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Kirkop ( mt, Ħal Kirkop) is a
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
in the Southern Region of
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 is found near the Malta International Airport, and has been inhabited since
pre-history Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
. The parish church is dedicated to
Saint Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haut ...
. The football team of the village is the Kirkop United Football Club.


Etymology and population

The original name of the village was Casal Prokopju, and is retrieved from the registers of the Maltese militia that existed prior to the rule of the Order of St. John. Through generations, the local population corrupted the original name and was changed to ''Kirkop''. The name of the village comes from the surname of a rich family


History

Punic remains of catacombs are found around the village of Kirkop with some of them remain unexplored, and their exploration has been shelved. In 1969 Anthropologist Jeremy Boissevain published a research on the social fabric of the village in his book ''Hal Farrug: a village in Malta''. Boissevain claims that the people of Ħal Kirkop have lived in the area for centuries because of his assumed comparable bloodline with ancient Phoenician. The Phoenicians occupied the Maltese islands around 700 B.C.. Kirkop was part of a larger community, as part of the parish of Bir Miftuħ, in the Middle Ages until the Early Modern period. However on 29 May 1592, it was declared a parish on its own right. The village had a population of 2,260 people in March 2011. By March 2014 this decreased slightly to 2,191 people.


Places, buildings and structures

In Kirkop, one finds the Menhir monolith, which has become the symbol of the village, and a number of Paleo-Christian Catacombs. Other notorious buildings and structures are listed monuments which include; the Church of the Annunciation, the Parish Church of St. Leonard, the Chapel St. Nicholas at the cemetery, a cross column (Is-Salib tad-Dejma), and a number of niches scattered around the village. There are two WWII shelters below street level. There are two band clubs, the St. Leonard Band Club and the St. Joseph Band Club, which are used as recreation. Kirkop is home to an
STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics N.V. commonly referred as ST or STMicro is a Dutch multinational corporation and technology company of French-Italian origin headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland and listed on the French stock market. ST ...
plant, whose production accounts for 60% of national exports.


Kirkop main roads

*Triq Ħal Safi (Safi Road) *Triq il-Belt Valletta (Valletta Road) *Triq il-Lewżiet (Almonds Street) *Triq ir-Ramlija (Sandy Street) *Triq It-Tielet Waqgha (Third Fall Road) *Triq l-Industrija (Industry Street) *Triq San Benedittu (St Benedict Street) *Triq l-Gharaq tad-Demm (Bloody Sweat Street) *Triq San Ġwann (St John Street) *Triq San Nikola (St. Nicholas Street) *Triq Santu Rokku (St Rocco Street) *Triq Taż-Żebbiegħ (Taz-Zebbiegh Road)


Band clubs

*St Leonard's Band Club (L-Għaqda Mużikali San Leonardu) *St Joseph Band Club (Soċjetà Mużikali San Ġużepp Ħal Kirkop)


Zones in Ħal Kirkop

*Bonu ż-Żgħir *Il-Għadir (The Lake) *Menħir Estate (Menhir Estate) *Tal-Aħfar *Tal-Ibliq *Tal-Fieres *Tar-Robba *Tas-Sienja


Twin village

*The village is twinned with Rousset in France.Site Officiel de la Mairie de Rousset sur Arc
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References


External links


Ħal Kirkop Local CouncilSt.Joseph Band Club, Ħal Kirkop
{{Authority control Towns in Malta Local councils of Malta