July 08, 2005

Underground Cellar - Chennai Fort St. George

We are just scratching the surface of digging ..I presume...;-)

A mysterious underground cellar or vault has been discovered in the building that houses the Fort Museum on the premises of the historic Fort St. George.

This building, completed in 1795, housed the Madras Bank (now State Bank of India).
This underground room was perhaps used as a vault for safe-keeping," Mr. Satyamurthy,Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai Circlesaid.

In 1787, Peter Massey Cassin, "a free merchant of Madras," wrote to the Madras Government, proposing the construction of a building to house an Exchange to conduct trade. An Exchange company was formed with a capital of 25,000 star pagodas. A piece of land with a house, belonging to another free merchant, Robert Hughes, was bought. The present building was completed in 1795 after demolishing the house.

More in the The mystery of the underground cellar article in The Hindu.

No comments: