Windmill Hill (Gibraltar)

"[4] A series of artillery batteries was constructed there during the 19th century to support the lower-level defences on Europa Flats and to enfilade any potential attackers landing in the area.

At the head of the plateau, the Retrenched Barracks provided garrison accommodation and served as a small fortress that could be used to block an enemy's attempt to gain access to the heights of the Rock.

[9] Windmill Hill lies some way from the main area of settlement in Gibraltar, though in the late 18th century the ruins of Moorish buildings – which would have been at least 350 years old by that time – were still visible on the plateau.

[13] The Detention Barracks, a military prison, stood on Windmill Hill for many years and was described by the English traveller Reginald Fowler as "clean, admirably arranged, and the discipline very strict" when he saw it in 1854.

[17] In March 2012 the newly elected Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/Liberal alliance government announced that it would not be proceeding with the power station plans on this site.

[17] Although the environment is at first sight rather hostile, with only a thin layer of poor-quality soil overlaying rocks, it supports a wide variety of flora including species which are not found elsewhere in Gibraltar.

These include, among others, Salvia verbenaca (wild clary); Echium parviflorum (small-flowered bugloss); Plantago serraria (saw-toothed plantain); Hedysarum coronarium (Italian sainfoin); Mantisalca salmantica; Minuartia geniculata (pink sandwort); Tetragonolobus purpureus (winged asparagus pea); and Lathyrus annuus (annual yellow vetchling).

[2] Perhaps because of its prominence as the only vegetated area of the southern tip of Gibraltar, Windmill Hill attracts many species of migrating birds which may see it as a focal point on trans-Saharan journeys.