New work to protect the Gibraltar World Heritage Site

NOW that the area known as Gorham’s Cave is a Unesco World Heritage Site, work is being undertaken to make sure that it is protected after millions of years of existence.

The Gibraltar Government is therefore arranging for coastal defence installations known as gabions to be placed on the beach in front of the cave to protect the sensitive archaeological deposits from the action of waves during storms.

Gabions were initially placed at Gorham’s Cave and their effectiveness has been monitored. They have been successful at preventing any marine erosion even during the biggest recent storms.

The gabions have additionally served as walkways for visitors, thus further minimising impact. The next stage is to place gabions to protect the deposits at Vanguard Cave. Given their elevation and distance from the beach these deposits are safe at the moment but slight sea level rise and an increasing frequency of bad storms could put the site at risk.

Works commenced today with the deployment of equipment by sea aimed at bringing in quantities of broken limestone rock that will fill the gabions and thus provide an effective sea wall.

The remoteness of the site and the difficulty of access makes the operation a difficult one which has needed careful planning.