Bengħisa Tower

Bengħisa Tower
Torri ta' Bengħisa
Part of the De Redin towers
Birżebbuġa, Malta
Coordinates	35°48′42.6″N 14°32′23″E / 35.811833°N 14.53972°E
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]

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

1. Ġrajjet Malta - It-Tielet Ktieb (in Maltese) (4 ed.). Sliema: Department of Education. 2006. p. 81.
2. Zammit, Vincent (1984). "Fortifications in the Middle Ages". Civilization (Ħamrun: PEG Ltd) 1: 33.
3. Guillaumier, Alfie (1987). Bliet u Rħula Maltin (in Maltese). Valletta: Valletta Publishing & Promotion Co. Ltd. p. 104.
4. Zammit, Vincent (1992). Il-Gran Mastri - Ġabra ta' Tagħrif dwar l-Istorja ta' Malta fi Żmienhom - L-Ewwel Volum 1530-1680 (in Maltese). Valletta: Valletta Publishing & Promotion Co. Ltd. p. 235.