Previously known in Spanish as Senda del Moro (English: Path of the Moor), the traditional Llanito name for the road is Cuesta de Mr.

In the nineteenth century there were outbreaks of yellow fever in the 1820s and of diphtheria in the 1880s among the residents, apparently due to faulty sewers.

In modern times the bastion's magazine has been refurbished for civilian use, the barracks have been converted into affordable housing, and parking has become an issue.

It was threatened by a fire in 1874 that swept through the long grass and other vegetation of the south districts of the colony and reached Charles V's wall before burning out.

[7] However, the French commission said that the sewer outside at least one of the houses in the road emitted a very bad smell ("une très mauvaise odeur").

[9] A report of 1 September 1828 described Wilson's Buildings, two wooden sheds on the road to Flat Bastion, as "decidedly inimical to the health of any persons who may inhabit them.

[11] In 1832 the Gibraltar Public School, a free English-language establishment for poor children, was set up in a government-owned building on Flat Bastion Road.

[3] The Army Medical Department reported in 1889 that several cases of diphtheria had occurred in the married quarters on Flat Bastion Road.

[14] The road was depicted in an article on the colony that appeared in 1885 in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, a New York-based magazine, in a pastiche of ink drawings that also depict "Catland Bay" (Catalan Bay), Waterport Gate, the signal station and the rock from the Spanish lines.

[16] A visitor noted that the "Ladysmith club" on the Flat Bastion Road was holding masquerades in its salons, while elsewhere the Salvation Army was preaching and parading signs with advice from the gospels.