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Battery in Gozo - Stanley Farrugia Randon
from Vigilo 56
by dinlarthelwa
REVERSING THE DAMAGE
The Qolla l-Bajda Battery in Gozo
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by Stanley Farrugia Randon
Built on a promontory between Qbajjar Bay and Xwejni Bay in Gozo, this gun battery is semi-circular, partly ringed by a parapet (with six embrasures), and its gorge occupied with two blockhouses linked together by a short loopholed wall containing the main gate. The flanks of the blockhouses overlooking the main entrance into the battery were pierced with musketry loopholes. A low flight of steps provided access, via a wooden drawbridge, to the main entrance. A sea-filled moat protected the seaward front of the battery. The Qolla l-Bajda battery has undergone considerable alterations to its structure, including some carried out to convert it into a catering and entertainment venue.
Construction
The construction of the battery was ordered in 1715 by French military engineers headed by Brigadier Louis François d’Aubigné de Tigné and Charles François Mondion as second-incommand who visited the islands to enhance the defences of bays.
As in the case of other works carried out on various fortifications, towers, batteries and entrenchments, detailed costings were listed for the construction of parts of the Qolla l-Bajda Battery. These included excavation works for the ditch, different parts of the parapet wall (parapetto) including the part with the embrasures (parapetto a troniere), the gun platform (piateforma), the counterscarp (contrascarpa), the walls of the blockhouses, partition walls (muri di tramezzo), the roof slone slabs (balate di copertura) known as xorok in Maltese, the walls around the doorway, stones for the platform (plataforma), the terrace (terrazza), the arches, the cistern, the water canals and the stairs. These works cost 823 scudi 2 tarí and 17 grani. It is interesting to note that the French engineer Philippe Maigret also presented his estimate of costs to see if it compared well with the approved estimate of works. This practice is still used today to compare a bill of quantities with an estimate of costs prepared by the appointed architect to the estimates presented by the contractors.
Entrenchments (irregular walls erected along places accessible to enemy embarkation) were also proposed at Qbajjar in conjunction with the battery and at Xwejni in 1715 by the Grand Prior of France, Philippe de Vendôme, who joined the military engineers in July 1715. The battery was armed with six 9-pounder cannon but early reports claim that there was no store of gunpowder, thus rendering the battery useless for defensive purposes. In 1761 it was reported that there were six 9-pounder cannon but in 1770 it was documented that there were four 6-pounder cannon. It was suggested to replace these with 8-pounder cannon. There were 276 cannon balls, 60 gun shots, 55 supplies of gun powder, 12 guns with bayonets, 4 spontoons and 2 spingards. In 1785 the recommendation to supply the battery with 8-pounder cannon was accepted and the battery was armed with these cannon.
By the end of the century many redoubts and batteries in Gozo were either abandoned or in an unserviceable state. The batteries of Qolla l-Bajda and Ras il-Qala were the only two equipped with gunpowder and the others had to transport it from the Gran Castello in case of an attack.
The French in Gozo
In 1798, with the arrival of the troops commanded by General Vaubois, the majority of Malta’s fortifications were already finished and were not used to withstand a French enemy, also because most of the commanders of the troops were French knights. The senescalc who commanded the militia of the villages was Prince Camillo de Rohan. In Malta his lieutenants were Balì Tomasi and Suffren S.Tropé, the latter being in charge of the coast. Gozo was commanded by the knight Misgrigny de Ville Bertein. No wonder the French attack on the islands was a walkover!
Napoleon invaded the island of Gozo on 10 June 1798 and landed in Daħlet Qorrot. The guns of Sopu Tower, which is in shooting range of the bay, opened fire to prevent the French army from disembarking. General Reynier, who was in command of the French, reported that at the point of landing selected between Sopu Tower and the battery of Ramla, enemy fire from the cliffs killed Sgt Major Bertrand who was in the general’s boat. The French replied with heavy bombardment from the vessels Étoile and Pluvier. Apart from this landing, the French were not known to have encountered any other resistance in Gozo.
Given the presence of the Order of St John, Malta constituted a true bastion of the European continent, able to offer strong resistance to the advance of Ottoman power in Western Europe. The Maltese fortifications
The underground space created for a nightclub
Roofing and other structures constructed to increase the indoor space above ground
including its coastal defences exemplify the most advanced theories for defence, but all this did not prevent the French from taking over the island with very little resistance.
The nineteenth century
However the French occupation of Malta lasted only two years as in 1800 Britain assumed the role of defending Malta. After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when the French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated, the Maltese provincial battalions, the Malta coast artillery and the battalion of Maltese veterans were disbanded and an infantry regiment called The Royal Malta Fencible Regiment was formed. Lieutenant Colonel Count Francis Rivarola was entrusted with the regiment.
In April 1825 the three rooms of the Qolla l-Bajda battery were whitewashed, one entirely while the other two to the height of about 12 feet. The terraces and the greater part of the pavement of two of the rooms had to be renewed while two stone arches and the terrace of the other room were repaired. Other restoration included renewing the roofing stones and terrace of the kitchen as well as repairing the steps in front of the entrance. It is presumed that the kitchen is the two-storey building situated close to the saltpans on the Eastern side of the battery. It was a common practice to have a room outside a defensive post to use as a kitchen.
