The first coastal defence battery to be overrun by the invading French in 1798 is at risk of collapse, and Mellieħa local council has been trying to save it for over a year.

Huge concrete blocks were piled on top of each other on all sides of the Tunnara battery in Għadira Bay a year ago, in an emergency measure.

The council has however been unable to source the funds needed for repairs to get under way. 

“Repairs will cost us some €200,000, we are continuing our efforts to get funds from the Planning Authority, other local sources and the EU,” the council’s secretary said.

He regretted that such efforts were taking so long, pointing out that the council itself was incurring costs for the concrete blocks used to support the walls.

Late last year the council scaled down its Christmas activities to put aside some funds for the restoration work.

The damage, mostly to the outer wall, is believed to stem from concrete placed on the roof of the building early in the second world war when the British forces placed gunposts there to deter a landing at Għadira Bay.

Defence was the original purpose of the building when it was built by the knights under Grand Master Ramon Perellos in 1716.

The Westreme Battery, as it was known, was part of a line of fortifications which included other posts (now no longer in existence) in the middle and the other side of the bay. 

While retaining its defence role, the building started being used for the storage of tuna fishermen’s nets and equipment in 1748, a role it retained for centuries, thus lending the name Tunnara to the area around it.

It was the first fortification that was overrun during the French invasion of 1798.

During World War II the British added a beach post and a searchlight to the building, so that the building is now an example of military architecture from different eras grouped into one.

The building was opened as a Tunnara Museum some years ago, tracing the history of tuna fishing in the Maltese islands.

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