Gibraltar Places Then & Now: P – T
1930s – Parliament Lane – 2018


Photo info
View from Line Wall
Picture (L): 1930s – photo by L. Roisin (Lucien Roisin Besnard)
Picture (R): June 2018
Parson’s Lodge Battery is a coastal battery and fort in Gibraltar.
History
By 1744, there were over 20 guns around Rosia Bay. Parson’s Lodge Battery was originally named the 9th Rosia Battery. The Parson’s Lodge name is first recorded in 1761 and reputedly refers to the dwelling of the parson of a church and hermitage named St. John the Green. At the height of its military importance, the battery had three 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns that guarded the approaches to Rosia Bay, which is the only natural harbour on The Rock. The guns were installed in 1884. These guns fired a 400-pound shell over two and a half miles.
Beneath the fort lies a narrow tunnel that at one time housed a one-metre gauge railway but which is now a road tunnel. The tunnel was one of two originally created to take large quantities of quarried stone from Camp Bay to the harbour’s South Mole when it was constructed in the 1880’s.
The battery was used during both World Wars and, in 1941 it had anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns as well as anti-aircraft searchlights installed.
Photo info
Picture (L): 1879
Picture (R): June 2018
2009 – (Old) Police Barracks – 2018


The Police Barracks were originally built in 1909 to accommodate the families of the Gibraltar Police Force, which was formed in the 1830s.
On 23rd April, 2015, the Development and Planning Commission approved plans for the refurbishment of the Police Barracks.
Photo info
Picture (L): April 2009
Picture (R): June 2018
c.1930 – (Old) Police Station & Baths – 2018


Photo info
Picture (L): circa 1930
Picture (R): June 2018
The Gibraltar Post Office has been running for over 150 years. In 1857 the Overland Post Office merged with the Packet Agency.
The first stamps went on sale in September 1857 and a year later a new building was completed and opened at 104 Main Street. This remains the main post office in Gibraltar today.
History
In 1886 the local colonial authorities took over control of the Gibraltar Post Office and were able to issue their own stamps.Initially they overprinted Bermuda stamps but by December they had their own design.
However, they still sold Spanish stamps if required and between 1889 and 1898 the post office sold Gibraltar stamps valued in pesetas as this was the currency in circulation.
For the first fifty years, the Gibraltar Post Office had responsibility for the post office not only in Gibraltar but also for the British postal service in Morocco. This ended in 1907.
Photo info
Picture (L): January 1879
Picture (R): June 2018
Built in 1932 by John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, the Rock Hotel is located along Europa Road and overlooks the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens.
Photo info
Picture (L): 1930s – L. Roisin
Picture (R): June 2018
The foundation stone was laid on March 25, 1874, attended by Félix María Arrieta y Llano, Bishop of Cadiz, and John Baptist Scandella, Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar, although it was not formally blessed until July 15, 1888.
Photo info
Picture (L): late 19th century – (1940 publication National Geographic )
Picture (R): July 2018
St. Andrew’s Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It was opened in 1854 and whilst originally built primarily to serve as a garrison church for Scottish soldiers based in Gibraltar, today it serves the wider Presbyterian and Reformed Christian community of all nationalities.
History
The foundation stone of St Andrews Church was laid in October 1853 and it opened for worship in May 1854.
At that time there was a large military presence on the Rock which included a substantial number of Scottish regiments, and the church was built by the efforts of Presbyterians who wished their own place of worship.
Photo info
Picture (L): Early 20th century
Picture (R): 2009 – Church area cleared for visit of Princess Ann (photo source: St. Andrew’s Church)
This historical sandstone arch is the original entrance to a 16th-century Spanish church located at the southern limits of the old town.
History
The ornate sandstone arch is set into the western façade of St. Jago’s Barracks at the southern end of Main Street, near Southport Gates. The arch is all that remains of the 16th century Spanish Hermitage of Our Lady of the Rosary (Spanish: Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Rosario). When the British converted the church into military stores, following the 1704 Capture of Gibraltar, the arch was kept and set into the façade of the larger barracks. It was once thought that the arch had been relocated to St. Jago’s Barracks from the Spanish: Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza (Church of Our Lady of the Head) in Villa Vieja (Old Town), within the precinct of the Moorish Castle, but it has since been proven that this was a misunderstanding and that the arch has always been in situ. Anton van den Wyngaerde’s 1567 detailed panoramic sketch of Gibraltar and its bay depicts the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Rosary at the southern limits of the city walls.
Conservation
St. Jago’s Arch is defined as a Category B Listed Structure by the Government of Gibraltar under section 40 of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust Act of 1989. On 26 June 2013, Minister for Culture and Heritage Steven Linares MP, announced in his budget speech that a conservation project being carried out on the walls surrounding Southport Gates was being extended to include the restoration of St. Jago’s Arch. The project will include information and lighting of the monument.
Photo info
Picture (L): January 1920
Picture (R): June 2018
The original gate here were constructed in 1552 by the Spanish and additional entrance (New Southport Gate) was built by the British in 1883. The most recent gate was built in 1967.
Original Southport Gate
The Southport Gate was formerly known as the Africa Gate, was the earliest of the trio of gates in the Charles V Wall. It was constructed by Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi in 1552, under the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Southport Gate bears the Royal Arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as well as the coat of arms of Gibraltar. The gate was depicted in a 1627 map of Gibraltar by Spanish engineer Luis Bravo de Acuña. On the map now held by the British Museum, the Southport Gate and the adjacent Southport Ditch were labeled in Spanish as Puerta de África (English: Africa The Southport Ditch was a large trench which extended along the south side of Charles V Wall from the southwestern end of the South Bastion to the Flat Bastion at Prince Edward’s Gate.
New Southport Gate
The centre gate was constructed in 1883. The New Southport Gate was opened in the Charles V Wall to improve the flow of traffic. It was constructed during the reign of Queen Victoria and the term of Governor of Gibraltar General Sir John Miller Adye. It is ornamented with the coat of arms of the governor and that of Gibraltar, over which is the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria.
In the 19th century, the Southport Ditch was the site of an ordnance depot. In the 1880s, the South Bastion featured four new rifled muzzle loading guns. A magazine was built in Southport Ditch at that time to store the ammunition needed for the new guns. Today, one of the guns is mounted just inside the Southport Gates. By 1908, the magazine had been converted to use as a pumphouse.
Photo info
Picture (L): 1860s – The single pedestrian gate on the left of the picture dated 1867 had only just been built. (photo by George Washington Wilson)
Picture (R): circa 1883 – The original Gate and the new one dating from 1883. The single pedestrian passage dates the photograph between 1883 & 1899. (photo by George Washington Wilson)
Photo info
Picture (L): 1930s
Picture (R): June 2018
1950s – Southport Gate – 2018


