Old Gibraltar on Stamps

Views of Gibraltar on its Stamps

Oct 30, 2009 John Howe

Gibraltar has a long and turbulent history that is often reflected in its stamp issues a recent set highlights some old and interesting views of The Rock.

Gibraltar’s position as the gate of both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic has given it a unique strategic vantage that has been coveted by peoples and nations throughout the millennia. Gibraltar has seen invading armies and occupiers galore and centuries of clashes have brought invasions and sieges that have made “The Rock” what it is today a melting point of people and cultures.

Moors

Perhaps the most famous of the invaders were the Moors who occupied most of Portugal and Spain for over eight hundred years from 711 until Spain was finally reclaimed by the Spanish in 1492. The leader of the first invasion, Tariq ibn-Zyad first landed on a peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean the Moors called it Jabal Tariq or Tariq’s Mountain, eventually to be corrupted to Gibraltar.

Successive Invasions

But The Rock had witnessed the Romans before hand and the Spanish and Dutch afterwards but for over 300 years Gibraltar has been a colony of the United Kingdom, enjoying a semi-autonomous status. But for many years a bone of bitter contention between Franco’s Spain and the United Kingdom. In the Franco years Gibraltar was practically isolated from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula by a Spanish land blockade that lasted for more than forty years.

The evidence of invasions, conflicts and war can be seen all over Gibraltar, in the bullet-scarred Moorish Castle, by the building of the siege tunnels deep inside the Rock, the siege walls and poignantly at the epitaphs of the Trafalgar Cemetary.

But all was not warfare and strife for the most part of the British period in Gibraltar has been peaceful but even these quiet times have had episodes of turbulence during the two world wars. Gibraltar was of vital importance to the Allied conflict in the Med and the North African coast.

A set of five stamps showing old views of Gibraltar were issued by the Gibraltar Post Office. Ranging in denominations from 10 pence to 59 pence the stamps are miniature works of art that evoke times gone by.

Ten Pence Stamp

The 10 pence stamp shows the onetime sole land link to the Spanish frontier a road causeway and its neighbouring military railway the area to the left of the causeway is now reclaimed land on which a housing estate sits. And the railway line has long gone it was used to transport rocks from a quarry to build Gibraltar’s dockyard.

Forty-two Pence Stamp

The 42 pence stamps depicts an early photograph of Catalan Bay Village which since the 18th century housed a community of fishermen and their families. The village has grown considerably since then and is now a popular holiday resort.

Forty-four Pence Stamp

The 44 pence stamp shows The Rock in all its glory as a magnificent stronghold whose seas are thronged with sailing boats of all kinds. The image is taken from an old watercolour also shows the gun batteries and galleries or siege tunnels that were built into the fabric of the living rock itself.

This stamp is Gibraltar’s contribution to the 2009 SEPAC issue of “Beautiful Corners of Europe”.

Fifty-one Pence Stamp

The view on the 51 penny stamp shows the imposing Moorish Castle building started in around 711 CE but the walls were built in 1333. The shell-pocked and battle scarred walls are a testament to the turbulent history of Gibraltar.

Fifty-nine Pence Stamp

Built in the five years between 1730 and 1735 the South Barracks scene remains today much as it did when completed. The tents pitched on the courtyard shows that overcrowding was a problem in those days. Today the South Barracks serves a more peaceful role as St. Joseph’s Junior and Middle Schools.

The stamps of Gibraltar are always interesting and always relevant to the history and society of the country.

The copyright of the article Old Gibraltar on Stamps in Antiques & Collectibles is owned by John Howe. Permission to republish Old Gibraltar on Stamps in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Old Views of Gibraltar To the Frontier

Gibraltar Stamps Old Views of Gibralatar on Stamps