Ta’ Caraffa (Ta’ Carafa) Windmill — full history, construction, use and post-war fate of the Ta’ Caraffa (Ta’ Carafa / Mithna Ta’ Caraffa) windmill that stood in Luqa, commonly dated to 1684.
Quick facts on demolished windmill
Name / location: Ta’ Caraffa Windmill (Mithna Ta’ Caraffa), Luqa (near Triq D.G. Micallef).
Built / patronage: built c. 1684, associated with the Carafa (Carafa della Roccella) windmill programme of the late-17th century.
Type: Maltese tower windmill (stone cylindrical tower on a low base).
Working life: remained in commercial use into the 19th century (commonly recorded as working until 1889).
20th-century fate: pulled down in July 1943 (wartime demolition/damage). It was reportedly rebuilt after WWII but the rebuilt structure was demolished/removed again around 1985 — today no working mill survives on the original site.
1. Why and when it was built
The late 17th century saw a programme of windmill construction in Malta financed by charitable/foundation initiatives and by patrons of the Order of St John. The Carafa Foundation (Grand Master Gregorio Carafa, r.1680–1690) was responsible for building or endowing a number of rural mills to secure local milling capacity; Ta’ Caraffa is recorded as part of that Carafa era wave and is commonly dated 1684 in specialist catalogues and local inventories.
2. Construction — form, materials and machinery
Typology: Ta’ Caraffa was a tower mill — the standard Maltese type: a cylindrical stone tower set on a low rectangular/square base that contained storage or ancillary rooms. The tower supported the rotating timber cap and the sails.
Materials & methods: built of local globigerina limestone with lime mortar (typical Maltese rural masonry), with thick load-bearing walls to resist wind and to carry the cap and internal timber floors. Vaulted stonework and timber floors/cross beams were typical.
Cap, sails & internal fittings (original): originally the mill would have had a wooden rotating cap carrying a horizontal windshaft and timber-framed sails (usually 4–8 vanes, reefed with canvas or slats). Inside were timber gearing, a vertical spindle and one or more pairs of millstones (runner + bedstone), hoppers and sack handling. This is the standard configuration for Maltese tower mills of the Carafa/Manoel era. No detailed original plan for Ta’ Caraffa is published, so machine details are inferred from the typical Maltese arrangement and from regional mill inventories.
3. Operational life and social/economic role
Local service: The mill served the agricultural hinterland — grinding wheat/barley for local consumption. Carafa-era mills were often let to millers under short leases (auctioned by the foundation), forming essential rural infrastructure. Documentary studies of Carafa mills show lease arrangements in the late 17th/early 18th centuries that applied to similar mills across Malta.
Working life: Ta’ Caraffa is recorded in windmill inventories as remaining in use until about 1889 — a date consistent with the general decline of wind-powered milling in Malta as steam and industrial mills replaced local windmills in the late 19th century.
4. 20th-century events, demolition and post-war fate
World War II / 1943: records indicate the original tower was pulled down in July 1943 — this was during the Second World War period when many rural structures were damaged or removed for military reasons, safety or by direct damage.
Post-war rebuild and final removal: some sources (local inventories and tourist guides) report that a reconstructed mill or mill-like structure was built on the site after WWII, but that this later rebuilding vanished again around 1985 (demolished, removed or otherwise lost). As a result, there is today no intact Ta’ Caraffa mill standing in its original form.
5. What survives today and where to look
Physical survival: authoritative catalogues indicate the original tower was demolished (1943) and subsequent rebuilding removed (~1985). Therefore no original Ta’ Caraffa tower survives in situ in original condition. If you visit Luqa, you may still find the street name/form references (Triq il-Mithna Ta’ Caraffa) marking the historical site.
Records & maps: if you want original maps, lease notices or notarial deeds, the most promising places to consult are: the National Archives (Arkivji), the University of Malta OAR (scholarly PDFs on Carafa mills) and the windmill databases which collect photographs and catalogue entries. I can fetch archival map sheets or specific OAR articles for you.