John Culatto
HERITAGE department workers removed plants from Moorish Castle walls, restored a Europa Point whipping pole and protected historic graves in Gibraltar recently.
Minister for Heritage John Cortes said this work was vital as these sites ‘act as a window to the world that our many visitors can enjoy’.
The works at Moorish Castle’s Tower of Homage called for the use of specialist teams that abseiled down its walls removing shrubs from its four walls.
They then sprayed the remains with herbicide to kill the roots.
“My Ministry is constantly engaged in ensuring that our prized City walls and fortifications are looked after, for they are intertwined with our social fabric and remind us of our many struggles in the past,” Cortes said.
The Heritage ministry then combined with Museum staff and a construction company’s workers to fix up an 18th century whipping post outside a Europa Point shrine.
The building used to be a guardhouse after the British arrived in 1704.
The post had suffered so badly from pests and the elements it needed to be inserted into a metal sleeve rather than directly into the ground.
“The restoration of the ‘Whipping Post’ is yet another example of small but important heritage projects throughout Gibraltar that highlight our commitment to its preservation,” Cortes said.
Finally, the Ministries of Heritage and the Environment combined to place nine graves and one monument under official protection.
They will now be part of a guide to the cemetery so tourists can visit them.
The graves of three former governors, an ornithologist, judges and a US consul were among the protected items.
“North Front Cemetery is the resting place of many former residents of Gibraltar,” Cortes said.
“Some of the graves and monuments have great historical interest and value.
“Sadly we have found that through the years some of these have been forgotten and fallen into disrepair, or been removed to be replaced by new tombs.
“We have started the process of identifying some of these, particularly the older ones and those of persons who no longer have descendants in our community to look after their graves.”
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