Artwork Information

The English colonists of Tangier rechristened the old Portuguese ortifications with familiar names, including Peterborough Tower and York Castle. The king’s palace at Whitehall lent its name to a resort beyond the main fortifications that included a bowling green and arbour. Fashionable with the senior officials and their families, Hollar depicted Whitehall with a game of lawn bowls in progress. Several of Hollar’s views show the Mole (or Mould), the masonry structure with which the English created an artificial harbour. The stone was quarried nearby and carried to the site by horse-drawn carts. Construction began in 1663 and the Mole was 437 metres long when work ceased in 1680. This remarkable piece of engineering was blown up when the English evacuated Tangier in 1683.