The Keys of Gibraltar
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Key to Waterport Wicket Gate - Click to enlarge Key to Chatham Wicket Gate - Click to enlarge Key to Landport Wicket Gate - Click to enlarge Key to Southport Wicket Gate - Click to enlarge  
Waterport Wicket Chatham Wicket Landport Wicket Southport Wicket  
During the 1700s and 1800s, the sea came up to the defensive walls and there were only four outer gates through which the town could be entered. These four keys locked these entrances to the town.

The Waterport Gate is what is now the gate at Casemates. When a further defensive wall was built (Chatham's Counterguard), a wicket gate - Chatham's Wicket - provided access to the sea and the gun batteries on Devil's Tongue.

Landport Gate was the only access to the town from the land to the North. It was defended by a ditch and drawbridge. The land beyond the ditch was flooded (now the Laguna and Glacis areas).
Southport Gate, which was the only way of entering the town from the South until Prince Edward's Gate was built, was also defended by a bridge and ditch (now disappeared).
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Click to enlarge map
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The keys were kept by the Governor who would hand them to the Port (Gate) Sergeant each evening. The latter, together with an escort consisting of several armed soldiers, would then march to each of the four gates in turn. He would be challenged by the sentry at the gate with a loud, "Halt! Who goes there?" to which the Port Sergeant would reply, "The Keys!".

Once all the gates were locked, the keys would be returned to the Governor at the Convent. In the Morning, the Port Sergeant would once again collect the keys to open the town for the day.

During the Great Siege (1779-1783), the Governor, General Sir George Augustus Elliot, would carry the keys with him everywhere - it was rumoured that he slept with them under his pillow at night.

The practice of locking-up the Town at night was stopped during the First World War in 1914.

The Ceremony of the Keys was revived in 1933 and was performed by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and the resident British Batallions. Nowadays, it is performed for the benefit of tourists by a Re-enactment Group.