Running from Madliena on the east coast of Malta to Binġemma on the west coast, there is a natural geographical barrier, known as the Great Fault, which literally divides Malta into two, cutting through the width of the island.

A map of Malta showing how the Victoria Lines cut right across the island. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

Straddling this Great Fault, there is a complex network of fortifications known as the Victoria Lines which were completed on November 6, 1899, and which are the subject of this month’s anniversary story.

Sir Arthur Lyon Fremantle (1894-9) was the Governor of Malta when the Victoria Lines were completed. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

Two years previously, these uncompleted defences – initially called the North-West Front – were renamed the Victoria Lines during the governorship (1894-9) of Sir Arthur Lyon Fremantle (1835-1901), in honour of Queen Victoria, who was celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of her reign in 1897.

The Order of St John had, during the 18th century, embarked on extensive coastal defences based on the concept of opposing the enemy at feasible landing places. However, their strategy also included a fall-back line of defence on the Great Fault by fortifying San Pawl tat-Tarġa (now known as Tarġa Gap) and Ta’ Torri Falca (now known as Falca Gap). However, in their defence plans, the British embarked on a different strategy, though these two fortified areas were included within their plans.

Broadly speaking, this strategy consisted of a ring of defences to keep an enemy as far away as possible from Grand Harbour and the British fleet, for whom the ports were of immense strategic importance vis-à-vis British policy in the Mediterranean, now given more importance by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which was the shortest seaway connecting the mother country with India, the very important British possession in the east.

Major-General Sir John Miller Adye (1819-1900), who advocated the British military strategy within which the Victoria Lines were incorporated. Photo: Commons.wikipedia.org

The cliffs on Malta’s southwest coast formed a natural inaccessible barrier, while the northern and east coastlines were defended by coastal forts and batteries. It was thought that a few detached forts on the ridge of the Great Fault would cut off the westerly bays and landing places of the island.

The defensive strategy advocated by Major-General Sir John Miller Adye (1819-1900) – the Director of Artillery and Stores at the War Office from 1870 till 1875 – was approved by the Defence Committee, and the proposal by Colonel Mann, RE, to place the defence line between four to seven miles from Valletta also found favour. In 1872, the proposals for the fortification of the ridge (the Great Fault) were submitted to and approved by the Defence Committee in 1873. Work started in 1875.

Three main forts were constructed: Fort Binġemma, Fort Madalena and Fort Musta, with the addition of Fort Pembroke soon after.

The dilapidated state of the entrance to Fort Binġemma. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

Work was taken in hand on the construction of Fort Binġemma in 1875 and it was completed within three years. Basically, this fort consists of two parts: a main enclosure for the guns and a diamond-shaped keep. Use was made of the Great Fault’s escarpment, which provided a natural defence. The fort’s defences included a vertical ditch, a wide parapet, with flanking defences and enfilading fire, all linked by tunnels with the keep, which provided barrack accommodation for the garrison. A drawbridge defended the entrance to the fort. Unfortunately, the fort is privately occupied by squatters (apparently illegally since 2009) and does not appear to be in the best of condition.

The entrance to Fort Madliena. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

The second fort to be constructed was Fort Madalena (Madliena) with works being initiated in June 1878 and completed in 1881. Its plan was a symmetrical pentagon without a keep but surrounded by a narrow vertical ditch and flanking defences made up of four double-storeyed counterscarp galleries, all linked together with underground tunnels.

Fort Madalena was built to serve a dual role, to defend the landward side and the coast. However, it was soon felt that another fort was necessary, closer to the coast. This fort is used by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) for their Communications Information Systems and it is the headquarters of the St John Rescue Corps. Overall, it falls under the responsibility of the AFM.

The gate leading into fort Mosta. Photo: En.wikipedia.com

An aerial view of Fort Mosta. Photo: L. Dalli, Maltashipphotos.com

The third fort was Fort Musta (Mosta), which is positioned in the central part of the Great Fault and occupies the best strategic position of all the forts. Its construction had been approved in 1873 but work was only taken in hand in 1878. It has been described as “a typical example of a British hill fort” and consists of an enceinte in a polygonal shape and a pentagon-shaped keep that included casemates. It is in excellent condition and is used by the AFM as its central arms and ammunition depot and houses the AFM’s Bomb Disposal Unit.

Aerial view of Fort Pembroke. Photo: Facebook

A fourth fort, named Fort Pembroke, was completed in 1879 to assist Fort Madalena in its coastal defensive role. For this reason, it was placed below and to the rear of Fort Madalena to control the accessible shoreline leading to Valletta. Basically, it was shaped like an elongated hexagon with three counterscarp galleries and a ditch. A large casemated traverse divided it into two and served as barracks for the garrison. By the end of the century, its role was taken over by a battery erected in its vicinity. The fort is in very good condition and presently houses Verdala International School.

These forts were aided by an entrenchment known as the Dwejra Lines, constructed between 1881 and 1888 to defend the gap at the Dwejra Hills between Fort Binġemma and Mosta. It consisted of a continuous parapet 1¼ miles long, protected by a ditch and five permanent gun emplacements. Other entrenchments included Għarghur Battery and Tarġa Gap Battery.

Semi-aerial front and rear views of a section of the Victoria Lines. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

The Victoria Lines cutting through Binġemma Valley. Photo: En.wikipedia.org

But by 1897, these strong points were thought to be too detached from each other to present an effective defensive line and it was proposed to link them all together with a continuous masonry wall with loopholes for musket fire, thus creating a new defensive line which is about 12 kilometres long that was adapted, as far as possible, to the lie of the land, including the intervening valleys. So the British engineers erected defensive causeways, known as stop-walls, at Binġemma Gap (valley), Wied il-Faħam (below Madliena), Wied Anġlu (near Għarghur), Wied il-Għasel and Wied Filep. The first three are still standing but the latter two were respectively carried away by torrential rain in 1979 and destroyed by nearby quarrying activity.

Soldiers on military exercises firing from loopholes atop the Victoria Lines. Photo: R. Ellis, Published in Army And Navy Illustrated

This complete line of fortifications, that fully exploited the advantages of geography and technology, thus presented a physical barrier to invaders landing in the north of the island. Unfortunately, one of its defects was the lack of adequate barracks for the troops. But the ‘lines’ were never put to the test militarily. Military exercises were staged in May 1900 but the results indicated that the ‘lines’ were of dubious defensive value.

Military exercises in May 1900 indicated that the ‘lines’ were of dubious defensive value

Irrespective of these results, the combination of forts, batteries, entrenchments, stop-walls, infantry lines, searchlight emplacements and howitzer positions constituted nothing less than a unique assembly of a variety of military elements that fully reflected the strategy adopted by the British to defend Malta in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Soldiers on military exercises manning the Victoria Lines at the beginning of the 20th century, probably in 1900. Photo: Culturemalta.org

In fact, the lines were abandoned in 1907, except for the forts. In World War II, there was the very real possibility of an Italo-German invasion and so the Victoria Lines were rehabilitated with guard posts to serve as a second line of defence behind the coastal defences. Again, the ‘lines’ remained untested since the projected Axis invasion never materialised.

Over time, parts of the ‘lines’ have collapsed but some have remained intact and have become the venue of treks along this so-called ‘Great Wall of Malta’. In 1998, the Maltese government submitted the Victoria Lines to UNESCO to be considered as a World Heritage Site. But what is really needed is the proper rehabilitation by the government of the ‘lines’, including the parts occupied by squatters.