Whether Gastria Castle was demolished in 1278 or only in about 1425 in consequence of the Egyptian invasion, the Castle was already completely levelled to the ground in the time of Florio Bustron (1).

He is wrong however stating that no trace of it remained because even today the site of the fortress, and the moat where the fugitives from Agridi were taken prisoner in 1232, can still be easily made out.

Gastria Castle was proudly perched at the northern end of Famagusta Bay, visible from Famagusta itself and from the ruins of Salamis... (map left),

... on a precipitous rock whose foot descends steeply into the sea on the east

... and on the west into a marsh formed by the mouth of a small river (Potamós).

... The rock on which the castle stood is accordingly a peninsula: the river runs part of it and on the other side of the river mouth there is another smaller and lower rock which forms an island very close to the promontory on which the castle was built.

... It is possible that a chain was stretched from one rock to the other and there was most likely a smaller fort on the little island. (Description of the location by Camille Enlart, 1899).

Below: The area/location of Gastria Castle in 1882 (from the map by Lord H.H. Kitchener).



These recent pictures from "Google Earth" (below) show how the situation has changed since 1882/99.



Enlart (1899): "The river, before entering the bay, forms a harbour, sheltered by the rock, which seems to have been put into and deepened at some time; small rowing boats can still enter. Any shipping lying in this harbour would have been completely protected and hidden from view on the sea side by the promontory on which the castle stood. The latter did not occupy by any means the whole surface of the plateau and in accordance with a general practice in the Middle Ages the area on which it was built was isolated from the rest of the peninsula by a dry moat, hewn out of the rock."



On the side of the isthmus it measures an average of 7.9 metres in width. On the seaward side it forms a reentrant leaving outside the defended area a strip of plateau by which one could reach the entrance gate, placed as usual on the side least exposed to attack.

This part of the moat is only 4.5 metres wide.

It seems likely that another entrance, with a drawbridge, existed on the isthmus side.

There are no salient angles in the perimeter of the fortress apart from the natural bends in the end of the peninsula. The absence of flanking defences and the deep ditches cut in the rock are two characteristics which, according to Baron Rey, are standard with Templar fortresses in Syria. The same characteristics are found at Gastria.

The very little that remains of the walls suggests that they were one metre thick.

Towards the centre of the walled area there is a well or rather a cistern cut in the rock. This is circular, 85 cm in diameter and entirely full of debris."


Written sources : (1) ib., p. 25: 'Al casal Gastria, dove Tolomeo descrive esser l'isole chiamate Clides, vi era un castello di Templieri, il qual al presente e del tutto ruinato, ne vi si vede cosa alcuna.' Also: From 'Monuments of Cyprus', George Jeffery (1918, re-issued London 1983, page 249).

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