| Wilson's Cave | |
|---|---|
 Access to Wilson's Cave via a small ladder within the tunnel system inside the Rock of Gibraltar | |
| Location | Gibraltar |
| Coordinates | 36°08′09″N5°21′10″W / 36.1357°N 5.3528°W |
| Discovery | World War II |
| Geology | Limestone |
| Entrances | 1 |
| Lighting | No |
Wilson's Cave [a] is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
A 1944 map of the Batteries and underground tunnels of Gibraltar by Colonel Joseph Marie Emile "Pop" Gareze shows Wilson's Cave near the Magazine Ramp of Green Lane Magazine, to the north of Flat Bastion Hospital. [2] It is named after Major W.H. Wilson, who commanded a company of the Royal Engineers. [3]
Tito Vallejo states that the cave was discovered when Magazine Ramp was being excavated during World War II. A section of the ramp's tunnel collapsed and revealed a natural cavity in the limestone. [2] [3] The miners were carrying out extensive tunnelling within the Rock to develop a structure to absorb a possible blast (known as a blast trap) from an exploding magazine when part of the tunnel caved into the natural cavity. The magazine was served from Doncaster Adit off the Great North Road which supplied vehicular access to the outside. [4]
In November 1944 the Illustrated London News reported that British Sappers had discovered a new cave, named "Wilson's Cave" after the commander of the tunneling party that found it. The cave was about 60 feet (18 m) long and had an average height of about 30 feet (9.1 m). It contained attractive stalgmites and stactites with diameters ranging from under 1 inch (25 mm) to over 1 foot (0.30 m). A steep "glacier" of limestone flowed from one end of the cave. A formation in the roof resembled a petrified curtain. [5]
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Corps Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world.
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone mountain 426 m (1,398 ft) high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a narrow 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long promontory stretching due south into the Mediterranean Sea and is located within the British territory of Gibraltar, and is 27 km north-east of Tarifa, Spain, the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The rock serves as an impregnable fortress and contains a labyrinthine network of man-made tunnels known as the Tunnels of Gibraltar. Most of the Rock's upper area comprises a nature reserve which is home to about 300 Barbary macaques. It is a major tourist attraction.
The Great Siege Tunnels in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, also known as the Upper Galleries, are a series of tunnels inside the northern end of the Rock of Gibraltar. They were dug out from the solid limestone by the British during the Great Siege of Gibraltar of the late 18th century.
St. Michael's Cave or Old St. Michael's Cave is the name given to a network of limestone caves located within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, at a height of over 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. According to Alonso Hernández del Portillo, the first historian of Gibraltar, its name is derived from a similar grotto in Monte Gargano near the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo in Apulia, Italy, where the archangel Michael is said to have appeared.
Nun's Well is an ancient underground water reservoir in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located at Europa Point, and is thought to be of the Moorish period. It represents some of the earliest evidence of an artificial water supply in Gibraltar. The name of the cistern is thought to be derived from the nuns associated with the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. In the eighteenth century, Nun's Well supplied the military with water. In the early nineteenth century, it provided water for the brewery that was built next door. In 1988, the Royal Engineers constructed what is now the main building, which has a castle-like appearance. Nun's Well became the focus of controversy during the 2010-2011 restoration of the site.
Operation Tracer was a secret Second World War Royal Navy military operation in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory and military base. The impetus for the stay-behind plan was the 1940 scheme by Germany to capture Gibraltar, code-named Operation Felix. Operation Tracer was the brainchild of Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty.
Martin's Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It opens on the eastern cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar, below its summit at O'Hara's Battery. It is an ancient sea cave, though it is now located over 700 feet (210 m) above the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is only accessible because Martin's Path was constructed.
Poca Roca Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
Cave S or Sewell's Cave is a limestone cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on the eastern side of the Rock of Gibraltar, near Holy Boy's Cave. Prehistoric human remains were found in the cave in 1910, and the cave is listed by the Government of Gibraltar as a Palaeolithic site.
The Genista Caves are a series of caves located under Windmill Hill in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Fossils of various mammals and human remains were discovered here in the mid-1860s. The name of the caves is a play on words based on Captain Frederick Brome's name, who discovered them.
Holy Boy's Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is one of the largest of the many caves in Gibraltar and it is on the eastern side of the Rock, near Cave S. It is believed to be archaeologically important and is listed in the Heritage and Antiquities Act 2018.
New St. Michael's Cave, also known as Lower St. Michael's Cave, is a cave system in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Unlike its namesake, St. Michael's Cave (proper), which has been known for over 2,000 years, this cave was discovered as recently as World War II.
Douglas Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
Mediterranean Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The cave also has pillboxes and a fallout shelter nearby, these all being mentioned in the government's Heritage and Antiquities Act 2018.
Ragged Staff Cave is a cave bordering the harbour in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The cave was converted into Ragged Staff Magazine in 1901.
Star Chamber Cave is a limestone cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. In the 1780s the cave became the centre of tunnels known as the Lower Galleries of the Northern Defences. In 1941 this cave was still in military use as the King's Regiment Battalion Headquarters
Hayne's Cave Battery is the remains of two gun positions that made up an artillery battery on the west side of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar at Hayne's Cave. Gun emplacements can still be visited at this cave.
The Great North Road is a large road tunnel in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It was constructed by the British military during World War II inside the Rock of Gibraltar and remains property of the Ministry of Defence to this day. The road allowed lorries to travel from the north to the south of Gibraltar entirely within the Rock. The tunnel still contains the remains of World War II buildings such as Nissen huts, kitchens, offices as well as a generating station and period anti-submarine nets.
The tunnels of Gibraltar were constructed over the course of nearly 200 years, principally by the British Army. Within a land area of only 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2), Gibraltar has around 34 miles (55 km) of tunnels, nearly twice the length of its entire road network. The first tunnels, excavated in the late 18th century, served as communication passages between artillery positions and housed guns within embrasures cut into the North Face of the Rock. More tunnels were constructed in the 19th century to allow easier access to remote areas of Gibraltar and accommodate stores and reservoirs to deliver the water supply of Gibraltar.
Henry Ince (1736–1808) was a sergeant-major in the British Army who achieved fame as the author of a plan to tunnel through the North Face of the Rock of Gibraltar in 1782, during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. As a result of his work, by the end of the 18th century Gibraltar had almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m) of tunnels in which dozens of cannons were mounted overlooking the isthmus linking the peninsula to Spain. He was one of the first members of the Soldier Artificer Company, a predecessor to today's Royal Engineers, and rose to be the company's senior non-commissioned officer. He was also a founder of Methodism in Gibraltar through his activities as a Methodist lay preacher. Ince spent most of his life in the Army and served for 36 years in Gibraltar before retiring to Devon four years before he died at the age of 72.
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