Museums and Heritage Sites

THE CLAPHAM JUNCTION 
 

The ancient Cart Ruts so distinctive to certain areas of the island are found in many places throughout Malta and Gozo.
The ruts between Dingli Cliffs and Buskett have gained the name "Clapham Junction" after
the famous railway station in London, England.

Ghar il-Kbir (the Great Cave), situated on a hill south of Buskett Forest, was inhabited from Prehistoric
times until 1835. It is not one cave, but consists of a series of several caves, which were used as cave houses.
More interesting, though, is the impressive concentration of cart ruts around the cave.
Thought to date from Neolithic times, these enigmatic tracks or parallel grooves are hewn into the
rock and crisscross one another. No one really knows how they were made or what they were used for. 
One of their uses may have been that of transporting top soil, since the islands would already have been largely deforested
and rather barren by late prehistoric times. However, at other sites similar tracks seem to end aimlessly at cliff tops.
The number of cart ruts at this particular site led to it being named after London’s busiest railway junction.