counterguard

One of the quillons is usually longer and it forms a counterguard protecting the knuckles.

The counterguard, which mirrors the shape of its bastion, had been authorised by the Duke of Richmond in 1787.

The point, glittering, slithered down and down to Culter's counterguard until Richard, with all his compact strength.

A third layer of protection was added by constructing a breakwater in front of the counterguard to deter amphibious assaults.

The curtain between Montagu and the Chatham Counterguard was breached to allow access for new apartments.

Another layer of protection was added when Montagu Counterguard was also given a breakwater that would deter amphibious assaults.

The Chatham Counterguard in Gibraltar was named for the Earl of Chatham.

They swore, and the blades were lifted from the table: the thin tempered rapiers with steel quillons and counterguard; the daggers with their thick, double-edged blades, twelve inches long.

Montagu was joined to Orange Bastion by a curtain wall known as Montagu Curtain and the this bastion was protected by the Montagu Counterguard.

The theory behind constructing a counterguard, like the Montagu Counterguard in 1804, is that the enemy has to first capture the counterguard in order to take the bastion.

In the 1790s, Sir William Green oversaw improvements to Gibraltar's defences and had the Orange and the Montagu Bastions extended and also arranged for a counterguard to be constructed in front of them as additional defences.

The counterguard protected the bastion as the enemy would have to capture the counterguard before taking on the bastion; and whilst attempting this the enemy would come under the direct fire of the bastion.

This 1823 counterguard which was originally named "Orange Counterguard" was later renamed to Chatham Counterguard after the Earl Of Chatham who was the Governor of Gibraltar from 1821.