For years King’s Bastion, the main battery defending the town and key position for General Eliott fighting off the Spanish during the worst attacks of the Great Siege, has been hidden by the large modern structure of the Generating Station.

Alexis Almeida, Chairman of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust says, “This is the last major battery built in this style and so is very important. We would love to restore King’s Bastion to its former glory, it is magnificent and deserves to be seen.

The bastion was built in Line Wall which runs along the western side of the Rock and follows the old Moorish sea wall. The sea used to come to the foot of the wall and it is thought there has been a fortification of sorts on the same site as King’s Bastion for more than 800 years.

The first was probably a Moorish gate known as Algeciras Gate decorated with rich Arab workmanship and incorporating a key design, still popular today.

This was destroyed by El Fratino in 1575 when the Spanish finally decided to strengthen Gibraltar’s defences after prolonged and violent attacks from the Corsairs (Turkish pirates based across the Strait). Fratino was an Italian military engineer working for the Spanish but he was only allowed to finish a fraction of the plans drawn up for extra walls and batteries around Gibraltar.

Fifty years later Philip IV called for further modernization for the fortifications and Line Wall, including San Lorenzo battery where King’s Bastion now stands, was strengthened.

The batteries or gun platforms were placed so they could give cover to their own ships sheltering in the sea and fire on any enemy vessels bombarding the city walls. When British had to fight off the combined forces of France and Spain during the Great Siege in 1779 to 1783 King’s Bastion proved invaluable.

The present bastion was designed by the lieutenant governor Major General Robert Boyd as part of his overall plans created in 1769 to make Gibraltar an impregnable fortress.

He was in charge of forming a company of military artificers in 1772 which later became the Corps of Royal Engineers – a fact commemorated by a plaque on the wall of King’s Bastion, their first mayor job.

The soldier craftsmen and labourers worked under Colonel William Green, chief engineer during the Great Siege and King’s Bastion was their greatest work.

Work begun in 1773 and completed in three years the bastion was a grand structure with casemates large enough for a regiment of 800 men. During construction Mayor General Boyd incorporated a special vault for himself but, although according to his wishes he was eventually buried there, no record exists of the exact site of the tomb.