Mtarfa, the former British garrison and its clock tower

Mtarfa is one of those Maltese places that never make the guidebooks, yet tell a chapter of the island’s story rather well. It’s a village of 2,568 people, according to the NSO, that grew almost entirely out of the barracks the British built at the end of the 19th century, right next to Rabat and Mdina.

A name that means «on the edge»

The local council explains that Mtarfa means «on the edge», and adds another theory, from the historian Godfrey Wettinger, linking the name to a medieval exile called Mutarrif. For centuries it was farmland between two valleys, with watermills and farmers who sold their livestock at Rabat’s markets.

There are older traces too. The council mentions silos, cart ruts and rock-cut tombs scattered across the countryside, and a piece of engraved marble found around 1613 that was credited to a temple of Proserpine. There was also a medieval chapel of St Lucy in a garden that belonged to Mdina Cathedral.

Marble, silos and a garden chapel

The name first appears in a notarial deed by a Sicilian notary, as «La Mitarfa, pecia terrae», a plot of land. Two bell-shaped silos with pottery came to light in 1939, when air-raid shelters were being dug, and more turned up as the modern village was built. Marble found in 1747, on the spot where a temple of Apollo is said to have stood, was cut into altar plaques, and Grand Master Carafa’s coat of arms was carved from marble found here too.

The chapel of St Lucy stood in a large garden known as St Nicholas of Mtarfa, which ended up belonging to Mdina Cathedral. Bishop Alpheran de Bussan recorded it in 1774. St Lucy is the patron saint of people with eye complaints, and the council notes that devotion to her grew once the military hospital opened.

The British and the clock tower

Everything changed with the British. Work on the military barracks began in 1890, and between 1915 and 1920 a hospital went up for First World War casualties arriving from the Dardanelles. A chapel dedicated to St Oswald was built for the soldiers and their families.

The British also left practical things behind. They built a water tank that still stands and a network of underground reservoirs to collect rainwater, some of which are still in use, according to the council.

By around 1895 the clock tower was already working. The council presents it as the village’s landmark, and it still keeps time. For me it’s the one thing worth seeing here, because it sums up what Mtarfa was, a military compound with its own order and its own clock.

From part of Rabat to a council of its own

From 1987 new flats were built and the old military buildings were converted for civilian use. The local council records that in 2000 Mtarfa elected its own five-member council for the first time, after splitting administratively from Rabat, and that it marks Mtarfa Day on 27 April in memory of that moment.

For most of the last fifty years, the council adds, one priest, Fr Michael Saliba, looked after the community, which was served from Rabat’s parish, and in 2002 he was given the village’s honour, Ġieħ l-Mtarfa.

Today it’s a residential village with very few foreign residents. The NSO counts 98 out of 2,568, a low share for Malta, and the population barely moved in 2025, up by just four people on the year before.

Is Mtarfa worth a visit?

On a short trip, no. The sights in this part of the island are in Mdina and Rabat, right next door. It’s not the place to stay either, as the MTA register lists just two licensed holiday lets. If you’re interested in Britain’s footprint on Malta, or you’re in Mdina with time to spare, Mtarfa takes a short stroll, with the clock tower as your excuse and Mdina’s cathedral, which once owned land here, just next door. For the island’s military story, my guide to forts and fortifications in Malta goes much further.