Gibraltar - Southport Gates - Benzaquen postcard, KGV stamp 1934

^{Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.}

^{Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).}

^{------------------------------------------------}

^{Postage & Packing:}

^{Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).}

^{No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).}

^{Payment Methods:}

^{UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order}

^{Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).}

^{NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!}

^{I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.}

^{----------------------------------------------}

^{Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :}

^{*************}

^{The Southport Gates are three city gates in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. They are located in the Charles V Wall, one of the 16th century fortifications of Gibraltar. The gates are clustered together, with the South Bastion to the west, and the Trafalgar Cemetery to the east. The first and second Southport Gates were constructed at present day Trafalgar Road in 1552 and 1883, respectively. The third gate, Referendum Gate, is the widest of the three and was constructed in 1967 at Main Street, immediately west of the first two gates. The Southport Gates are listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.}

^{The Southport Gates are Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula.[1][2]The gates are located in the Charles V Wall, one of the early fortifications of Gibraltar that defended the former southern limit of the city.[3][4] They are positioned between the South Bastion to the west and the Flat Bastion to the east, at the bottom of Trafalgar Hill, adjacent to the Trafalgar Cemetery (pictured below).[5][6][7] The original Southport Gate and the "New" Southport Gate are located at Trafalgar Road, while the most recent of the gates, Referendum Gate, provides access at Main Street.[8][9] The Southport Gates, together with a rifled muzzle loadingten inch 18 ton gun, are listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.[5]}

^{The Southport Gate (pictured at right), formerly known as the Africa Gate, was the earliest of the trio of gates in the Charles V Wall.[10] It was constructed by Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi in 1552, under the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.[3][11][12] The Southport Gate bears the Royal Arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as well as the coat of arms of Gibraltar.[13][14] The gate was depicted in a 1627 map of Gibraltar by Spanish engineer Luis Bravo de Acuña. On the map now held by the British Museum, the Southport Gate and the adjacent Southport Ditch were labeled in Spanish as Puerta de África (English: Africa Gate) and Fosso (English: Ditch), respectively.[15]The Flat Bastion (Spanish: Baluarte de Santiago), the South Bastion (Spanish: Baluarte de Nuestra Señora del Rosario), and Southport Ditch were elements in the defence of the gate and the city.[10][15] The Southport Ditch was a large trench which extended along the south side of Charles V Wall from the southwestern end of the South Bastion to the Flat Bastion at Prince Edward's Gate.[16]}

^{The centre gate was constructed in 1883.[13][17] The New Southport Gate (pictured above) was opened in the Charles V Wall to improve the flow of traffic.[14] It was constructed during the reign of Queen Victoria and the term of Governor of Gibraltar General Sir John Miller Adye.[14] It is ornamented with the coat of arms of the governor and that of Gibraltar, over which is the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria.[11][13][14] In the 19th century, the Southport Ditch was the site of an ordnance depot. In the 1880s, the South Bastion featured four new rifled muzzle loading guns. A magazine was built in Southport Ditch at that time to store the ammunition needed for the new guns. Today, one of the guns (pictured below) is mounted just inside the Southport Gates. By 1908, the magazine had been converted to use as a pumphouse, as demonstrated on an Ordnance Survey map of that year.[16]}