The ‘Machigoulis Gallery’ (sic) is the name given to a portion of the curtain wall linking Parson’s Lodge and Buena Vista Battery.

 It overlooks Camp Bay. It notably features a series of narrow vertical loopholes similar to arrow slits, designed for musketry fire and similar to the one overlooking Little Bay.

The name ‘Machigoulis’ is a corruption of French mâchicoulis, translated in English as ‘machicolation’, which is the architectural term for the small openings within the floor of medieval battlements through which defenders could throw stones, projectiles, hot liquids, and other such weapons down to the assailants at the base of the wall. Machicolation is a typical feature of medieval castles. The Machigoulis Gallery is not, therefore, true machicolation, because its embrasures are pierced within the wall itself, rather than through its flooring. They do give the wall the distant appearance of medieval crenellation, however, and it is likely what whoever named the wall was trying to refer to.

Machigoulis Gallery right flank loopholes.

Infantry firing positions along the Machigoulis Gallery.

Machigoulis Gallery during quarrying works in Camp Bay, circa 1898. (GNA Collection)

Machigoulis Gallery during quarrying works in Camp Bay, circa 1898. (GNA Collection)