Great Siege Tunnels

<p>The Great Siege Tunnels are inside the Rock itself. Between 1779 and 1783, during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, the longest siege in British history, soldiers of the Royal Engineers blasted a network of tunnels through solid limestone to position cannons on the north face of the Rock in positions the Spanish and French forces never expected. The result is a 300-metre tunnel system at 420 metres above sea level, with gun embrasures cut through the rock face looking out across the isthmus toward Spain.</p> <p>Today you walk those same passages, see the original cannon emplacements, and understand how a small garrison held out for nearly four years against vastly superior numbers. The tunnels are part of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve and are included in the standard Nature Reserve entry ticket (£13 adult, available at the entrance). Most Rock tours include the tunnels as part of their circuit, they are also accessible independently if you make your own way up to the Upper Rock.</p> <p>Separate WWII-era tunnels were excavated in the 1940s and can be added to the Blands Bus Rock Tour as an upgrade (see that listing for details). Together the two tunnel networks represent over 50 kilometres of passages beneath the Rock, a staggering scale of engineering achieved without modern machinery.</p>