Fort William

Location: West of Maidan
Hit the Spot: One can board an Esplanade bound south tram or  can avail of the buses numbered 12C, 228, 37, 17 B.
Admission Fee: Nil. However, one requires having a written permission from the Commanding Officer.
Photography / Video charges: Strictly prohibited.
Nearest Railway Station: Howrah
Nearest Metro Station: Esplanade
Nearest International Airport: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
Time required for sight seeing:2 hours.

The Fort William is a magnificent symbol of military authority of the British Raj in India,  and functions as a base for the Indian Army in Eastern India. The Fort William is an assemblage of two forts, one old and the other new. The older fort was a product of the early East India Company with Sir Charles Eyre constructing the the southeast bastion and the adjacent walls. Following Eyre, his sucessor John Beard built the northeast bastion in 1701. The Factory or the Government House was completed in 1706 and was named after King William III of England.

The authentic site of the fort is where the General Post Office, the Eastern Railway Office, The Custom House and the government offices in the surrounding area stand today. The fort, inspite of its collosal structure was militarily inefficient and its ineffectivity was made clear when Siraj Ud Daula attacked the fort on 19^th June, 1756 and compelled Roger Drake, the then governor of Fort William, to surrender the fort.

Following the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive planned the construction of the new fort at its present site. An engineer of Fort St. David (Bombay), John Brohier ,was asked to build the construction and start work on it at an expense of Rs. 22, 00, 000.Though Brohier was soon arrested on charges of fraud and later released on parole, the work on the fort continued. It was finally accomplished in 1780, with Warren Hastings at the helm of affairs. The next chapter of building the fort started a century later and continued till the end of the 19^th century.

In its final acumen, Fort William was modelled on the ideology of modern war fare. It was irregularly octagonal in shape with five sides facing the land and the other three towards the river. There was a ditch surrounding it filled by the water of the nearby river.The fort had seven gates as entry points. Initially, the barracks in the fort were all single storied and contained a St Peter’s Church within the garrison.

Interestingly, as the fort was built at a time when the sun in the British Empire was at its brightest, the fort was only a dummy show of strength in the sense that it has witnessed no wars. It was a mere showpiece of power which was never questioned into any sort of activity as there were no battles to test it.

Grub Joints

The Fort William is quite near to the Chowringhee-Park Street-Esplanade stretch which is a Grubbers delight in Kolkata. There are numerous restaurants which offer a range of mouth watering delights: blends of home- feel Bengali cuisines, to the spicy Mughlai, to the sizzling Chinese, to Italian and Continental spreads.

If one wants to try on the flavours of Bengal one should visit the Peerless Inn or the Oh! Kolkata. For Mughlai freaks, there is the Aminia, Rahmania and Shiraz Mainland China, Marco Polo, Chung Wah and Golden Dragon offer delicious Chinese cuisine whereas Domino's at Russel Street and Pizza Hut at Camac Street excel in Italian delicacies. Indian Cricket icon Saurav Ganguly's signature restaurant-Saurav's- The Food Pavilion is a grubbers delight whereas the British legacy is still examplarily followed by the Flury's. One could drop in at One Step up for Continental spreads whereas people looking for some cool beverages can drop in at the Barista or the CCD. One can also treat themselves to the mouthwatering Poochkas, Sherbets, Fruit salads and other road side delicacies near the Asiatic Society though they could be a bit tough on ones tummy at times!

Nearby  places:

One could go the beautiful Princep or Judges Ghat or visit the Scoop, an ice-cream parlour, at the Outram Ghat.

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