Nearly every building in Main Street was damaged during the Great Siege of Gibraltar when from 1779 to 1783 the town was attacked by a combined French and Spanish fleet.
The street's route has only had minor adjustment when the front of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned was re-modeled and downsized in 1801 in order to straighten the street on the orders of the British Governor, Charles O'Hara [REF].