Fort Metal Cross was besieged twice in 1712 by John Kanu, a local ally of the Prussians, but the fort was defended successfully.[3]
The fort was transferred to the Dutch as part of a large trade of forts between Britain and the Netherlands in 1868 under the Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty.[4] It was renamed Fort Metalen Kruis. Four years later, however, on 6 April 1872, the fort was, with the entire Dutch Gold Coast, again transferred to the United Kingdom, as per the Gold Coast treaty of 1871. The Dutch name stuck, however, translated as Fort Metal Cross.[5] It was known as ‘the fake mint of the Gold Coast’ by author Bosman because the gold that was mined was mostly impure gold. This led to the promise of gold never happened. The fort was a service station for the supply of timber from nearby forest and repairing of ships. It was also used as a slave prison during the slave trade. The British and Dutch had a fort exchange agreement in 1867 and the Dutch became the owners of the fort. The Dutch later sold their forts to the British.[1]
Current
The fort has been both a Police Station and a Postal station.[1] It has been leased to a private institution by an English citizen, Robert Fidler, and his family, and is maintained as a tourist site and congregation point for churches.[6]
A painting by Edith Cheeseman from the 1920s, later published as a postcard. It depicts Fort Metal Cross as well as Alatakron, the village at the base of the fort which was inhabited by ancestors of migrants from Lagos, who worked as tradespeople maintaining the fort.
Gallery
Exterior photograph of Fort Metal Cross, Dixcove, Western Region, Ghana. It is composed of two images stitched together taken from just outside
