Buġibba Battery (), also known as Elbene Battery (), was 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 f ...

Buġibba Buġibba (English pronunciation: ) is a zone within St. Paul's Bay in the Northern Region, Malta. Situated adjacent to Qawra, it is a popular tourist resort, containing numerous hotels, restaurants, pubs, archit clubs, and a casino. History Duri ...

, limits of

St. Paul's Bay Saint Paul's Bay () is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Northern Region. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, and café life. As per the 2021 population census, it has also ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It was built in the 18th century, by the Order of St. John, as one of a series of coastal fortifications around the coasts of the

Maltese islands The geography of Malta is dominated by water. Malta is an archipelago of coralline limestone, located in Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, 81 kilometres south of Sicily, Italy,From Żebbuġ in Malta, coordinates: 36°04'48.2"N 14°15'06.7"E to Ca ...

. The battery no longer exists, but its rock-hewn ditch and some foundations can still be noticed.

History

Buġibba Battery was built in the 18th century during one of the building programmes of coastal batteries in Malta. Sources conflict as to whether it was built in 1715–16, or sometime between 1747 and 1784. It was one of a series of fortifications defending St. Paul's Bay, with the nearest ones to it being

Wignacourt Tower Wignacourt Tower (), also known as Saint Paul's Bay Tower (), is a bastioned watchtower in St. Paul's Bay, Malta. It was the first of six Wignacourt towers to be built, and the first stone was laid on 10 February 1610. It replaced the role of ...

to the southwest and

Qawra Tower Qawra Tower (), also known as Qawra Point Tower () or Fra Ben Tower (), is a small watchtower in Qawra, limits of St. Paul's Bay, Malta. It was completed in 1638 as the fourth of the Lascaris towers. An artillery battery was built around the t ...

to the northeast. The battery's exact layout is not known, but it had a semi-circular gun platform with a parapet, and a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

at the rear. It was surrounded by a ditch which was filled with seawater.

Present day

Today, the battery no longer exists, but some of its rock-hewn foundations and ditch can still be seen. The ditch and the remains are listed on the

National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands The National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands (NICPMI) is a heritage register listing the cultural property of Malta. The inventory includes properties such as archaeological sites, fortifications, religious buildings, mon ...

References

External links

National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands
Artillery battery fortifications in Malta Hospitaller fortifications in Malta Buildings and structures completed in the 18th century Demolished buildings and structures in Malta Limestone buildings in Malta National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands 18th-century fortifications Buildings and structures in St. Paul's Bay 18th Century military history of Malta {{Malta-geo-stub

History

Present day

Further reading

References

External links