Historic bastion on Gibraltar’s Line Wall Curtain guarding Gibraltar Harbour.
Orange Bastion is a historic bastion on Gibraltar’s Line Wall Curtain, built to protect Gibraltar Harbour from enemy attack. Named after William of Orange, it was rebuilt by the British on an older Spanish bastion and later redesigned, enlarged, and restored as part of Gibraltar’s city walls walk scheme.
Orange Bastion is a bastion within the Fortifications of Gibraltar, positioned along the Line Wall Curtain on Line Wall Road, built to protect Gibraltar Harbour against enemy attack and its many sieges. It is owned by the Government of Gibraltar. The bastion takes its name from William III of England, William of Orange. This small asymmetric bastion was rebuilt by the British on the site of an older and larger Spanish bastion. In 1758 the main face of the bastion carried six guns to defend the Old Mole, firing at ships 600 to 700 yards away. During the Great Siege of Gibraltar it was redesigned and enlarged as a demi-bastion with a retired flank behind an orillon and parapets 12 feet thick. In the 1790s, under Sir William Green, Orange Bastion and Montagu Bastion were extended and protected by a counterguard, later renamed Chatham Counterguard, plus a breakwater in front. By 1834 there were eleven guns, later replaced by two large rifled muzzle-loading guns, and in 1877 two RML 10 inch 18 ton guns were mounted behind Gibraltar Shields. During World War II a Bofors 40 mm gun was installed, and between 2006 and 2008 major restoration works relocated two Victorian RML guns here.
