Moat & Defensive Walls of Fort St George Madras, 1900 Photo
A 1900 glass slide photo of the moat and the breached walls of Fort St George during British era Madras (Chennai). The image shows a wide and deep moat with a glimpse of an unusual breach of the Fort’s thick defensive walls exposing its brickwork. This was possibly because of poor maintenance and upkeep. The Mess House or maybe the Secretariat building is obscurely visible beyond the moat.
Fort St George faces the Marina Beach in Madras. It was the first British fortification to be built in India. Thus Madras was born from this magnificent structure, built on a narrow strip of land. It was the Portuguese colonialist who originally began a settlement in San Thome. To delve deeper into Indian history, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to land in India by the maritime route. They came in search of the pepper trail, Vasco Da Gama landed at Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498.
Did you know – it took 13 years to construct Fort St George, the area of the fortification is well over 100 acres.
Past posts – VT Railway Station Printed In Ravi Varma Press Bombay, 1899 PC., Connaught Place New Delhi – 2 Old Postcards 1950., Rashtrapati Bhavan Arising In Lutyens Delhi, 1919 Print., Old Book 1918 – Recollections of Calcutta.
