(A) Landport Gate, Grand Battery, North Battery etc.

Rock Model 1865

GRAND BATTERY
This was the original line built by the Moors and rebuilt by the Spanish, it was the only land front of Gibraltar, a point or great importance. During Spanish times it was called the Wall of St. Bernard and was badly damaged during the Anglo-Dutch bombardment of 1704. In the following year the British recommended it be broadened to take better artillery. It became one of the largest batteries, mounting fourteen guns up to the time of the siege of 1727.

 LANDPORT GATE
This was the only way into the City other than by sea. The gate and tunnel were built by the Spaniards on the site of a Moorish gate. The gate was rebuilt in 1543 when the ditch was added, and round 1572 a stone bridge was added. So much destruction was caused in the area during the siege of 1727 that the British had to rebuild it yet again in 1729. During the Great Siege of 1779-1783, the stone Landport Bridge was destroyed by the defending forces for reasons of security. This was later replaced by a wooden bridge.

NORTH BASTION
This was originally the site of the square Moorish Giralda Tower of 1309, it had no embrasures for cannon firing out to sea or along the coastline. This was the northernmost bastion of the old defensive wall. It was attacked by Anglo-Dutch forces in 1704 and seriously damaged. It became necessary to largely rebuild the bastion along with surrounding curtain walls. The Bastion first mounted British cannon in 1735. At the end of the eighteenth century a counterguard was constructed in front of the North Bastion and it is shown in the Rock model of 1865.
WEST PLACE OF ARMS
Originally this was a troop assembly point in the space between the north face of the North Bastion and its Counterguard. It was built in 1804.
GRAND CASEMATES
Standing immediately behind Grand Battery, they were prepared by William Green, the chief engineer, in 1770 to add bombproof barrack accommodation for the soldiers. However, the buildings were not begun until after the Great Siege and they display the date 1817 when they were built on the orders of the lieut. governor, General Sir George Don (1754-1832).

The name "Casemates" refers to a vaulted chamber in the thickness of the ramparts of a fortress, used as a barracks, a battery, or both.