Manikata is a small rural district, a cluster of farmhouses, lying just off the road between Ghajn Tuffieha, a premier sandy bay, and St Paul's Bay. The village itself is dominated by an exciting departure in Maltese religious architecture. The modern parish church of St Joseph was designed in 1974 by Richard England, Malta's most notable contemporary architect. The smooth curved form of the church has been compared to the architectural style of the Islands' prehistoric temples, and that of the corbelled stone giren or farmers huts which dot the landscape in the North.