Victoria Lines

The Victoria Lines, originally known as the North West Front, are a line of fortifications that spans 12 kilometres along the width of Malta, dividing the north of the island from the more heavily populated south.

The Victoria Lines run along a natural geographical barrier known as the Great Fault, from Madliena in the east, through the limits of the town of Mosta in the centre of the island, to Binġemma and the limits of Rabat, on the west coast. The complex network of linear fortifications known collectively as the Victoria Lines, that cut across the width of the island north of the old capital of Mdina, was a unique monument of military architecture.

When built by the British military in the late 19th century, the line was designed to present a physical barrier to invading forces landing in the north of Malta, intent on attacking the harbour installations, so vital for the maintenance of the British fleet, their source of power in the Mediterranean. Although never tested in battle, this system of defences, spanning some 12 km of land and combining different types of fortifications—forts, batteries, entrenchments, stop-walls, infantry lines, searchlight emplacements and howitzer positions—constituted a unique ensemble of varied military elements all brought together to enforce the strategy adopted by the British for the defence of Malta in the latter half of the 19th century, a singular solution which exploited the defensive advantages of geography and technology as no other work of fortifications does in the Maltese islands.

The Victoria Lines owe their origin to a combination of international events and the military realities of the time. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 highlighted the importance of the Maltese islands.

By 1872, the coastal works had progressed considerably, but the question of landward defences remained unsettled. Although the girdle of forts proposed by Colonel Jervois in 1866 would have considerably enhanced the defence of the harbour area, other factors had cropped up that rendered the scheme particularly difficult to implement, particularly the creation of suburbs. Another proposal, put forward by Col. Mann RE, was to take up a position well forward of the original.

The chosen position was the ridge of commanding ground north of the old City of Mdina, cutting transversely across the width of the island at a distance varying from 4 to 7 miles from Valletta. There, it was believed, a few detached forts could cut off all the westerly portion of the island containing good bays and facilities for landing. At the same time, the proposed line of forts retained the resources of the greater part of the country and the water on the side of the defenders; whereas the ground required for the building of the fortifications could be had far more cheaply than that in the vicinity of Valletta. Col. Mann estimated that the entire cost of the land and works of the new project would amount to £200,000, much less than would have been required to implement Jervois' scheme of detached forts.

This new defensive strategy was one which sought to seal off all the area around the Grand Harbour within an extended box-like perimeter, with the detached forts on the line of the Great Fault forming the north-west boundary, the cliffs to the south forming a natural, inaccessible barrier; while the north and east sides were to be defended by a line of coastal forts and batteries. In a way, the use of the Great Fault for defensive purposes was not an altogether original idea, for it had already been put forward by the Order of Saint John in the early decades of the 18th century, when they realized that they did not have the necessary manpower to defend the whole island. The Order had built a few infantry entrenchments at strategic places along the general line of the fault, namely, the Falca Lines and San Pawl tat-Tarġa, Naxxar. In fact, the use of parts of the natural escarpment for defensive purposes can be traced back even further, as illustrated by Nadur Tower at Bingemma (17th century), the Torri Falca (16th century) and the remains of a Bronze Age fortified citadel which possibly occupied the site of Fort Mosta.

In 1873, the Defence Committee approved Adye’s defensive strategy and recommended the improvement of the already strong position between the Bingemma Hills and the heights above St. George’s Bay. Work on what was originally to be called the North-West Front began in 1875 with construction of a string of isolated forts and batteries, designed to stiffen the escarpment. Three forts were to be built along the position, at Bingemma, Madliena and Mosta, (designed to cover the western and eastern extremities and the centre of the front, respectively). The first to be built was Fort Bingemma. By 1878, work had still not commenced on the other two and the entrenched position at Dwerja; all of these were to be completed within the £200,000 budget. General Simmons recommended that the old Knights’ entrenchments located along the line of the escarpment at Tarġa and Naxxar were to be restored and incorporated into the defences. He also recommended that good communication roads should be formed in the rear of the lines and that those that already existed be improved. The fortifications of Mdina, the Island’s old capital, were to be considered as falling within the defensive system.