page_title: Tunnels of Gibraltar
section_title: 1880–1915
hierarchical_section_title: Tunnels of Gibraltar / Phases of development / 1880–1915
caption_attribution_description: View of the Admiralty Tunnel, Gibraltar looking west.
context_page_description: 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, Gibraltar has around 34 miles 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.
  The 20th century saw by far the greatest extent of tunnelling when the Rock was turned into a huge underground fortress capable of accommodating 16,000 men along with all the supplies, ammunition and equipment needed to withstand a prolonged siege. The tunnelling finally ceased in 1968 when the British Army's last specialist tunnelling unit was disbanded.
context_section_description: The second phase of tunnelling was driven by a number of disparate requirements towards the end of the 19th century as Gibraltar's naval base became a key strategic asset for the United Kingdom. Two short tunnels were constructed in Camp Bay on the southwest end of Gibraltar in 1880 to provide access to a quarry. In 1895, the Army dug out two natural caves under Windmill Hill to create an underground ammunition store, the Beefsteak Magazine.
  Major new construction works in the harbour at the end of the century prompted the Admiralty to construct the Dockyard Tunnel between 1898–99, driving through the entire width of the Rock in an east-west direction to reach Sandy Bay on the east side, where quarries were being worked to provide stone for the construction of the dry docks. In 1901, the Admiralty followed up by extending the natural Ragged Staff Cave to form a tunnelled underground magazine adjoining the harbour. Gibraltar's long-running water supply problems were tackled between 1898 and 1900 with the construction of four underground reservoirs. They were supplied with rainwater gathered from catchment areas on the Great Sand Dune on the east side of the Rock and conveyed to the reservoirs by a new east–west tunnel. A fifth reservoir was constructed between 1911–15.
caption: The Admiralty Tunnel
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