Levant Battery

Levant Battery
Part of Fortifications of Gibraltar
Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Gibraltar
Levant Battery in Gibraltar
Levant Battery and Windmill Hill
Levant Battery
Coordinates	36°07′12″N 5°20′37″W / 36.119943°N 5.343540°W / 36.119943; -5.343540
Type	Artillery Battery
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Site history
Built	1901-1903
In use	Ship decommissioning

Levant Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Windmill Hill, at the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, below observation post Fire Control South. It was named after the Levanter cloud, below which it perched, giving it an unobstructed view. Construction started in 1901 and, by 1903, a 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun had been mounted. The battery was decommissioned in the 1970s and the gun was later removed, to rest in a scrap yard. A community group has been formed to garner support for the gun's recovery and restoration.

Levant Battery is in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. The artillery battery is located at the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, on Windmill Hill, east of Jews' Gate Cemetery and south of Mediterranean Road (links to maps below). It is positioned below the observation post Fire Control South. Levant Battery was in what was referred to as the Middle South Section. The other emplacements in that section included Edward VII Battery, Genista Battery, Jews' (Gate) Cemetery Battery, Engineer Battery, and Europa Advance Battery. The battery received its name from its position below the Levanter cloud, which afforded it an unobstructed field of view when other, higher batteries were limited by reduced visibility.

Construction of Levant Battery commenced in April 1901. By August 1903, a 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun had been installed on a Mark V mounting. When approval for the battery was granted in 1901, it was anticipated that there would be two weapons, one to target the Mediterranean to the east and the other to bear on Spanish batteries to the west. However, the emplacement was designed as an artillery battery for just one gun, to bear on Mediterranean targets. By 1907, a supply of drinking water for Levant Battery had been provided by connecting it to reservoirs at the Mediterranean Steps. In addition, a water-carriage system for supply of sanitary water was under construction.