Windmill Hill (Gibraltar)

Windmill Hill viewed from the Rock of Gibraltar, looking due south

Windmill Hill or Windmill Hill Flats is one of a pair of plateaux, known collectively as the Southern Plateaux, at the southern end of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located just to the south of the Rock of Gibraltar, which descends steeply to the plateau. Windmill Hill slopes down gently to the south with a height varying from 120 metres (390 ft) at the north end to 90 metres (300 ft) at the south end.[1] It covers an area of about 19 hectares (47 acres), though about 6 hectares (15 acres) at the north end is built over.[2] The plateau is ringed to the south and east with a line of cliffs which descend to the second of the Southern Plateaux, Europa Flats, which is itself ringed by sea cliffs. Both plateaux are the product of marine erosion during the Quaternary period and subsequent tectonic uplift. Windmill Hill was originally on the shoreline and its cliffs were cut by the action of waves, before the ground was uplifted and the shoreline moved further out to the edge of what is now Europa Flats.[1]

  1. ^ a b Rose, Mather & Perez, p. 239
  2. ^ Cortés, J.E. (1996). "Windmill Hill Flats: a good view of migration across the Straits of Gibraltar" (PDF). Almoraima (15): 163–184.