During the war of American
Independence, France and Spain
attempted to recapture the Rock from the British.
This was Gibraltar's 14th Siege and has come to be known as the
Great Siege.
Gradually the enemy advanced their trenches on the isthmus,
until in 1782 the enemy were so close to the Rock
that none of the existing batteries in Gibraltar had room
to open fire.
The Governor, General Elliot (later called Baron Heathfield of
Gibraltar)
is said to have offered a reward to anyone who could
tell him
how to get guns onto a projection from the precipitous
northern face of the Rock known as the 'Notch'.
Sergeant Major Ince, a member of the Company of Soldier
Artificers,
(later to become the Royal Engineers), suggested that
this could be done
by tunneling through the Rock and on May 25th, 1782 the work
began.
Originally there was no intention of mounting guns in this
gallery
but as the work progressed the fumes from repeated blastings
almost suffocated the miners. So it was decided to knock a
hole in the side
to let air into the tunnel. Almost at once it was realised what
an excellent
embrasure this would make for a gun,
so one was mounted without waiting to reach the 'Notch'.
Other gun emplacements were cut and guns mounted, and by the
time the Siege ended in February 1783, the tunnel had been
extended to 370 feet (113m) long and had four guns mounted in
it. This first gallery was called 'Windsor Gallery'. Sergeant
Major Ince did not stop there - he went on to tunnel two other
galleries called "King's And Queen's Lines" lower down
the north face of the Rock.
Work did not stop with the end of the Siege, but instead of
continuing straight towards the 'Notch', a tunnel was driven
downwards and a large chamber opened under the 'Notch' called St
George's Hall, where a battery of seven guns where installed.
The Cornwallis Chamber was also excavated at this time.
In gratitude to Sergeant Major Ince, he was given a
Commission and granted a plot of land on the Upper Rock still
known as Ince's Farm. In addition, the then Duke of Kent
(Gibraltar's Royal Governor and father of Queen Victoria)
presented him with a valuable horse.
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