Photo info
Looking south towards Southport Gates
Picture (L): 1950s
Picture (R): June 2018
Work started on building the theatre in 1845, and the new Theatre Royal opened on 10th May 1847.
The theatre had a number of renovations and facade changes during it’s life.
It had a capacity for around 1000 people and was a very popular entertainment venue.
Theatre closes
Due to safety concerns, the then Gibraltar Governor, Lord Napier, shut down the theatre in 1882. It remained closed until 1891.
It was closed again in 1906 on the recommendation made by the Sanitary Commissioners that the performance licence should be withdrawn due to the filthy conditions.
The theatre was reconstructed in 1911 and reopened on 16th March 1914.
The Theatre Royal closed down for the final time in the mid 1980’s. The site was demolished and rejuvenated into a park and car park.
It had a capacity for around 1000 people and was a very popular entertainment venue.
Photo info
Picture (L): circa 1893
Picture (R): June 2018
circa 1911

1950s

2018

1950s – Theatre Royal (area) – 2018


Photo info
View towards Governor’s Parade & St. Andrew’s Church in the distance. Picture 1 taken from the steps of the Theatre Royal
Picture (L): 1950s
Picture (R): June 2018
1915 – The Convent – 2018


Photo info
Picture (L): 1915 – photo by Charles Chusseau-Flaviens
Picture (R): June 2018
c. 1900 – The Convent (& South Port St) – 2018


Photo info
Picture (L): circa 1900 postcard ‘The Convent and South Port Street’ – (V.B. Cumbo – later Cumbo and Montegreiffo – large local publishers of souvenir photo-booklets in Gibraltar)
Picture (R): June 2018