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Marsaskala plan - Zonqor Battery

Zonqor Battery (Batterija Taz Zonqor)

Zonqor Battery was built during the British era in 1882 (from the book listed below). It had to defened Marsaskala Bay – but some sources say the cannons were never installed in it.

Satellite photo of the Zonqor Battery, Marsaskala, Malta, 35.86827,14.564308

Satellite photo of the Zonqor Battery, Marsaskala, Malta

Right now it is not accesible by usual means. The local farmer made it so, that you can’t really access it. The battery is listed as a Malta’s heritage site, however not much heritage may be left soon, after the site is being used for farming/hunting purposes.

The Charles Stephenson, Steve Noon: The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945. S. 6

 

 

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Local quarrymen refer to the easily worked Globigerina Limestone as franka; the harder-wearing coralline limestones are called zonqor. Both were widely used in the building of the islands’ massive fortifications.

FIRST QUALITY LIMESTONE (local name Gebel tal Qammi or Zonqor tal-Prima)
It is a hard, non-porous, recrystallized and polishable limestone or marble.
Varies in colour from white, yellow and brownish to reddish and greenish.

SECOND QUALITY LIMESTONE (local name Zonqor tas-Seconda)
It is a hard, porous, recrystallized and polishable limestone or marble. It also
varies in colour as does the first quality limestone. However, it is softer and
less resistant to weather.

Both qualities have been used for floors, pavements, steps and foundations,
and laid in blocks; today they are used only as raw material for manufacturing
aggregates.