This tower was built by Grand Master De Redin in 1658 as part of a vast network of such towers to guard the coast against Muslim corsairs attacks from North Africa. It formed part of a chain of such early warning posts positioned within view of each other straddling the Northern-Eastern coast from Marfa Point to Benghisa onto Hamrija Point in Qrendi.
It consists of two rooms built on each other serving as a magazine and living quarters respectively. The upper room is surmounted by an open terrace surrounded by a parapet and reached through a stone turret. The lower part of the tower is splayed making its scaling very difficult. The original entry into the tower was through the door positioned at first floor level. The present day ground floor level door was only added in the 19th century when it started being used by the British military as an adjunct to the nearby musketry and artillery ranges.
HISTORY & DESCRIPTION
FOUGASSE
This hole in the ground is a stone throwing fougasse or mortar devised by the Order of St. John as a cheap way of slowing down an enemy landing at a vulnerable point along the coast. The bore of this mortar is bell-shaped with a recessed gun powder chamber at the bottom. A thin groove runs across the top part of the bore which served for the placing of a quick match by which the mortar was fired.
The loading of the mortar entailed the placing of a gun powder charge in the recessed chamber at the bottom of the bore. A flat wooden board was used to seal this off from rain water. A heavy load of broken stone would then be poured into the hole filling it up to the surface. The mortar would be kept loaded in wait for the right moment when to be fired. When this took place it produced a heavy shower of stone projectiles aimed at killing or maiming an enemy trying to set foot on the coast
Its introduction is credited to the Order’s resident engineer Francesco Marandon who successfully test-fired his first ever example in 1740. A large number of these are believed to have been built along the South-eastern coast of the island and in Gozo. Today only a few remain.
WW2 BEACH GUN POST
This beach gun position was built during WW2 to house an 18-pdr field gun. A large number of such positions were hurriedly built between 1940-42 at all likely landing places in preparation against an Axis invasion. This example is one of the last surviving and on its interior it still shows some of the original camouflage paint in which it was painted to make it less visible from a distance.
The emplacement is built with a wide open front to allow the widest arc of fire possible to the gun. Its construction was made in reinforced concrete supported by iron girders.
A room was also added to the emplacement to serve as gun crew shelter.
WW2 DEFENCE POST
This defence post was built as part of the perimeter defence system of the St. Andrew’s Military Camp in WW2. Its architectural style derives from that developed by the British in WW1 on the western front. It has an irregular outline, firing loopholes all round and a back entrance. It is unusually built from stone with a concrete roof. This post would have formed part of a defensive line made up from other similar posts, open stone or sand-bagged sangars and trenches. It is likely that only light weaponry would have been used in this post.
MILITARY BRIDGE
This military bridge was built by the Royal Engineers towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century as part of a military road built across the Pembroke flat. This was meant to provide easy access over the otherwise rough terrain typical of the area. At around the same time, an extensive network of similar roads was being built by the military all over the island particularly in the North-east and along the coast.
