Then & now: check out the old part of the Victoria Lines in Wied il-Ghasel back in 1901
Local Facebook page Friends of The Victoria Lines Trail posted incredible shots comparing a long-gone part in Northern Malta: the Victoria Lines within Mosta’s Wied il-Ghasel.
“The Victoria Lines used to cross the bottom of Wied il-Ghasel across a fortified masonry bridge (also called a stopwall). Alas, this was destroyed in an extremely severe storm in 1979,” the page says. “The only parts of the stopwall that are still standing today are the three masonry arches on which it rested. Linking the stopwall to the rest of the Victoria Lines infantry wall were two sets of steep stairs, one on each side of the ravine.”
“The first photograph (taken from the Victoria Lines Record Plan compiled in 1901) shows the set of stairs on the right-hand side of Wied il-Ghasel,” which is on the opposite side of Fort Mosta. “These stairs used to lead up from the stopwall at the bottom of Wied il-Ghasel, up the side of the ravine and down into the adjacent Wied Filep where there was another stopwall.”
“The second image is a screenshot from Google Earth which shows the same spot today. It can be readily seen that part of the side of the ravine has collapsed; as a result of the quarry behind it which, over the years, has not only "consumed" part of the Victoria Lines but also the whole of Wied Filep.”
Although this part of the historic lines dedicated to Queen Victoria no longer stands, it’s safe to say it’s still super breath-taking.