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Published by The Author
Š E. Cassar 2014
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted to any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the previous permission of the publisher and author.
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Marsaskala is a small sea-side village in the south part of Malta, also known as Wied il-Ghajn meaning valley for ‘Wied’ and spring of fresh water for ‘Ghajn’. This mention is because of the old towns’ location between two valets in which springs of fresh water used to stream down into the deep part of the bay. This village is not distant from Zejtun, Zabbar and Marsasxlokk and until the Second World War it was still a community consisting mostly in summer residences. Nowadays the village has a population of around 12,000 habitants where these increase up to around 25,000 during the summer holidays. The locality has a variety of leisure facilities such as bars and restaurants. Marsaskala reaches deep into the coastline. The bay is enclosed by a beautiful promenade that invites everyone to go for a walk especially in the hot summer evenings for the fresh sea breeze. In the inward part of the bay in the water you can see various traditional Maltese boats painted in green, yellow, blue and brown. Some of these boats have also a pair of eyes on the bow of the boat. These boats are also called ‘luzzu’. In the south part of Marsaskala lies St Thomas Bay where the bay is much wider and part of it has a small sandy beach. The bay is partially surrounded by cliffs, 5|Page
some 10 meters high. The east of the village, directly by the sea, lays the old saltpans which probably date back to the Roman period. Marsaskala area was inhabited thousands of years ago as proven by the archaeological remains found in several parts of Marsaskala. Some of the remains are indubitably the cartruts which lead straight to the sea and which were used for heavy transport burdens from one place to another. Christian Catacombs and Roman era remains were also revealed. Roman Baths were also found at il-Gzira, a rock peninsula behind the ex Jerma Palace Hotel. ‘Della descrittione di Malta isola nel mare siciliano con le sue antichita, ed altre notitie libri quattro.’ This is an important book written in the early 17th Century (published in 1647) by Giovanni Francesco Abela (1582 – 1655), a Maltese born from a noble family. In a small paragraph on page 22 of this book he described Marsaskala as a Sicilian Port which was also called as St Thomas Bay from a Chapel nearby where in 1614 Turkish fleet disembarked. 1
After the attack in the south of Malta by 60 Turk Ships with 6000 soldiers who landed in Marsaskala in 1614, Grand Master de Wignacourt built one of the set of five towers in Malta, St Thomas Tower in one of the large bays where was in high risk that troops land.
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http://www.sanandrea.edu.mt/senior/cyberfair/knights/7a.html
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It was said that the design was of the son of a Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, Vittorio but it is more possible that the work was of another Maltese, Girolamo Bonici since the previous died in 1610. The tower was funded by the Grandmaster himself along with other major coastal towers which were St Paul’s Tower, St Lucian’s Tower, Comino Tower and Santa Maria delle Grazie Tower at Xghira .
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St. Thomas Tower—Heritage Attraction Proposal
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The structure of the Tower was a well-made rectangular one built-in with four small elongated corners in the form of turrets. The tower was designed to serve as a military base fort so it was built strong enough to mount a battery of heavy cannon on the roof. Some say that the idea for the turret solution implemented in all Wignacourt towers except that of Marsalforn Tower was probably introduced from abroad and influenced by current coastal towers erected in the Kingdom of 2 Sicilies, Spain and its colonies.
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http://www.militaryarchitecture.com/index.php/Ffortifications/st-thomas-towerand-battery.html
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Like Castell de San Carlos in Majorca, the corner towers of St Thomas Tower projected outwards in the form of pentagonal bastions, giving the whole building a characteristic four bastioned fortification in plan. The structure of St Thomas Tower cost around 13,450 scudi making the building the 2nd most expensive of Wignacourt Towers after the St Mary Tower in Comino in which its cost was 18,628 scudi.
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The thickness of the walls was around 5 meters in places and the corner bastions were themselves of solid construction and filled with mass of debris and earth behind thick masonry skins. The tower was purposely designed to absorb naval bombardments. The entrance of St Thomas Tower was through an arched doorway set within a turret located in the
middle of the building. This turret was surmounted by a guardroom which was added later and it was fitted with external flag-pole holders. A small marble heraldic shield with Wignacourt’s coat of arms was mounted above the doorway. The entrance of the Tower was served with a wooden drawbridge which the Tower still retains. An important element of the Tower is the ditch around it enclosing the tower together with the battery. The tower is around 10 meters wide and the widest part is 17 meters. The part of the ditch of the coastal battery is smaller and around 4.5 meters wide. The so called fosso was quarried in soft rock and this seems that it affected the base of the tower as it was later reinforced with buttresses. It was not known when the 10 | P a g e
support was done but in 1766 one of the buttresses was already in a poor state of repair so these were probably done few years after the Tower was constructed.
By the middle of the 18th Century the role of St Thomas tower has changed from that of a Coastal watch Tower to a command Centre. The fortifications of St Thomas area consisted of 3 batteries, two other Towers and 2 sets of entrenchment. The Tower served also as a store for powder and weapons for the Zejtun Militia troop who defended the 11 | P a g e
area. The Orders militia organizers predicted that St Thomas tower together with that of St Lucian and St Agatha, could hold on its own against the enemy. When there was an emergency, a battalion of other 30 soldiers were sent and provided with provisions enough for forty days. When times were harder, contingents of around 200 soldiers were increased. 4During the island’s occupation by the British, the tower was still used as a lookout and defended the area. 5
St Thomas tower was also surrounded by other fortifications. One of them was Mamo Tower, built in 1657 at tar-Rumi on the road leading to Zejtun and not so far from St Thomas tower. This tower is not as big as St Thomas one and it has also a dry moat and a drawbridge. There is also TalButtar Tower which nowadays is used a farmhouse and which lies in a valley with another Tower near named talGardiel. The tower had a drawbridge as well as a flight of stairs which came to a sudden end. In another area in Marsaskala we also had a De Redin Tower in Zonqor which was built by the Grandmaster De Redin in 1659, another one from the series of towers built on the coast and it exactly separates the limits of Marsaskala from the adjacent village, Zabbar.
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http://www.idotravelto.com/malta/info/sehenwerters/Marsaskala-Cityguide.php 5 http://www.malta.com/en/about-malta/city-village/marsaskala
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A redoubt near Marsaskala Parish Church was built by Commendatore Gio in 1715, Brinconet Redoubt, which its cost was 768 scudi and which nowadays serves as the Marsaskala Police Station. The 17th Century Tower, some years ago has also served as a restaurant for a number of years. Recently, St Thomas Tower and the battery have been repaired. Battered stones of the battery have been replaced with new ones but the Tower has been faithfully restored although nowadays it really needs some maintenance again. Nowadays St. Tower falls under the heritage of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna. Our beautiful village nowadays has expanded so much from the knight’s era and now St Thomas tower is surrounded by modern buildings. Although so many years passed, this jewel still looks like a precious stone on the middle of an ornament, hidden from the seaward by a large building that covers its beauty. Each year, this Tower breathe again as the Marsaskala Local Council organizes a remembrance when the Knights came to our beautiful Island and built these Towers to guard us from piracy and all our enemies. In this event it is so much felt the presence of the Knights era and the arrival of the Grandmaster Fra Alof de Wignacourt saving this part of the Island by building this massive but magnificent tower.
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