Bengħisa Tower

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Bengħisa Tower
Torri ta' Bengħisa
Part of the De Redin towers
Birżebbuġa, Malta
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Type Coastal watchtower
Site history
Built 1659
Built by Order of Saint John
Materials Limestone
Fate Demolished

Bengħisa Tower (Maltese: Torri ta' Bengħisa), originally known as Torre di Benissa[1] and also referred to as the Red Tower (Maltese: Torri l-Aħmar), was a small watchtower in Bengħisa, limits of Birżebbuġa, Malta. It was built in 1659 as the seventh of the De Redin towers, on or near the site of a medieval watch post.[2] An entrenchment was built around the tower in 1761, and it was armed with 10 guns. The tower was demolished by the British to clear the line of fire of the nearby Fort Benghisa, either in 1915[3] or in 1930.[4]

File:Malta - Birzebbuga - Freeport (Triq Benghajsa) 07 ies.jpg
Oil tanks at the Malta Freeport, with the site of the tower roughly at the centre of this picture

The site of the tower and the entrenchment is now occupied by oil tanks forming part of the Malta Freeport.

References

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