In September 1827 inspections were carried out in different fortifications and recommendations were documented to improve the state of maintenance of the properties. On the Qolla l-Bajda Battery, the inspection concluded that: ‘Three rooms require to be whitewashed and their terraces repaired, as also a window in one of the rooms – the cistern requires also to be repaired’. In another report dated 11 February 1829 and written by Col. George Whitmore, who headed the Royal Engineers Office between 1811 and
Qbajjar Battery in the 1960s
Qbajjar Battery 1990 (above) and 1993 (below) 1829, it is reported that the ‘Kollha Baydha’ was built ‘for the fortification of the little cove on the North of the Island called Muyeg il Bahar – circular and enclosed at the gorge by two barracks communicated by a loopholed wall – it is occupied and in bad condition’. He wrote that restoration required 505 cubic feet of masonry, 70 square feet of pavement, 450 square feet of roofing, 180 square feet of platforms and 4,500 square feet of pointing. It also required four doors and two shutters as well as repairs to other doors still in place. It is interesting to note that in old maps Qbajjar bay is referred to as ‘Muieg il-Bahar’, referring to waves of the sea (mewġ meaning ‘waves’ in Maltese).
A detailed map drawn by Don Felice Cutajar, a Maltese priest, and dated 1833 gives us the names of the coastal towers, batteries, entrenchments, and with the quantity of guns to be found in the coastal defences. In this map, the Maltese priest noted that there were six cannon on site. The nearby Qolla s-Safra battery was armed with five cannon. Subsequent visits by Royal Engineers reported that there were still six iron cannon which were however unserviceable, and there was also some ammunition on site.
During World War II the battery was manned by reserve police constables as Observation Post No 5.
More recent developments Extensive alterations to the original fabric
In 1978 Qolla l-Bajda Battery was leased on temporary emphyteusis for 25 years and transferred in 1981 to Rook Limited for use as a bar, but it was converted into a discotheque after about five years. It served as a disco for about six years but was then abandoned. Unfortunately considerable additions to the structure of the place were made at that time, including an underground space to increase the dance floor. Photos from the early 1990s show that the roofs of the two blockhouses had collapsed but were repaired using concrete when the battery was used as a restaurant towards the end of the 1990s. In 1999 the Planning Authority apparently issued an enforcement order for illegal structures which were erected but nothing was done to revert the damage. The Planning Authority included the site in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands, and the site was scheduled as Grade 1 in 1995.
In 2003 the lease expired but the tenant refused to return the land to the government despite an eviction order by the Lands Department. Not really aware of this legal struggle, the non-governmental organisation Din l-Art Ħelwa, which had expressed its interest in restoring the battery on various occasions, was informed by the government on 7 September 2007 that it would evict Rook Ltd from the battery and hand it over to Din l-Art Ħelwa. The previous owner however went to court seeking a precautionary injunction against the eviction on the basis of lack of fair hearing. The legal struggle went on until 2021 when Din l-Art Ħelwa was informed by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage by letter dated 6 May that the Minister responsible for Cultural Heritage had recommended that it is granted in guardianship to the association. The Lands Authority was also notified by the Superintendence for the battery to be transferred to the Superintendence. The latter has requested Din l-Art Ħelwa to start preparing the preliminary documentation. Despite all mechanisms to protect our heritage and historic places, the battery underwent extensive alterations when it was used as a bar and night club. The external flight of steps was constructed in 1981 when the place was transferred to Rook Limited. An underground space was created comprising a central large area for people to socialise and dance. This was accessible through an opening under the outside staircase or else through a flight of stairs from the landward side of the gun platform. Two other underground rooms, one on each side of the central one, were used as a sitting area and as a kitchen. Toilets were also installed close to the seating area. The underground kitchen communicated with the right-sided blockhouse above ground via a spiral staircase as this was also used as a kitchen. As stated already, the blockhouse on the right was converted into a kitchen and its walls were tiled all round. The blockhouse on the left was used as a sitting area but part of it was enclosed with a dividing wall and used as a toilet. This toilet was tiled halfway up. The wall between the two blockhouses was not tiled but trenches were dug internally to pass a number of cables and pipes.
The outside gun platform was not spared. The parapet wall was tiled and the original embrasures where the cannon used to lie were covered. The inner area between the two blockhouses was roofed with concrete and this roof was extended over part of the gun platform. Limestone columns were erected on the platform to further support this roof on the seaward side. This further increased the indoor area when it was used as a night club and a restaurant. Arches were built of limestone on the sides and back part of this area and closed with glass windows. Doorways were opened in the back parts of both blockhouses for easy access to this area. The outside room which was used as a kitchen during the British period was not modified but a space was dug underground close-by and divided into two rooms by a wall. This space was probably used for storage.
Din l-Art Ħelwa intends to restore the building above ground to its original state. This will not be an easy job as most accretions will have to be removed. n Research copyright: Stanley Farrugia Randon
