Abandoned eighteenth-century defensive lines on Gibraltar’s north-western Rock slopes.
Prince's Lines are fortified defensive lines on Gibraltar’s north-western Rock slopes, about 70 feet above Queen's Lines. Part of the Fortifications of Gibraltar, they overlook the landward entrance and the modern Laguna Estate, on the former Inundation, and were built to enfilade attackers approaching the Landport Front.
Prince's Lines are fortified defensive lines forming part of the Fortifications of Gibraltar, on the lower slopes of the north‑west face of the Rock of Gibraltar. They stand on a natural ledge about 70 feet above the Queen's Lines, overlooking Gibraltar’s landward entrance and facing across the modern Laguna Estate, which occupies the site of the former Inundation, an artificial lake created to obstruct access. The lines run from a natural fault called the Orillon to a cliff at the southern end of the isthmus linking Gibraltar with Spain, and were constructed to enfilade attackers approaching the Landport Front from the landward side. A fortification built by the Spanish or Moors seems to have existed there before the British capture of Gibraltar in 1704, but the Lines themselves were principally constructed during the eighteenth century. They were first laid out in 1720, later gaining a stone stepped communication passage to Queen's Lines. Major improvements after 1761 included repairs, scarping the cliff, building dry rubble walls behind, clearing the glacis, and adding a bombproof barracks, magazine and cookhouse. The Lines saw action during the Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar, the Anglo‑Spanish War of 1761–63 and the Great Siege of Gibraltar. They remain mostly intact but abandoned and overgrown.
