Four corner towers
Three round and one rectangular.
Musab.hawamda — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alex Sergeev (www.asergeev.com) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Musab.hawamda — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alex Sergeev (www.asergeev.com) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · SHABEERALI MADALAN — CC BY-SA 4.0
Al Thaqab Fort is a small restored desert fort in Qatar's far north-west, beside the abandoned village of Ath Thaqab, some 120 km by road from central Doha. Rough coral and limestone blocks set in mud mortar form a four-sided plan with three round corner towers and one rectangular. Qatar Museums, which manages it, lists the site as not open to the public. Most sources date it to the 19th century, some to the 17th or 18th. It probably guarded a deep well on its west side and sheltered the villagers; in 1908 J. G. Lorimer's gazetteer of the Gulf noted the well's good water, about 35 feet (11 m) down, drawn by people from nearby Al Khuwayr. It was restored in the 1980s and in 2003, and in 2021 Qatar Museums declared the work complete, reporting finds of pottery and glass possibly of the 19th century or earlier. A bent entrance, built so no one could charge straight in, opens onto a central courtyard with stairs up to the towers, which look over rocky, sandy desert. The fort also holds buildings once used to store and process dates, and the few buildings of the deserted village stand alongside. The fort lies about 9.5 km north-east of Al Zubarah Fort as the crow flies, so it pairs naturally with the Al Zubarah Archaeological Site. The drive from Doha takes about an hour and a half, and the last kilometre or two is a sandy track off the paved road. Allow 15 to 30 minutes to see it from outside.
Three round and one rectangular.
About 11 m deep, west of the fort.
Ruined buildings beside the fort.
Ath Thaqab, Al Shamal municipality, about 10 km north-east of Al Zubarah
It refers to rainwater: Qatar Museums and Visit Qatar explain it as water that stays at the bottom of a valley after rain. Qatar's official place-name records, which spell it Al Thaghab, link it to runnels cut by running water that fill in the rainy season and hold water for a long time.
Qatar Museums, which manages it, lists the site as not open to the public, although Visit Qatar still shows it as open around the clock, so check with Qatar Museums before the long drive. The last kilometre or two is a sandy track where a 4x4 is advised, as ordinary cars struggle on it.