Milestones (Plieri tal-mili in Maltese), which were intended to indicate distances between important locations, can be found all around Malta but are more common in rural regions.

They helped British sailors and soldiers return from rural villages and other locations as they travelled through an unfamiliar country. 

Each parish or mapped area typically had one or two milestones, and additional milestones were added to help define the extensive rural areas. The highest numbers found were seven in Mġarr, five in Birżebbuġa and St Paul’s Bay, and four each in Żejtun and Żurrieq.

The decision to efface them was made by the authorities during the British Colonial Period (1800-1964) only if the threat of invasion of Malta seemed imminent.

Code Cyclone

The threat arrived in 1941, and the Defence Office prepared a plan of action in case of an invasion. Secret code words were chosen in the event of an enemy landing or an attempt to land. These words were ‘volcano’ and ‘cyclone’.

A Government Notice, no. 470, titled ‘The Removal of Direction Signs Regulations, 1941’ was issued on October 17, 1941, and was to come into effect from November 1, 1941. These regulations said that any sign “which furnishes any indication of the name of, or the situation of, or the direction of, or the distance to, any place” is to be removed or obliterated. These included milestones, direction posts, place names and street names.

The distance in English miles between the location of the milestone and Valletta, the country’s capital, was the most useful piece of information. The milestones in Gozo provided information about the distance between their location and Victoria, the island’s capital.

A handbill in English and Maltese with instructions on what to do in the event of an invasion had to be displayed at police stations, courts, protection offices, and soup kitchens as part of the government’s plans for civilian action in case of invasion.

The director of Public Works, or any other person designated by him, was entrusted with the task. However, the removal of information was inconsistent. Some milestones had merely the mileage removed, others just the number and the word ‘Valletta’, while yet others had all the information on the milestone meticulously removed.

There were some milestones that the chiseller somehow missed

But there were some milestones that the chiseller somehow missed, and one of these milestones can be found at the Malta at War Museum in Vittoriosa. According to Mario Farrugia, the museum’s curator, it used to be outside Portes des Bombes, but it was more likely at Ta’ Samra, Ħamrun, where Ta’ Samra Battery once stood and is now demolished. The distance marked on the milestone tallies with the distance that this battery was, away from Valletta. What is particularly interesting in this untouched milestone is the fact that even fractions of the mile were added, as can be seen in this exemplar of “1 ⁹⁄₁₆ miles from Valletta”.

Another complete milestone is found on the grounds of Mount Carmel Hospital, Attard, and it says “4 ¹⁵⁄16 miles”, though the numbers are not as clear as the one found at the Malta at War Museum. Il Compagno per Tutti of 1888 gives the list of casals and villages from Porta Reale and the distances in miles from Valletta, and they correspond exactly with the two complete milestones mentioned in this article.

Intact milestone found at Malta at Malta at War Museum in Vittoriosa.

The intact milestone found on the grounds of Mount Carmel Hospital, Attard.

There is no list of distances for Gozo in the Compagno, however. We have also been informed verbally that to avoid the work of chiselling away the information from the hardstone, some milestones that had been placed against a wall were simply turned around to face the wall so that the information was hidden from view. Could these intact survivors be the ones that were turned to face the wall?

The milestones were mostly made of hard local coralline limestone, and some still adorn several places. A few have been removed or lost due to roadworks or building developments.

Most of the milestones were monoliths with pointed triangular crowning, and some others had a domed crowning. One was a plaque fixed against the wall found at Fort Musa in Mellieħa.

Triangular crowning.

Domed crowning.

Plaque affixed to a wall.

During the exercise of the removal of direction signs, in Public Works File 2977/41, in reply to a question whether the number of milestones defaced tally with the number on record, there is a minute that said that it was found that since the map of Malta was drawn up, a considerable number of milestones had been added and that maps were being attached to be sent to district engineers so as to show the position of the milestones and the marble slabs.

Apparently, each milestone, signpost and street name was given a six-digit reference number, as can be evinced from some returns sent by various district officers, but unfortunately, both the returns and the maps are missing from the bundle (Public Works file 2977/41).

