Jesuit Hill Battery
| Jesuit Hill Battery | |
|---|---|
| Part of the French blockade batteries | |
| Marsa, Malta | |
| Coordinates | 35°52′57.4″N 14°29′52.9″E / 35.882611°N 14.498028°E |
| Type | Artillery battery |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1798 |
| Built by | Maltese insurgents |
| In use | 1798–1800 |
| Materials | Limestone |
| Fate | Demolished |
| Battles/wars | Siege of Malta (1798–1800) |
Jesuit Hill Battery, also known as Jesuit Battery or Point Cortin Battery, was an artillery battery in Marsa, Malta, built by Maltese insurgents during the French blockade of 1798-1800. It was part of a chain of batteries, redoubts and entrenchments encircling the French positions in Marsamxett and the Grand Harbour.
The battery was built on high ground known as Jesuit Hill. Marsa Battery was located nearby on lower ground close to the shoreline. The battery was small, and consisted of a small masonry parapet with two embrasures, a magazine grafted into the terrace on one side, and a flanking rubble wall on the other. The magazine was camouflaged and protected by a thick layer of soil. A large building at the rear served as barracks or a blockhouse. The battery was considered as an advanced post of the Tas-Samra Camp and was manned by men from Qormi. It was armed with two cannon.
Like the other French blockade fortifications, Jesuit Hill Battery was dismantled, possibly sometime after 1814. No traces of the battery can be seen today, and the area is now heavily industrialized. The site of the battery is now occupied by the Marsa Power Station.[1]
References
- ↑ Spiteri, Stephen C. (May 2008). "Maltese ‘siege’ batteries of the blockade 1798-1800" (PDF). Arx - Online Journal of Military Architecture and Fortification (6): 36. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
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