The Defensible Barracks is a fortified barracks located at Europa Flats in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
The British defensive strategy in Gibraltar predominantly focused on keeping enemies at a distance through the use of artillery. There were few inner lines of defence to address the risk of an enemy getting through the outer line. However, the southern tip of Gibraltar, Europa Point, was long felt to be potentially vulnerable to a surprise attack from the sea and was heavily fortified with gun batteries, perimeter walls and scarped cliffs.
In 1841, Major General Sir John Thomas Jones KCB recommended in a report on Gibraltar's fortifications that provision should be made for close defence of the batteries at Europa Point, which he identified as a possible invasion route. He recommended that "all barracks should be either bombproof or fireproof, and to a certain extent defensible." To that end, he designed a defensible barracks block which could be used both as a place of relaxation and as a fortification. Its front was pierced with loopholes to facilitate rifle fire, while the walled courtyard at the rear was protected by caponiers projecting out from each wall. The walls themselves were also pierced with loopholes.
The building was capable of withstanding small arms fire and a direct assault, but was still vulnerable to a naval bombardment. It was strengthened some years later by the construction of a New Defensible or Bombproof Barracks, built on the curtain wall between 1st Europa Right Flank and Woodford's Left Flank. The new barracks stood between the existing Defensible Barracks and the sea, with its massive stone wall providing shelter for the accommodation casemates.
The barracks complex is now used as a children's school.[1]
^Hughes, Quentin; Migos, Athanassios (1995). Strong as the Rock of Gibraltar. Gibraltar: Exchange Publications. p. 211. OCLC 48491998.
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The DefensibleBarracks is a fortified barracks located at Europa Flats in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The British defensive strategy...
Pembroke Dock became a military town. Work began in 1844 to build defensiblebarracks. In 1845 the first occupiers were the Royal Marines of the Portsmouth...
infantry barracks were established within them (e.g. at Chatham, Upper and Lower Barracks, 1756, and Plymouth, six defensible square barracks, 1758–63)...
trenches cut into the solid rock or natural ledges which were made more defensible by building masonry walls and scarping the cliffs below. The Lines were...
Golden Hill Fort was a defensiblebarracks at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England, built as part of the Palmerston defences by the 1859 Royal Commission...
harbour since 1860. It was originally constructed for nine guns with a defensiblebarracks at the rear. In 1881 the battery mounted three 10-inch Smooth bore...
organised into the following: Regulars 1st Battalion, in 1881 based at DefensibleBarracks, Pembroke Dock 2nd Battalion, in 1881 based in Madras Militia 3rd...
firing over a parapet). The landward side of the fort consists of a defensiblebarracks, with a loopholed parapet overlooking the entrance. In 1860, the...
3 km (1.4 mi). The first Shornemead Fort was provided with a barracks, magazine and defensible gorges and was planted with walnut trees nearby to supplement...
ownership. It now part of the South Hook LNG terminal jetty. The defensiblebarracks at South Hook Fort, Herbrandston British Listed Buildings, accessed...
used is of local limestone. Once separated by open space a second defensiblebarracks, built into the sea-wall defences themselves, forms the most southerly...
report that he produced on Gibraltar's defences (see also DefensibleBarracks and Retrenched Barracks). Also known as the "Stone Block", its simple design...
been put into a defensible condition . . . Proceeding towards Europa Point, at the entrance of the town, fortifications, magazines, barracks, and batteries...
Torpoint Ferry. The lines were supported in the rear by a series of defensiblebarracks, each provided with a rampart and bastions. A survey in 1805 shows...
operations. A loopholed defensible wall had been proposed by the Commanding Royal Engineer, Captain George Augustus Bennett, as the barracks developed before...
disuse after 1814. In 1929 Deadman's Cemetery became part of St. Jago's Barracks and was turned into a ball alley and rifle range, with the headstones relocated...
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