Before the war ended, the authorities saw that the possibility of invasion was becoming more remote, and by letter min. P.W. 1343/41 of January 19, 1945, it was suggested that milestones and street names should be restored. However, although permission was granted to repaint the street names, it was felt that “the wasteful luxuries of restoring milestones and china-plate street names should not, for the moment be indulged in”. So the milestones remained defaced. In one return, it was stated that one milestone was completely destroyed through enemy action.

Metrication in Malta: When milestones were going metric

In 1976-7, Malta started to go metric, and with this in mind, the Standing Advisory Committee for Metrication was set up under the chairmanship of Joseph Cassar Pullicino. Malta started going decimal, first with linear measures, and part of the committee’s brief was the educational drive to help people understand the change and to encourage the changeover to metrication.

With this in mind, the government put up a metrication stand at the Malta International Fair in Naxxar. In the course of a tour of the stand, the President of the Republic, who was then Anton Buttigieg, came up with the idea of exploring the possibility of reviving the pre-war practice of having distances from Valletta in Malta and Victoria in Gozo shown on hardstone signposts in kilometres in lieu of miles at selected spots on the island.

Quoting from the chairman’s letter to the Commissioner of Police and the secretary at the Ministry of Works and Sport, “The idea commends itself for various reasons. Both as part of the educational drive in the changeover to metrication and in order to help tourists, it is felt that the reintroduction of these signposts showing distances in kilometres will at the same time add a characteristic element to the local scene.”

Public works file: re-erection of the milestones

A Public Works file titled ‘Re-Erection of Mile Stones’ was opened, and the dilly-dallying immediately started between all those concerned as to who was supposed to carry out the instruction.

First, it was directed that a list had to be drawn up to indicate where these milestones were found, but this list does not appear in the file, although in minute 8, it was stated that the inspection around the island had started and that the list would be put in the file in a short time.

Then a small mechanical crane would be needed to uproot the existing milestones; then that the traffic police needed to be informed a day in advance; then that some of these milestones were removed from their established sites to the Fort St Elmo marble section for refurbishment; but that the work couldn’t start as there were still several other milestones that needed to be collected.

Finally, when in a minute in the file, the instruction came out for the marblers to start working on those already found at Fort St Elmo until the others were removed, another problem cropped up as there were no specific instructions as to what type of numeral to use. It was suggested that the Roman type of numerals should be used; however, it was later decided to use Arabic numerals identical to the originals, and that instructions were needed from the traffic section on the place names and distances in kilometres.

When all excuses were exhausted, minute 33 suddenly crops up saying that the marblers, including the engravers, have been temporarily transferred to the Housing Section, and then the file fizzles out. The file had been opened in 1978 and closed in 1984 without obtaining any results. However, in this particular instance, this sin of omission saved and preserved these small but significant urban archaeological artefacts.

First map of Malta in kilometres?

The Standing Advisory Committee on Metrication used to issue a quarterly bilingual bulletin of their work. The first issue, no. 1, was in April 1977, and in the progress report it is written that “A map of the Maltese islands showing distances in kilometres is being printed”.

This map has not been traced to date, but the National Tourist Organisation published a bus route map with the scale in kilometres. The imprint says “Published and produced by the National Tourist Organisation – Malta. Printed by Printex Ltd, October 1977 – M[alta]G[overnment]T[ourist]B[oard] 115/61/2A”.

Map of the Maltese islands, 310 x 377mm.

A large poster showing the distances in kilometres put up in Valletta and Victoria, Gozo.

Large posters showing the distances in kilometres from Valletta, Malta and Victoria, Gozo, were put up at the bus termini in Valletta and Victoria. Looking at the different distances, if the milestones had been converted into kilometres as had been suggested, the end result would have been quite awkward having to show also the decimal points; and using Roman numerals would certainly have been impossible.

Authors’ note

This article is being published in memory of David Roderick Lyon.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank James Hamberger, Mario Farrugia, Debbie Scerri, Melvyn Caruana, Joe Dalli, Jeremy Debono and George Cassar.