Fort Saint Rocco (), 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 vulnerab ...

Kalkara Kalkara () is a village in the Port 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 Roman times. Kalkara ...

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 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

to defend the coast east of the mouth of

Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour (; ), also known as the Port of Marsa, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks ( Malta Dockyard), wharves, and fortifications. Description The h ...

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 () 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 the French positions in Marsa ...

, 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 ...

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 () 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. It is one of the oldest polygonal forts in the world. The fort, ex ...

built by the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

). 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 guns, 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"; plural ''Schnellboote'') of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a pat ...

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 SmartCity is a technology park under development in Kalkara, Malta. The original plan was to transform the Ricasoli Industrial Estate into an information technology and media city on the models of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. The pr ...

, 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 institution offering American-style liberal arts education, located in Cospicua, Malta. Announced in May 2015, the university was introduced as part of a broader initiative aimed at supporting ...

should be split up between Fort Saint Rocco and the nearby

Fort Ricasoli Fort Ricasoli () 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 the entrance to the G ...

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

Cospicua Cospicua (Italian language, Italian) or Bormla (Maltese language, Maltese, ), occasionally also known by the Latin language, Latin name Cottonera, is a double-fortified harbour city in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region of Malta. It served as th ...

and Żonqor Point in

Marsaskala Marsaskala, sometimes written as Marsascala is a seaside town in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. Originally a fishing village, it has grown into a tourist destination and a permanent hometown for an ever-growing population. ...

References

Saint Rocco Military installations established in 1873 Military installations established in 1900 Kalkara Saint Rocco 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