📍 Location
The coordinates of Fort Bengħisa are:
- 35.808353, 14.532345
Fort Bengħisa — full history, construction and use
Name: Fort Bengħisa (Il-Fortizza ta’ Bengħisa).
Location: Bengħisa Point, Birżebbuġa — the southern arm of Marsaxlokk Bay, Malta.
Built: 1910–1912 by the British.
Type / materials: Polygonal (ditched pentagonal) fort of limestone and reinforced concrete; the cliffs on the seaward side form part of the defence.
Fort Bengħisa was constructed as part of the coastal defence system guarding Marsaxlokk Harbour, the island’s principal southern anchorage. Initially a small battery (Hassan Battery) was proposed, but plans were expanded and the site was developed into a full polygonal fort to provide a modern, mutually-supporting defensive ring with Fort Delimara, Fort Tas-Silġ, Fort San Lucian and the coastal batteries around the bay. It is the southernmost fortification in Malta.
The fort has a ditched pentagonal perimeter with the ditch spoil forming the parapet and perimeter earthworks. The plan exploits the natural cliff edge for the seaward defences.
Original armament (pre-WWI): two 6-inch and two 9.2-inch breech-loading guns (in emplacements suitable for the heavy coastal defence role).
It was the last polygonal coastal fort the British built in Malta — a late example of pre-WWI coastal-artillery design adapted for modern rifled breech-loading guns.
In 1915 the older 17th-century De Redin Bengħisa Tower (a small watchtower) was demolished to clear the fort’s line of fire.
The fort was rearmed before WWII and formed part of Malta’s interwar/WWII coastal defences. In the 1950s dual-purpose guns were installed briefly but later removed. The fort remained in British use until it was finally abandoned in the late 1970s.
After military redundancy the fort passed into civilian/private tenancy for many years. Parts were rented from the 1970s onwards and, according to multiple reports, the site suffered neglect, informal occupation and inappropriate uses (including agricultural/animal-keeping uses reported in the press).
The structure has generally survived intact (gatehouse and seaward ditch remain legible), but the interior and surrounds were long-neglected and in a poor state until recent enforcement action.
The fort was the subject of enforcement and eviction actions after years of illegal occupation. Government announcements in late 2024–early 2025 confirm steps to return Fort Bengħisa to state control, close and secure it, and remove illegal occupiers so the site can be monitored and regularised. These events were widely reported in Maltese media.
