Cavalier Tower ( mt, Torri tal-Kavalier), also known as Qrendi Tower ( mt, Torri tal-Qrendi) or Captain's Tower ( mt, Torri tal-Kaptan), and previously as Ellul Preziosi Tower ( mt, Torri Ellul Preziosi), is a
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
in the town of
Qrendi
Qrendi ( mt, Il-Qrendi) is a village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 2752 people as of March 2014. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siggiewi. Within its boundaries are two well-known Neo ...
,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. It was built in the late medieval or early
Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
period, and it is one of the oldest surviving towers in Malta.
History
No records exist on the date of construction of Cavalier Tower. It was possibly built in the late medieval period, when Malta was still part of the
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...
. If this is correct, it would be the only surviving medieval tower in Malta, apart from the ruins of a circular tower in
Xlendi
Xlendi is an urban village in Malta situated in the south west of the island of Gozo. It is surrounded by the villages of Munxar, Fontana and Kerċem. The village is administered by Munxar, but has its own coat of arms and motto. From March 2010 ...
. Other historians believe that the tower was built in the 16th or 17th century by the
Order of Saint John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
. It is situated near a 16th-century property, built in 1585.
In the 17th century, the tower and residence were modified, when the tower lost most of its defensive architecture.
Cavalier Tower was named as such since it housed a Captain ( mt, Kaptan Kavallier) of the Order.
The tower has an octagonal plan, and it is the only one in Malta with such a design. It is three stories high, and it has cordons between each floor.
A number of box
machicolation
A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...
s supported on
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s are located at the crest of its
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
. The tower's main entrance is located in an adjacent medieval residence, which was originally a mill room or a chapel.
[
The tower is surrounded by a cluster of contemporary buildings and courtyards, which have been called "one of the most interesting examples of architectural development" in Malta. In the early 20th century, an underground shelter was excavated beneath the property to be used during the ]Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.[
The tower was included on the Antiquities List of 1925. It is also a Grade 1 scheduled building and list on the .]
Present day
Today, Cavalier Tower is in good condition. It is a privately owned residence and is not open to the public. It is owned by former MP Marlene Farrugia
Marlene Farrugia (born 24 July 1966) is a Malta, Maltese former Member of Parliament and former leader of the Democratic Party (Malta), Democratic Party. Previously she had been a member of the Nationalist Party (Malta), Nationalist Party, with w ...
. A permission to restore the residence, incorporating the tower, was granted by the Planning Authority
A local planning authority (LPA) is the local government body that is empowered by law to exercise urban planning functions for a particular area. They exist in the United Kingdom and India.
United Kingdom
Mineral planning authorities
The role ...
in 2011. It is currently for sale at approximately €4 million.
Further reading
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References
External links
National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands
{{Historic Watch Towers of Malta
Fortified towers in Malta
Hospitaller fortifications in Malta
Qrendi
Limestone buildings in Malta
National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands