The Couvre Porte, or Birgu
Counterguard as it is also commonly known, was a defensive feature which was added
to protect the approaches to Birgu’s main gateway, the Porta
Superiore (situated
in the right flank of St. John Bastion) during the reign of Grand Master
Antoine de Paul (1723-1736). The structure underwent various alterations in the
course of the eighteenth century, when it was fitted with a Baroque gateway and
enveloped within a new system of outworks that involved a short stretch of covert
way fitted with traverses as well as a reverse glacis. During the British
period, a barrack block was built within the counterguard and this edifice is
still in use, having served for a number of years as the offices for the Birgu Local
Council. The ERDF 039 project has sought to restore the consumed masonry fabric
of the counterguard, its main gate (including the reconstruction of the
decorative trophies-of-arms) and also involved the excavation of its low ditch,
which was cleared from the rubble dumped inside it, thereby introducing a
greater degree of legibility to the historical structure. A sally-port was
brought to light in the course of the clearing of this ditch.