Ġnien Ingraw and San Niklaw are two picturesque valleys in Mellieħa. Each one of these verdant valleys is supplied by a freshwater spring. The fertile fields and the presence of a continuous source of water rendered these areas very attractive, not only to troglodytic communities and farmers but also to the nymph Calypso, since legend has it that she also resided in one of the caves overlooking Ġnien Ingraw.

However, this serene location also appealed to the British military authorities. They excavated several sections of trenches along the crests of the ridges overlooking these two valleys.

A view of the double trench that runs along the eastern ridge of San Niklaw Valley.

In the 19th century, technological advances and more lethal artillery called for better development of defensive systems. Trenches were part of the solution to such technological advances since fighting on the open ground would have led to heavy casualties.

Trenches provided adequate protection from accurate enemy fire directed at troops caught out in the open, deprived of any form of natural shelter. The concept of digging into the ground to shelter troops was widely practised in the American Civil War and the Russian-Japanese War, reaching its climax during World War 1.

It is of great interest to note that since the 20th century, the concept of building strong, permanent forts was practically abandoned in favour of the erection of supposedly temporary field fortifications.

British defensive strategy had begun to shift towards a policy of preventing the enemy from landing, primarily by repulsing the invading forces on the shores

Northern Malta has always been a source of preoccupation for the British military authorities because of the numerous beaches and natural inlets that could be used by the enemy for the disembarkation of troops. Furthermore, the old ruins of Hospitaller fortifications were largely made obsolete by the industrial advances in metallurgy and chemistry, which led to the development of more powerful weapons.

To address this issue, in 1873 the British started creating a network of entrenchments along the Great Fault. The North-West Front, as this defensive position was initially called (later changed to Victoria Lines), was intended to serve as the first line of defence against any enemy forces landing in the north of the island.

However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the British defensive strategy had begun to shift towards a policy of preventing the enemy from landing, primarily by repulsing the invading forces on the shores.  Consequently, the original defensive fortress scheme centred on Grand Harbour area was abandoned. Field fortifications (mainly consisting of infantry trenches and rock-hewn gun pits) were established at Mellieħa, Wardija, Għajn Tuffieħa and St Paul’s Bay.

This shift in defensive strategy is highlighted in Ray Cachia Zammit’s article The Victoria Lines, From Conception to Demise. What Future? (The Sunday Times of Malta, March 26) whereby he claims that “the Mellieħa ridge trenches marked the beginning of the end for the Victoria Lines as originally conceived”.

These infantry trenches adopted the same high-ground policy of the Victoria Lines but brought the first line of defence closer to the northern shores of the island. By 1907, it was decided that the Victoria Lines would no longer serve as the front line of defence. The latter role was now assigned to these northern ridge defences.

These 1903 ridge defences were among the earliest British fortifications to be constructed in Mellieħa. A survey sheet dated 1904 demonstrates that only one set of trenches (located on the left side of Mellieħa parish church) had been excavated at the time. It was labelled as ‘new trench’. The survey sheet additionally illustrates a gun battery to the village’s rear.

Detail from the 1904 survey sheet showing the new trench and gun battery. The newly excavated trench is indicated by the yellow boxes whilst the gun pits making up the new battery are shown in white boxes. Image courtesy of The National Archives of Malta

The position of most of the remaining trenches is evident on a revised survey sheet published in 1959, implying that the rest of the trenches making up the Mellieħa ridge defences were dug after 1904. Interestingly, in October 1908, Carmelo Gauci of Mellieħa reported that a rubble wall built by the military six months earlier at ‘Xifer ta’ San Niclau’ was dangerous to passers-by. The occurrence was confirmed by Police Constable (PC) 348 J. Borg. This suggests that construction on this trench continued into April 1908.

The trenches were excavated and cut out in the living rock along the cliff face overlooking Mellieħa Bay and Anchor Bay to occupy the most strategic points, thus creating a line of defence along the same ridge. The garigue environment of the Mellieħa ridge – an environment that consists of rock with small shallow pockets of soil – provided no alternative methods of construction except for excavating the trenches in the living rock.

Evidence of what seems to be the remains of a fornello in one of the Mellieħa infantry trenches.

Pickaxe markings are still evident in the carved sections of these trenches.

The trenches were excavated mainly by hand, but in certain instances, explosives were used. One set of Mellieħa trenches still retains evidence of what seems to be the remains of a fornello, implying that explosives might have been used in the initial stages of trench excavation. Subsequently, the digging of the trench would have been completed with a pickaxe. Pickaxe markings are still evident in the carved sections of these trenches.

The local terrain and the method of construction gave rise to a unique set of trenches that are not commonly present throughout the British colonies, where trenches were usually dug out from soil and revetted with wooden planks, corrugated steel and sandbags to prevent the trench from collapsing.

An interesting feature of these 1903 trenches is that most of them only incorporated fire bays (straight sections) and very few traverses (trenches dug at an angle to the lines of the trench). Eventually, in the battles of World War 1 in 1914, the normal design for a front-line trench incorporated equal use of fire bays and traverses. This design had the advantage of protecting the rest of the trench from enfilading fire or shell shrapnel if the enemy managed to take over a section of the trench or if a shell landed in a section of the trench. The traverses prevented enfilading fire or shell shrapnel from reaching the different sections of the trench.

A traverse encountered in one of Mellieħa’s trenches. Unfortunately, the trench is now overgrown with rubble and vegetation.

