Historic city gate in Gibraltar’s fortifications, once called Waterport Gate.
Grand Casemates Gates are historic gates in Grand Casemates Square, Gibraltar, formerly known as Waterport Gate. Built in 1727, they were constructed using limestone and oak. The gates form part of Gibraltar’s fortifications, providing a northwest entrance into the old, fortified part of the city.
Grand Casemates Gates are historic city gates in Grand Casemates Square in Gibraltar, part of the Fortifications of Gibraltar. They provide an entrance from the northwest into the old, fortified portion of the town of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The gates were formerly known as Waterport Gate. According to the historical record, a gate in this area long provided access from the sea into the northwest of the town through the defensive wall that ran along the shore of the Bay of Gibraltar. Under Moorish and later Spanish control, this waterfront zone included shipyards, a line wall along the bay, and the Moorish Sea Gate close to the present Grand Casemates Gates. After Gibraltar passed to British control, the Waterport Gate through the Line Wall Curtain was opened in 1727. The gates were built using limestone and oak. Over time they served as an important entrance to Gibraltar, associated with the town’s defensive walls, nearby bastions and the Grand Casemates, a bombproof barracks whose construction began in the 1770s and was completed in 1817. In 1815 two gateways were opened at the Waterport so that carriages could pass through in both directions. The site remains owned by the Government of Gibraltar and is open to the public.
