Situated at 105 metres above sea level, it was the most northerly of all the forts and other military facilities built in 1809-10 under the orders of the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, and commonly known as the Lines of Torres Vedras.

[1] 152 forts, redoubts and other defences, forming three lines of defence, were constructed over 80 kilometres, reinforcing the natural obstacles that the land offered and making maximum use of the existing topography.

It has a pronounced stone-lined dry moat, with access having originally been over a drawbridge.

[1][2][3][4] The fort, like most of the other fortifications of the Lines of Torres Vedras, was disarmed and abandoned in 1818, three years after the Congress of Vienna brought peace to Europe.

In 2011, the fort was restored at a cost of around €350,000, paid for with a European Economic Area grant.