Skip to main content

Forts and Castles: Memory in Stone.

1. Fort Kongensteen – Ada Foah

  • Built by: Danes

  • Year: c. 1783

  • Status: Ruins

  • Notes: Built shortly before Fort Augustaborg, this Danish fort was intended to control trade at the mouth of the Volta River.

2. Fort Fredensborg – Old Ningo

  • Built by: Danes

  • Year: 1734

  • Status: Partial ruins

  • Notes: One of the earlier Danish establishments, served both military and trading purposes. Important in Danish slave trade operations.

3. Fort Vernon – Prampram

  • Built by: British

  • Year: Late 18th century (exact date uncertain)

  • Status: Ruins

  • Notes: A smaller, lesser-known British trading fort; not much remains today. Apparently! However, the truth is, it is used as a kind of warehouse at the beach, near the 1814 Dutch build police station., The fort it played a role in regional trade.

Forts and Castles Near Fort Komenda (with Construction Dates & Notes)

4. Fort Augustaborg (Fort Teshie) – Teshie

  • Built by: Danes

  • Year: 1787

  • Status: Ruins

  • Notes: Last European fort built on the Gold Coast. Close to the community beach in Teshie. Important for trade and diplomacy with Ga-Adangbe peoples.

5. Fort Labadi (unofficial name) – La (Labadi)

  • Built by: Possibly British or Dutch

  • Year: Unknown

  • Status: No confirmed structural remains

  • Notes: Some local oral histories and maps suggest a small coastal outpost may have existed here, but no formal fort has been documented.

6. Christiansborg Castle (Osu Castle) – Osu (Accra)

  • Built by: Danes (originally Portuguese as Fort São Francisco, 1550s)

  • Major Construction: 1661 by Danes

  • Status: Restored; used as a government building

  • Notes: The most prominent Danish structure in Ghana. Served as the seat of colonial government under both the Danes and later the British. Open for tours.

7. Fort James – Jamestown, Accra

  • Built by: British

  • Year: 1673

  • Status: Still standing (partly restored)

  • Notes: Once a prison, now being restored for tourism. Built to rival Dutch and Danish forts nearby.

8. Fort Crevecoeur (later Ussher Fort) – Usshertown, Accra

  • Built by: Dutch (as Fort Crèvecœur)

  • Year: 1649

  • Renamed: Ussher Fort by the British

  • Status: Partially restored; museum use

  • Notes: Built to compete with other European powers. Later became a British post and prison.

9. Fort São Francisco – Original Portuguese structure at Osu

  • Built by: Portuguese

  • Year: 1558

  • Status: Absorbed into Christiansborg Castle

  • Notes: The first European fortification on the Osu site, later taken over by the Danes and heavily modified.

Overview Map (East to West)

  • Ada Foah – Fort Kongensteen

  • Old Ningo – Fort Fredensborg

  • Prampram – Fort Vernon

  • Teshie – Fort Augustaborg

  • La (Labadi) – Site possibly used by Europeans

  • Osu (Accra) – Christiansborg Castle

  • Jamestown (Accra) – Fort James

  • Usshertown (Accra) – Ussher Fort (Crevecoeur)

  • For more information about Forts and Castles, located in today Ghana, please visit > Ghana`s No1 Tourism and Info Website!