The Ġgantija temples stand at the end of the Xagħra plateau in the town of Xagħra on Gozo. Understandably they have been dubbed the Megalithic Temples of Malta for alliteration and ease of pronunciation.
They were built around 3600 BC making them older than the Pyramids, a time-marker much loved by writers of guide books and blogs. They pre-date the Neolithic burial mounds along the Boyne in Ireland but only by about 500 years. I wrote about them in a post called Winter Solstice and now I’m on my way to the Ġgantija temples to see if there are any similarities in two archeological sites at opposite extremes of Europe.
Of course I’m not the first visitor. You may be able to come up with a treble-barrelled name or even quadruple-barrelled (eg, Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax) but a quintuple-barrelled would have defeated me until today. Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos came to Gozo in 1827 and commissioned some sketches of the temples. This was a Good Thing because we know what they looked like then. Here is one of them.
They differ from Newgrange in two respects if you are a layman and not an archaeologist: the chambers are larger and there are at least four in each temple but they have lost their roofs and even door lintels so seem less impressive.
The purpose of these niches is unclear. My layman’s guess is that they were the repository for precious artefacts or human bones but I have seen them described as altars. I looked hard to see if I could spot any of the Celtic circular carving that is so much in evidence at Newgrange – but no cigar. However, one link between Malta and Ireland that is still much in evidence, is in the construction of dry stone walls.
Another unfortunate link between the Megalithic Temples of Malta and virtually every other ancient monument is the graffiti carved, mostly, in the 19th century.
The Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax’s are my cousins and the father of the current head of the family was brought up with his 1st cousin, my grandfather Tom Ponsonby, at Kilcooley. When I knew him, as an old man, his name was Admiral the Honourable Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. Next time I see you I’ll sing the tune that goes with that. And thinking of 4 barrels Josslyn Gore-Booth’s wife’s maiden name was Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce.