It looks like the borders are at last coming down, making it much easier for us to visit Gibraltar and for our friends in Gibraltar to come to Malaga.
The border fence is expected to come down with the provisional application of a new UK-EU treaty, with a target date of April 10th this year. This agreement aims to remove physical border checks, allowing for free movement by integrating Gibraltar into the Schengen area. While earlier reports had suggested January 2026, the current April date proposed for the treaty’s implementation aligns with the date for the introduction of new entry systems across the EU.
As a result, not only do the fences come down but Spanish agents will conduct passport checks at Gibraltar’s port and airport so as to manage the outer boarder of the Schengen area.
So our mother church will soon be in very easy reach. It is a fascinating building, originally built to meet the needs of Anglican worshippers among the civil population of Gibraltar, on land that contained a derelict building that John Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Governor of Gibraltar in 1820, persuaded the British Government to sell and use the money to build the church. Building work began in 1825 and the church was completed in 1832. It was consecrated in 1838 by Archdeacon Edward Burrow, in the presence of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV, and raised to Cathedral status in 1842, with the creation of the Diocese of Gibraltar and the enthronement of the first Bishop of Gibraltar, George Tomlinson.
After the second world war, in which the Cathedral suffered no significant damage, Bishop Harold Buxton raised money for the purpose of “Saying Thank You to Malta and Gibraltar”, for their wartime resilience, and the funds were used to build new vestries and a second chapel in the south aisle, dedicated to Saint George and in memory of all who had lost their lives in the Mediterranean area during the war. A stone from Coventry Cathedral, which was ruined in the blitz, has been placed in the wall behind the baptismal font, and is marked with a cross.
The Cathedral is particularly notable for its Moorish revival architecture, in the form of horseshoe arches, appropriate given the period of Moorish control in Gibraltar’s history. See the picture above.
More information about Gibraltar Cathedral, here.