Great North Road, Gibraltar

Great North Road

Anti-submarine nets stored within the Great North Road tunnel in Gibraltar
Overview
Location	Gibraltar
Status	Guided tours can be arranged
Start	Maida Vale
End	Calpe Hole Generating Station
Operation
Constructed	During World War II
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Traffic	Yes
Toll	Nil
Technical
Width	60 feet (18 m)

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.

During World War II the British military constructed an underground bombproof city for 16,000 troops with enough supplies to last sixteen months, entirely within the Rock of Gibraltar. Facilities included a telephone exchange, a generating station, a water desalination plant, a hospital, a frozen food store, a bakery, ammunition magazines, a vast Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) shed where damaged vehicles and equipment could be repaired and roads. The road was built within a tunnel started when the 180 Tunneling Company of the Royal Engineers was created in 1940. The following year the 180 Company was joined by the 170 and 178 Companies.

The tunnel starts at Maida Vale behind the old Casino at Europa Road and travels north behind the Rock Hotel to Brigade Headquarters and Doncaster Adit. At this point the road forks into several other minor tunnels dug to house kitchens and an ammunition magazine. The entrance to Wilson's Cave is also located here having been discovered while carrying out blasting the rock during the magazine's construction.