Fort Saint Rocco ( mt, Forti Santu Rokku), also known as Fort Saint Roca on some maps, is a

polygonal fort A polygonal fort is a type of fortification originating in France in the late 18th century and fully developed in Germany in the first half of the 19th century. Unlike earlier forts, polygonal forts had no bastions, which had proved to be vulnerabl ...

Kalkara Kalkara ( mt, Il-Kalkara) is a village in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with a population of 3,014 as of March 2014. The name is derived from the Latin word for lime (Calce), and it is believed that there was a lime kiln present there since ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It is located east of Rinella Battery and seaward of the village of Santu Rokku, and forms part of the complex of shore batteries built by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

to defend the coast east of the mouth of

Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour ( mt, il-Port il-Kbir; it, Porto Grande), also known as the Port of Valletta, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks (Malta Dockyard), wharves, and ...

between the 1870s and 1900s.

History

The construction of Fort Saint Rocco started in 1872 or 1873 by the

, as part of a programme of improvements to Malta's fortifications recommended in Colonel Jervois' Report of 1866. The fort was built on the site of

San Rocco Battery San Rocco Battery ( mt, Batterija ta' San Rokku) was an artillery battery in Kalkara, Malta, built by Maltese insurgents during the French blockade of 1798–1800. It was the last in a chain of batteries, redoubts and entrenchments encircling th ...

, an

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

built by Maltese insurgents during the blockade of 1798–1800. Fort Saint Rocco was the first

built by the British in Malta, and the second one built in Malta overall (the first was

Fort Tigné Fort Tigné ( mt, Il-Forti Tigné - Il-Fortizza ta' Tigné) is a polygonal fort in Tigné Point, Sliema, Malta. It was built by the Order of Saint John between 1793 and 1795 to protect the entrance to Marsamxett Harbour, and it is one of the o ...

built by the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

). The first fort, built between 1872 and 1873, was very small given the importance of the site. It was initially armed with three

RML 11 inch 25 ton gun RML 11-inch 25-ton guns were large rifled muzzle-loading guns used as primary armament on British battleships and for coastal defence. They were effectively the same gun as the RML 12-inch 25-ton gun, bored to 11 inches instead of 12. Design ...

s, but these were soon replaced with RML 12.5 inch 38 ton guns. In 1888, the fort was inspected and was described as cramped, and some alterations were proposed. Eventually, the keep and most of the battery were demolished, and a much larger fort was built in its place in 1900. The new fort was armed with BL 9.2 inch guns. On 17 May 1942, the fort fired at attacking Italian

E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat") of the Kriegsmarine during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a patrol craft from an armed motorboat to a lar ...

s and destroyed one of them. The fort remained a functional military establishment until the 1950s.

Present day

The fort is located close to SmartCity Malta, a technology park. Care has been taken not to damage the fort during the construction of the new complex. The public is forbidden from entering the fort. In May 2015, several NGOs suggested that the campus of the proposed

American University of Malta The American University of Malta (AUM) is a private, American-style liberal arts college in Cospicua, Malta. It is a co-educational institution and its launch was announced in May 2015. The project was intended to regenerate the South of Malta a ...

should be split up between Fort Saint Rocco and the nearby

Fort Ricasoli Fort Ricasoli ( mt, Forti Rikażli) is a bastioned fort in Kalkara, Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John between 1670 and 1698. The fort occupies a promontory known as Gallows' Point and the north shore of Rinella Bay, commanding th ...

and

Fort San Salvatore Fort San Salvatore ( mt, Il-Forti San Salvatur), also known as Fort Salvatore ( mt, Il-Fortizza tas-Salvatur), is a retrenched fort in Birgu, Malta. It was built in 1724 on one of the bastions of the Cottonera Lines. It was used as a prisoner-o ...

. This proposal was not implemented, and the campus was built between Dock No. 1 in

Cospicua Cospicua ( mt, Bormla ), also known by its titles Città Cospicua or Civitas Cottonera, is a double-fortified harbour city in the South Eastern Region of Malta. Along with Birgu and Senglea, it is one of the Three Cities, located within the Grand ...

and Żonqor Point in

Marsaskala Marsaskala ( mt, Wied il-Għajn), also written as Marsascala and abbreviated as M'Skala, is a seaside town in the South Eastern Region of Malta which has grown around the small harbour at the head of Marsaskala Bay, a long, narrow inlet also know ...

References

Saint Rocco Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327, also called Rock in English, is a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he is especially invoked a ...

Military installations established in 1873 Military installations established in 1900 Kalkara

World War II sites in Malta Limestone buildings in Malta Military installations closed in the 1950s 19th-century fortifications 1873 establishments in Malta {{Malta-geo-stub