During the hot summer months, many Maltese families and foreign tourists spend hours and days on end refreshing themselves on Malta’s sandy beaches and rocky foreshore. Most probably, the pervading scenery includes some type of fortification – be it fort, tower, battery or redoubt – of bygone years, and some people sometimes ask about the particular fortification’s origin.If the building in question happens to be a tower, the Maltese answer, unfortunately, would normally be something like this: “Oh! That’s one of De Redin’s towers.”

I use the word “unfortunately” with no qualms whatsoever. The reason is that, in the minds of many misinformed Maltese who boast about their homeland’s history but have never bothered to study it properly, all coastal towers found in Malta were built by Grand Master Martino de Redin (1657-1660). Actually, this grand master did build a number of towers but he certainly did not build them all.

During the 16th century, the ruling Order of St John concentrated all its attention on the defences of Grand Harbour and, to a lesser extent, of Mdina and the Gozo Citadel. Coastal defence was ignored except for the lookout posts which continued to be manned by the local militia as had been the case since medieval times. The building of Valletta was a considerable addition to the island’s defences but there was still the danger of Turkish landings and Muslim corsair raids.

Grand Masters Martino Garzes (1595-1601) and Alof de Wignacourt (1601-22) had initiated the beginning of Malta’s coastal defence by erecting towers or small forts in various vantage points or landing-places. However, the Order did not have the manpower necessary to post troops at every likely landing-place. This limitation was obvious to the Knights who, therefore, embarked on a programme of building small coastal defences whose aim was to act as watchtowers rather than as garrisoned outposts.

This new policy saw its initiation during the rule of Grand Master Jean Paul Lascaris Castellar (1636-57). The towers were invariably constructed on a similar plan, being about 10 metres square, two or three storeys high, having a scarped lower part and topped by a small guard room and a parapet wall. Grand Master De Redin augmented this chain of coastal lookout towers.

In March 1658, De Redin offered to build another 12 or 14 towers at his own personal expense. By July 6, 1659, 13 such towers had been constructed for a total expenditure of 6,428 scudi. A small commemorative marble plaque was affixed to each tower. Seven months later, in February 1660, De Redin passed away.

Each tower was manned by four men, including a bombardier. Formerly, the lookout posts had been manned by the local Maltese militia on a roster basis. De Redin disagreed with this custom and was not satisfied with a system which implied nocturnal guard duties for men who would have spent at whole day at work. Therefore, he proposed that such guards would be employed on a permanent basis at annual salary rates of 30 scudi and 24 scudi for bombardiers and soldiers respectively.

One has to stress that the aim of these towers was the sounding of the alarm in case of an enemy landing or raid. When enemy sea-craft were sighted, signals were duly given: bonfires at night and cannon shot (or smoke signals) by day. The signal would be relayed from tower to tower so that the central administration would be informed of what was happening. This explains why these towers, together with similar others built by other grand masters, were within visual distance of each other, thus forming an unbroken chain which brought the whole coastline under surveillance.

The 13 towers De Redin built

The above map indicatess the locations of the 13 towers built by De Redin clockwise, starting with Torri l-Abjad (White Tower) near Armier (no. 1) and ending with Tal-Ħamrija Tower (no. 13). But the towers were not erected in the order shown in the diagram. The first one to be completed was Għajn Ħadid Tower in May, 1658, but a further five were ready by the following November.

The following is a complete list of them in chronological order in accordance with the dates when they were constructed, together with their former names and their present condition. The numbers correspond to the ones in the map.

In March 1658, De Redin offered to build 12 or 14 towers at his own expense. By July 6, 1659, 13 towers had been constructed

2. Għajn Ħadid Tower – Torre di Salmone, l/o Mellieħa: in ruins because it was partially destroyed in 1856 by an earthquake;

3. Għallis Tower – Torre delle Saline, at Salina Bay, l/o Naxxar: in good condition;

4. Qalet Marku Tower – Torre del Cortin, at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, l/o Naxxar: in good condition;

5. Madliena Tower – Torre della Paulina, at Pembroke: in good condition after restoration;

6. St Julian’s Tower – Torre di San Giuliano, at Sliema: being used as a bar/restaurant;

1. Torri l-Abjad (White Tower) – Torre di Lacras, also known as Torri tal-Aħrax, at Armier, l/o Mellieħa: being used as a restaurant;

11. Bengħajsa Tower – Torre di Benissa, at Birżebbuġa: destroyed by the British Services in 1939 because it was in the way of the line of fire of modern guns;

9. Xrobb l-Għaġin Tower – Torre di Siuarep, at Xrobb l-Għaġin, l/o Marsaxlokk: mainly in ruins;

7. Imwieġel Tower – Torre della Giddida, also known as Triq il-Wiesgħa Tower, l/o Żabbar; in good condition;

10. Delimara Tower – Torre della Limara, l/o Marsaxlokk: destroyed by the British Services as it was in the way of the field of fire of modern guns;

8. Żonqor Tower – Torre di Zoncol, at Marsascala (Wied il-Għajn): collapsed;

13. Tal-Ħamrija Tower – Torre della Pietra Negra, l/o Qrendi: was in bad condition but has been fully restored;

12. Bubaqra Tower – Torre della Guardia di Giorno, also known as Wardija Tower (the word ‘Wardija’ is derived from Guardia), l/o Żurrieq: in good condition, being used as a farmhouse.

The phantom 14th tower

Until less than half a century ago, it was commonly held that a 14th tower had been built at Pwales, in the innermost reaches of St Paul’s Bay. However, the archives of the Order of St John dispel any doubts regarding this tower because in Volume 260, Liber Conciliorum Status, f. 63, we find Grand Master De Redin informing the Order’s Council of State that the 13 towers he had promised were ready. This is followed by a list of expenses incurred for the erection of each site.

To quote but one example, the expenses to build the sixth tower, known as the White Tower, or Torre di Lacras, at Tal-Aħrax (written as Batteria della Harach) amounted to 544 scudi, 11 tarí 10 grani.

Nowhere is there any mention that another tower had been built or, conversely, was being projected.

Actually, circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that a tower at Pwales was totally unnecessary because the entrance to St Paul’s Bay was dominated by the Wignacourt Tower, built in 1610 on a site overlooking what is nowadays Sirens Waterpolo Club.

But the idea of a 14th tower was repeated ad nauseam in all history books until, in June 1969, Brigadier Alfred Samut-Tagliaferro – a distinguished military historian – published an article in The Sunday Times of Malta proving the non-existence of this fictitious tower. This article was only possible after months of painstaking research of documents and old maps together with a survey of all the tower sites. Since then, all writers have correctly referred to the 13 towers of De Redin.

Joseph F. Grima, retired casual history lecturer and Asst Director of Education