Wignacourt Tower - the first of the Order's Coastal Watchposts in Malta
by Stephen C. Spiteri
Wignacourt
Tower, situated at St. Pual’s Bay in the north of Malta, is in many ways
a unique historical military building, for this structure
represents the first of a series of coastal watchpost erected in Malta by
the Knights of the Order of St. John in their efforts to secure the Island
against the threat of sea-borne attack. Throughout most of the 15th, 16th
and 17th centuries, Malta and Gozo were plagued by corsair raids, for the
Mediterranean Sea was then infested with
pirates. Many an
inhabitant was carried off into slavery by the Turks during the course of
a rapid unannounced razzia even
though every effort was made by the local militias to watch and guard
the islands’ shores. Then,
unlike today, the northern half of Malta was practically uninhabited for
most people preferred to live within the safety, or in the vicinity, of
the fortified towns. The
remote northern rural and coastal areas
were perilous places. St.
Paul’s Bay was particularly prone to corsair raids as it afforded direct
ingress into the very heart of the island.
It
was Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt who on November 9th, 1609, brought the
matter of the defence of the northern areas of Malta before the Council of
the Order, stressing the need of protecting the Order’s fleet when this
required to shelter within St. Paul’s Bay and also in preventing
the Turks from disembarking there as they had done on previous
occasions. During the
meeting, a model of the tower
was displayed and the proposal was accepted.
Grand Master Wignacourt donated the sum of 7000 scudi
to facilitate the construction of the tower and the first stone was laid
with due ceremony on the 10th
of February 1610.
The
design of Wignacourt Tower is attributed
to the Maltese architect Vittorio Cassar, who is said to have also
designed the other coastal towers that subsequently
sprang up around the island during the reign of the same Grand
Master. The tower consists
basically of a square block with thick bombproof
sloping walls, stiffened by turrets at the corners. Internally the
layout comprises two barrel vaulted rooms, one on each floor. The main
entrance into the tower was through the doorway on the first floor, via a
flight of steps and across a wooden
ponte levatoio (drawbridge - see model of tower to the right)
both of which no longer exist though
the tower still retains its original stout wooden door.
The present ground floor entrance is a late addition.
A staircase built into the thickness of the walls leads up to the
tower’s roof.
.