First issued: 4th July 2013
Heritage
Updates
It has been a busy
6 months and the Trust and we thought it would be useful to update you in broad
terms on the year so far.
- Devil’s Gap Footpath to town – provided interpretation panels.
- Harding’s Battery – involvement in the project to place a gun and carriage on this battery. Provided interpretation panels
- Devil’s Gap Battery – successful in getting works to start to refurbish the battery as a follow-up to the foothpath to town
- Member Visits and Events – a visit to the Masonic Lodge, Gibtelecom Telephone Exchange, a talk on the history of telephony in Gibraltar, three visits for Members to view the Vanguard Cave excavations.
- Office Move to the ground floor and restoration of the Main Guard roof
- 24th Annual Painting Competition and Exhibition on the theme of Grand Battery
- Sisters Quarters at Old St. Bernard’s Hospital saved from demolition and heritage sensitive design for new school provisions
- Works started on the restoration of St. Jago’s Arch
- Works started on repair of city wall by South Port Gates
- Observation of works to the façade of the Convent
- Consultation and input at 7 meetings of the DPC. Projects include Convent Guard Room, Ex-St.Bernard’s Hospital, Beaulieu House, the Deanery and numerous other applications on vernacular buildings in the town area.
- Tackling preservation of historic graves and cemeteries through seat on Cemeteries Visitor Board
- Tovey’s Battery, Farringdon’s Battery and West Place of Arms given major clear out through involvement on the Government’s Litter Committee.
- MOD Integrated Rural Management plan launch and attendance at first Conservation Group Meeting
- Restoration of Engineer Lane Sentry box by Casais (Gibraltar) Ltd.
- Regular updates in the Gibraltar Chronicle
- Volunteer-led campaign to remove graffiti on the Upper Rock
- Refurbishment of anchor at Waterport Road.
- Launch of e-newsletters
GHT welcomes
Urban Renewal Schemes
First appeared in
Gibraltar Chronicle 28th June 2013
The Gibraltar
Heritage Trust welcomes the recent announcements by Government of the redevelopment
of the old St Bernard’s Hospital into a school and the new impetus given to the
urban regeneration of Gibraltar’s old town.
These developments are very significant in terms of the conservation of
the old town.
The hospital
buildings at the site have a significant heritage value both historically and
visually and the project as proposed we feel will preserve and enhance many
features of this beautiful building in the heart of our old town. The Trust is
also pleased that is has been able to work with Government towards avoiding the
demolition of the Sister’s Quarters at the southern end of the site as
originally proposed in the initial schemes for the school. The building will
now survive and be made use of for future generations to enjoy. We look forward to continuing to work with
Government on the detail of this project.
The beautification
of the streets in the upper town are important in that they include not only
the superficial beautification of the streets but also an important investment
in upgrading the infrastructure that runs through these areas. This upgrading
is essential in modernising and addressing historical problems such as those of
sewage management and is an opportunity to unify and tidy up the provision of
utility services to these areas in order to avoid the long term practice of
surface mounted service pipes which over years accumulate and become numerous
and unsightly.
The Trust has for
many years maintained the view that the regeneration of these areas will
provide new incentives to encourage families and businesses back into the old
town and breathe life back into this area. The potential of linking up these
streets with major untapped areas such as the Northern Defences, Grand Battery,
and new routes into Casemates is immense in touristic and heritage terms.
Looking at these projects holistically, together with the long promised revised
Heritage Protection Act and Town Planning Act it brings the promise of a new
impetus to make use of and celebrate our local architecture, that which is so
typically Gibraltarian, in the heart of old Gibraltar.
Harding’s
Battery
This text is
reproduced on an interpretation panel supplied by the Trust at Harding’s
Battery
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROJECT
The story of the creation
of the carriage began some 10 months ago when Heritage Trust Vice Chairman
Richard Labrador MBE decided to take the placement of a carriage and gun at
Harding’s Battery up as a personal project. From that moment, the project went through
a number of stages of development in the fabrication of a carriage weighing
over 10 tons and the salvage and transport of a barrel weighing 45 tons to
their location here before you.
This series of photographs
charts the project’s development:
 |
| Computer designs for the carriage |
 |
| Carriage in the workshop |
The reproduction of the
cannon carriage uses modern steel profiles, but imitates the ones used at the
time, including similar rivets. The outer structure is just an aesthetic frame
with around 800 simulated rivets, but the real weight of the cannon is held by
internal mechanical elements which transfer the great weight of the piece on
the two side cores.
The transfer of the cannon
barrel and carriage was done during the night in order to minimise disruption
to road traffic as special arrangements had to be made due to the weights of
the pieces being moved.
The move was then completed
during the day using a large crane and hand operated winches to ease the piece
into position. |
| Recovering the barrel from the Dockyard South Gate |
 |
| Moving the carriage |
Wooden beams, sand and
large metal sheets were used to spread the cannon load as it went up the ramp
to the gun emplacement.
The carriage was then
lifted onto the pivot and the wheels were aligned onto the track.
The finishing touches of a
coat of paint were then given.
Funding for the project has
been provided in partnership by the Government of Gibraltar and Casais.
Photographs
courtesy of Casais and B. Van Thienen
Engineer
Lane Sentry Box – update
 |
| Before |
 |
| Work in Progress |
 |
| After |
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