmed on a 1908 OS map. After World War I and reclamation of land, the Ragged Staff Gates were opened to vehicular traffic. Gibraltar's Sunken Gardens, a nineteenth-century market garden, were a remnant of the western portion of the Southport Ditch, and were filled in at the time of the 1967 Referendum Gate. Trafalgar Cemetery represents an eastern remnant of the ditch.

Flat Bastion Magazine
The 1908 Ordnance Survey map also reveals the Flat Bastion Magazine within the east side of the bastion (above). The British version of the magazine dates back to at least 1873, as documented above one of the magazine's doorways (pictured at right). It is considered likely that a magazine was present at that site previously. The magazine was constructed on scree breccia, with underlying limestone bedrock. The road through the bastion is positioned just to the west of the magazine.

The British magazine was constructed to store about five thousands barrels of gunpowder. The main area has been described as a "room within a room" as it is surrounded by a narrow hallway. Numerous wood supports are still present in the magazine. The walls of the magazine were built with bricks to help absorb the impact of explosions. In addition, the oak doors of the magazine date back five or six centuries, well before the British version of the magazine.

Flat Bastion Magazine had been abandoned for years when Freddie Gomez undertook its restoration. Gomez, whose interests include both history and geology, converted the magazine to a geological research facility and exhibition centre. While much of the contents of the large collection of rocks and minerals are from his collection, other specimens have been donated. The men of the 150 (Yorkshire) Transport Regiment also spent a day performing repairs at the magazine. Gomez aspires to open the site to the public.

The Gibraltar Heritage Trust has presented the Gibraltar Heritage Award annually since 1993. In 2001, the restoration of the Flat Bastion Magazine earned Gomez the 2001 award for "his enthusiasm and single-minded dedication to the restoration and preservation of Flat Bastion Magazine." The Flat Bastion Magazine is also listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust (in addition to the listing for the bastion itself).

Prince Edward's Gate
Prince Edward's Gate (link to map below) extends from the northwest corner of the bastion and overlooks Trafalgar Cemetery to the southwest and the former St. Jago's Cemetery to the northwest. It was constructed adjacent to the retired flank and behind the orillon of the bastion's west wall, which aided in the gate's defence. This is demonstrated at the lower edge of the 1908 OS map (above). The gate was named after Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. The prince was the fourth son of the King George III and, later, the father of Queen Victoria. At the time that the gate was opened in the Charles V Wall, in 1790, the prince was serving with the military in Gibraltar. He later returned as Governor of Gibraltar in 1802. Despite leaving Gibraltar the following year, the Duke declined to resign the governorship. Subsequently, a series of lieutenant governors served until the Duke's death in 1820. The Prince Edward's Gate is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.