The Other Gates
Boyd’s Gate
Along the same litoral front just after the Great Siege had ended, Boyd’s Gate was constructed during General Boyd’s time as governor. It also overlooked the beach and allowed direct communication between the port and the naval warehouses.
Boyd’s Gate - at the end of the passageway identified on the plan within a rectangle (Mid 18th century - James Gabriel Montressor)
Boyd’s Gate (21st century)
La Puerta de Mudarra
South of the Barcina and close to the medieval Puerta de los Baños was la Puerta de Mudarra.
. . . which by licence from the Catholic King was ordered to be built in 1515 by the knight, Luis Mudarra.
“La Puerta de Mudarra sale a la Mar” (Mid 16th century - Unknown)
Puerta de Mudarra as Identified by Bravo in 1625
Puerta de los Baños
The Puerta de los Baños which now no longer exist was still in use in 1625. At any rate its name was still mentioned:
. . . houses which are adjacent to the lower street that goes to the Monasterio de San Francisco and the wall of la Puerta de Baños.Alonso Hernández del Portillo, however, begged to differ.
There is another gate called Puerta de Baños because during Moorish times there was one near an estate belonging to a gentleman by the name of Juan Serrano.
Juan Serrano’s house was in a small square known today as Bomb House Lane which is near the entrance of the present day Gibraltar museum. The Square was in fact known during the Spanish era as la Plazuela de Juan Serrano and Bomb House Lane itself as la Calle que va a la Plazuela de Juan Serrano. In other words if we accept this interpretation as the correct one, la Puerto de Baños was closer to the middle than the southern part of town.
La Puerta de Algeciras
According to a theory offered by Tito Benady, la Puerta de Algeciras was an opening in the Line Wall at the extreme end of the La Turba - as did those of Mudarra and Los Baños - and was destroyed when the Baluarte del Rosario was built.
This gate was probably yet another medieval sea gate running through the old south-western, Moorish line wall defences built by Abu l Hasan in 1333. Its name probably comes from the fact that it was facing the Spanish town of the same name just across the Bay.
In the early 17th century Portillo described it as follows:
Following the line wall and next to el baluarte del Rosario there was an elegant Moorish gate called la Puerta de Algeciras where one could also find a key symbol similar to that found in la Puerta ded Granada which was of similar construction.The gate is also mentioned in 1469 in a decree issued by Enrique IV of Castile in which he concedes Gibraltar to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Enrique de Guzman. It reinforces the suggestion that the gate may have been of Moorish origin.
Location of a gate labelled - perhaps erroneously - as Puerta de Mar with a small adjoining jetty which is more or less in the same place as Ragged Staff. The Baluarte del Rosario is not shown clearly ( 1747 - Unknown )
Moorish Gibraltar ( Ángel J Sáez Rodríguez )
This gate also known as “del Rosario”, “de Africa”, Nueva” and “del Mediodia”, was later newly baptised as Southport Gate. Over this one the coat of arms of the Emperor still exists. In 1608 Cristóbal Rojas labelled it in his map as la Puerta Nueba.
The development of Southport Gate during the British Era from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century
El Camino Real which began at la Ermita of Nuestra Señora de Europa at the extreme southern end of the Rock and ended somewhere among the oldest neighbourhoods of la Turba went through this gate. Calvi thought of it as the gate to “los Tarfes”. The Tarfes or Atarfes is an area south of la Turba. and was known as such because of its proximity to Europa point - ‘Taraf al-fath’.
Calvi’s project contemplated a gateway with an interior tower which would serve at the same time as an artillery platform. It coincides with a plan drawn by Andrea Castoria sixty-seven years later. This engineer designed a gate which opens out into a square interior tower with its first enclosure having crenellated walls so that it could defend from within the city. A spiral staircase gave access to the top terrace.
Southport Gate continued to be changed and developed during the British era from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century
Southport Gate continued to be changed and developed during the British era from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century
South Bastion (Rosario) on the left and a sliced through Charles V Gate probably as it looked like just after being inherited by the British (1753 - James Montressor)
Although the Gate had been completed during the first years of the 17th century changes were carried out so that:
It would be possible to take in and out hardware and to add a drawbridge as a defence against firecrackers and to cover the entrance of the gate that would serve as a guard room on top and where the warden of the gate (alcaide) would be able to live.
Triptychs showing from the left - A smuggler intent on leaving town inside the attached covered section of Southport Gate - Charles V’s coat of arms on the west wall of the building over the arch that led into town - An early 1860 photograph showing a single Southport Gate minus pedestrian passageways
La Puerta de Carlos V was reinforced with a moat that could be inundated all along the length of the wall from the Baluartes de Rosario and Santiago.
La Puerta de Carlos V in the middle of the plan, showing Rosario at the bottom. A dry moat to the right of Charles V Wall is also apparent - but no bridge (1627 - Luis Bravo de Acuña - detail)
The moat would be 25 meters wide. The project met with some opposition as there were orchards in this location. The owners argued that the town would lose the produce of theses orchards which were of importance to the town. Their complaints were ignored and the most was built and finished in 1599. The moat was constructed from the foot of the mountain (to the sea) and was defended by the Baluarte de Santiago and the perpendicular walls behind it. According to Portillo when the moat was flooded it was always full of frogs.
There was a well nearby known as la Tarasca. The moat ended at the shoreline with its bottom excavated in such a way as to ensure it would always be inundated with seawater. The section that faced the sea was enclosed in a palisade that impeded passage but allowed the water to enter. It was built during the second half of the 16th century its western section later partially curtailed by the creation of the Trafalgar Cemetery.
There was a well nearby known as la Tarasca. The moat ended at the shoreline with its bottom excavated in such a way as to ensure it would always be inundated with seawater. The section that faced the sea was enclosed in a palisade that impeded passage but allowed the water to enter. It was built during the second half of the 16th century its western section later partially curtailed by the creation of the Trafalgar Cemetery.
A watering mole would later be constructed at exactly this spot by the British , those palisades giving yet another of the many theories as why the mole came to be known as Ragged Staff .
View towards Ragged Staff - The wall running across the middle of the picture would have been part of the moat (1860 - Unknown)
Access to the beaches along this zone were situated between el Balarte del Rosario and el Fuerte del Muelle Nuevo. The first in line with the Moorish Castle was named by Luna as La Puerta de Mar, the second behind the stores of the navy of the Straits, was la Medialuna de los Tres Reyes.
La Puerta de Bomis
La Puerta de Bomis appears in 17th century municipal documents of San Roque . The name appears to be the result of an error in the notary transcription and cannot really be considered as yet another access to the town.
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