The People of Gibraltar

2019 - Rosia Patios - Gibraltar

Patio Casola - Patio Chico - Patio Moro
Patio de la Gorda - Patio Morno South
Patio Rey - Patio Roca
Patio Tedeski - Patio Teli

Patio Casola - Patio Chico - Patio Moro

The large square building in the center is Patio Casola showing its northern and western facades

It was in fact a multi-patio - as recalled by some of its past residents:

The Patio building would have been on the left going up Rosia steps and on the right coming down from Naval Hospital Road.

Patio Casola once occupied the square building shown in the centre of the map with the white square inside it

It was divided into two, el patio Chico where we lived, and the main patio which we knew as Patio Moro. . . . I remember the shop in Scud Hill . . .

I lived in Patio all my life until I joined the army. Many years later travelling through Italy on my way to la Spesia I found a small town near Genoa or Pisa called Casola. . . .

Patio Casola is the one with the washing - and the view - the building on the right with roof tiles was part of a grocery shop called la Tienda de Juan - It was so small that customers could hardly get into it.

. . . Merlot house was built on the site of El Patio Casola, situated at the top of Rosia Steps on the right hand side as you walk down the steps . . .

I remember the shop in Scud hill. Patio Casola was divided into two, el Patio Chico where we lived, and the main patio we called it el Patio Moro. . . .

The Casolas building would have been on the left going up the steps, on the right coming down from Naval Hospital Road . . .

Patio de la Gorda

La Escalerita de Pili is Cumberland Steps, La Escalera del Caracol is Sunnyside Steps and La Calle de San Jose is Roger’s Road.
Should it not be Piri? I am from that area - For us in South Barracks it was escalerita de Pili

Also at the very top of la Escalerita del Pili as you turn down Scud Hill - the building on the left was el Patio de la Gorda.

Patio Morno South

Sir Stephen Gatty, Chief Justice of Gibraltar (Late 19th century)

According to John Restano’s Justice so Requiring published in 2012, in June 1897 Sir Stephen Gatty the Chief Justice of Gibraltar, received the following note during a divorce proceedings.

My Lord,
. . . I was served with a Petition on behalf of my husband Alfred Bueno . . . that his marriage with (me) be dissolved. . . . my husband charges me with having committed adultery with one Joseph Brown.
I am a poor women . . . I am now living with my father and mother at PATIO MORNO SOUTH. They support me and my two children. . . . I should therefore be thankful if Your Lordship would name a solicitor and Counsel to defend me. . .

There was of course no such thing as Legal Aid in Gibraltar at the time so I suspect poor Mrs Bueno didn’t get much help from Gatty. As regards the Morno South I have no idea where this patio was - other than that it appears to have been somewhere south of Charles V Wall.

That the lady was actually referring to Patio Moro aka Casola - seens a reasonable guess.

Patio Rey

In the late 19th centuries - and perhaps even earlier - military transport on the Rock was in the hands of Gibraltarian auxiliaries of the War Department. They were attached to the Army Service Corps and used long highly versatile carts with independent rear axles which were pulled by a varying number of mules. These were known locally as ‘trucos’, presumably patois for “trucks”. Some of these muleteers either signed up or volunteered to take part in the British-Egyptian and Suakin military campaigns of 1882-1889 and were henceforth known as the King’s Cart Drivers - or more recognisably as “Los Carreteros del Rey.

Three Carreteros in their late 19th century uniforms with mule stables to their left (Undated - Hilary Sanders - Thank you)

The following comment by Hilary helps date the photograph:

Far right on the top photo - later became a groom for horses used at the race course at North Front. He died in 1934 so this photo must be earlier.

Mule Stables (1938 - Andrew Schembri - Thank you)

Local historian Tito Vallejo has also usefully marked out on the above plan exactly where the photograph was taken adding the following comment as regards the alley:

It had no name it was just an alleyway through the depot. One entrance was next to the old RSPCA and the other one came out opposite Transport Lane. There were gates at both ends that were locked every day at the end of work and opened the next morning. . . .

The building on the left was the yard where the Carreteros del Rey kept their wagons -The mules where kept in Patio Rey a bit further up - The houses at the top were married quarters.

Rosia

The wagons on the left in the Rosia photo are "Trucos". They are parked in front of the Commissariat Yard which would later become the Garrison Motor Transport Compound. The mules that were the motive power for these things were stabled in Patio Rey to the left of the photo.

There was an interim period between the first and second world wars when the Army still had both mule and motor transport. This gave rise to yet another colloquial word - “el drag”.

When the old mule drivers were retrained to drive lorries during the 1920s, they discovered that the hand-brake was on the outside of the new-fangled motorised vehicles - one less thing to worry about as this was exactly where it was in the mule driven carts. So they called the vehicle hand-brake "el drag" as they had that for the wagons.

Patio Roca

Another Rosia Steps patio apparently in the lower section - but that is about all I know about it.

Patio Tedeski

Yet another Rosia Steps Patio but with little to say about it other than a few suggestions.

That it is an alternative name for Patio Casola.
That it refers to a separate building buit by an architect called Tedeski
That it was another name for el Patio Schott.

I must say I don’t find any of these overly convincing.

Patio Teli - Patio Telli - Patio Telly

This patio was at No 8 Rosia Steps and is variously identified by its past residents as Patio Telli or Patio Telly. It must have been quite close to Patio Casola. The following are comments from past residents:

The patio was quite big with three families living in it . . . .it was further up from the stables of la Huerta Farugia. . . . which belonged to Tony Farugia . . .

The archway - No 11 Rosia Steps was the entrance to the Huerta Farugia - apparently it still exists at the time of writing

On the photo you can only see part of the entrance and wall of el Patio Teli. The horse is tethered in front of la Quadra and La Huerta de Farugia. Opposite was a shop belonging to Dolores . . . .

I use to live in Patio Teli and it was a stable for several horses - and what a noise at night . . . the two window belong to the stable . . . . I remember when someone set fire to the stables.

The buildings stayed more or less the same at least until 1970. That's when I left Gibraltar. At that time Adolfo and Dolores Farugia owned the shop, stables, Patio de Gorgina and the house at the top where Rosia Steps splits into two.

2019 - Patios of Gibraltar - Introduction