The reason why the British military authorities did not employ such a design in the 1903 Mellieħa trenches is probably related to the location and geography of the landscape surrounding them. Since they were located on top of a ridge, this made it very difficult for the enemy to seize them or for a shell to reach them, so the use of traverses was probably deemed not particularly necessary in these cases.

Graphic reconstruction of a typical 1903 infantry trench by Stephen C Spiteri. Image courtesy of Stephen C Spiteri

These infantry trenches were very simple in design. They basically consisted of a rock-hewn trench about one metre wide with a small rubble wall parapet fitted with several loopholes for rifle fire. The structure and function of these trenches are almost identical to that of the Victoria Lines stop walls. Just as the latter were topped by loopholes, the Mellieħa ridges were topped by trenches with rubble wall parapets.

The parapets of these trenches varied in form, but in general consisted of a typical Maltese rubble wall, pierced at regular intervals with rifle loopholes. The parapet wall was held in place by the friction forces between the various rubble stones, while cement was used to bond the various components together.

The trenches were built to allow the soldiers to fire their rifles whilst being sheltered and protected behind the rubble wall parapet

The loopholes were generally outlined with neatly cut ashlar masonry stones or rubble stones that had been reshaped and smooth-surfaced accordingly. In order to make shooting easier, some of the trenches had a firing banquette on which the soldiers could stand while firing, whereas almost all of them had an elbow rest on which the soldiers could steady their arms while shooting.

The trenches were built to allow the soldiers to fire their rifles while being sheltered and protected behind the rubble wall parapet. The parapet, apart from sheltering the soldiers from any incoming projectiles, also rendered the trenches more camouflaged, blending them in with the surrounding landscape of field walls. This concept of camouflaging defensive structures with rubble wall features was used again in the perimeter wall of Fort Campbell at Selmun and in the 1938 pillboxes.

One of the main problems associated with these rock-hewn trenches was the fact that they could easily become waterlogged during periods of heavy or prolonged rain. Such an event would have rendered the trenches unfit for use. To remedy this situation, most of the trenches used a simple system to provide adequate rainwater drainage. The principle employed was essentially always the same; the floor of the trench was inclined to allow the rainwater to flow along by gravity and exit the trench through a covered canal or opening.

Interestingly, in one of the trenches, part of the firing banquette not only served as a standing platform to improve the soldier’s firing but also allowed soldiers walking along the trench to keep their feet out of the flowing rainwater. Hence, banquettes also served to direct the rainwater towards the waterspout by keeping flowing rainwater contained inside the water culvert.

The floor of this trench was inclined to allow rainwater to flow out by gravity and exit through a spout hewn along the ridge face.

The importance of keeping the walking surface of the trenches dry was also highlighted in the trenches of World War 1, where wooden duckboards were used. These prevented the soldiers from walking onto the wet, muddy trench floors and from getting trench foot. All this highlights the importance of effective water drainage in even the simplest British fortifications.

In addition, since the Maltese trenches were cut out from rock, they required less maintenance when compared to trenches dug out from soil. Rainfall and shell shock made trenches excavated into the soil collapse more easily, so constant maintenance was essential.

The Maltese rocky garigue meant that the trenches required less maintenance, but this came at a disadvantage as it was more laborious to hew out the trench. Furthermore, if a shell hit the Mellieħa trenches, the rocky garigue would not have absorbed the momentum of the shock as well as soil, hence making the rock splinter and generate dangerous shrapnel.

Detail of a straight section of the trench skirting the western ridge of San Niklaw Valley. Whilst this part of the trench appears to have lost its loopholed parapet, the firing banquette can still be seen among the vegetation and rubble stones.

The soldiers reached these trenches by a series of footpaths protected by stretches of high rubble walls. The area surrounding these trenches bears several interesting limestone blocks. These blocks are War Department boundary stones; markers to indicate that the land belonged to the British military authorities.

The Mellieħa ridge defences remained unchanged until 1935. When Fascist Italy invaded and conquered Abyssinia (Ethiopia), the British feared that Malta was next in line. This initiated a cascade of events resulting in the existing defences being strengthened and the erection of new defences with increased firepower.

For instance, the Mellieħa infantry trench situated on the left side of Mellieħa parish church was modified with the inclusion of open and covered machine gun tables (for Vickers machine guns), an observation post and a semi-underground accommodation bunker with ammunition recess.

The additions to this trench are among some of the earliest examples of military structures built with reinforced concrete in Malta. From this period onwards, concrete and steel became the staple elements of military structures, replacing the stone-upon-stone construction of earlier defences.

Yet, as World War II became more imminent, the importance of these trenches dwindled. In the late 1930s, more land began to be purchased from civilians or ceded by the government to the War Department for the intensive pillbox-building scheme. Almost all the vulnerable bays and inlets, together with strategic inland positions, were dotted with these fortifications, bringing the British defensive line even closer to the shoreline.

The Mellieħa infantry trenches, together with those located at Wardija and Għajn Tuffieħa, among others, document a rare and interesting type of fortification typology borne out of the environment and defensive needs. Despite their modest design and lack of sophisticated features, they nonetheless should be valued and preserved.

Acknowledgement

The author thanks Stephen C. Spiteri, Jeffrey Sammut and the staff at the National Archives of Malta. In his research, the author also referred to British Military Architecture in Malta by Stephen C. Spiteri, Wartime Mellieħa by Charles Debono, Il-Mellieħa, Ritratti bi Storja by Jimmy Muscat, and the Malta Police Occurrences Logbooks, Mosta Headquarters.