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 Malta International Airport ( mt, L-Ajruport Internazzjonali ta' Malta, ) is the only airport in Malta and it serves the whole of the Maltese Islands. It is located on the Malta (island), island of Malta, southwest of the Maltese capital Vallett ...

, 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. The

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team of the village is the Kirkop United Football Club.

Etymology and population

Il-Lunzjata-the medieval Church of the Annunciation

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 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 headqu ...

. 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 Jeremy Fergus Boissevain (August 5, 1928 – June 26, 2015) was a Dutch anthropologist. He was Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam. Academic background 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