The British modified the incomplete Civitas Cotonera in the 19th century with the construction of St. Clement's Retrenchment, which connected the Cotonera with the Santa Margherita fortifications. As part of this project the British also built the Fort Verdala on the same site that Grandmaster Nicolas Cotoner had intended to build his castle. In the 1870s, the Valperga Bastion and St. Paul's Curtain, the St. Paul's Gate and a church dedicated to St. Francis De Paule were demolished to make way for the new road and Ghajn Dwieli tunnel, which formed part of an extension of the Malta Dockyard.
