Fort Metal Cross

About this place

Fort Metal Cross, originally Fort Dixcove, is a white old stronghold on a promontory at the fishing community of Infuma in Dixcove, in Ghana's Western Region. It is among the forts and castles of Ghana on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979, for its part in the slave trade and European-African exchange. It was besieged twice in 1712 by John Kanu, a local ally of the Prussians, but held out. It passed to the Dutch in 1868 in a large exchange of forts between Britain and the Netherlands and was renamed Fort Metalen Kruis. Four years later it returned to the British, but the Dutch name stuck in translation. The fort supplied timber and repaired ships, and it was also used as a slave prison. Later it served as a police and postal station, and it is now leased to a private party and run as a tourist site. You enter a white courtyard with red-edged arches and black paint at the base, and a stone stair leads to the upper walls. Up there stand old cannons and Ghanaian flags, with views of Dixcove bay, the town's roofs and fishing boats. An old royal cipher survives on the walls. The fort lies about 23.3 km from Takoradi and 1.6 km from Busua beach in a straight line, so it pairs easily with a day at the beach. The walls are high in places, so watch children. It is also a place of remembrance, so treat the prison rooms with respect.