Fort Tanjong Katong

The excavated site of the south-eastern bastion of Fort Tanjong Katong at Katong Park, circa August 2006. The structure, part of the fort built by the British in 1879, was likely positioned to help soldiers get a good shot at lurking enemies

Fort Tanjong Katong, which stood from 1879 to 1901, was one of the oldest military forts built by the former British colonial government of Singapore. The fort gave its name to today's Fort Road,[1] and it used to stand on the grounds of the present Katong Park. Fort Tanjong Katong, the only one of its kind on the eastern side of the island,[2] was part of a series of defensive batteries and fortifications along the southern coast of Singapore, that defended the eastern approaches to the Singapore Harbour and Singapore Town against seaborne attacks. Due to its poor structural design and remoteness, the fort was subsequently abandoned and buried until its rediscovery in 2001. Found with traces of a moat and near intact perimeter wall, the fort was considered by local archaeological experts as one of Singapore's most important archaeological finds of a "true 19-century fort" to date.[3] As a result, an archaeology group has been lobbying for the site to be gazetted as a National Monument. As of May 2010, the National Heritage Board has stated that it has no plans to gazette the fort for the time being.[4]

  1. ^ Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004). Toponymics—A Study of Singapore Street Names (2nd Ed). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press. ISBN 981-210-364-3.
  2. ^ "History of Fort Tanjong Katong". The Straits Times. 9 April 2006. p. News section.
  3. ^ Au, Jeremy (9 April 2006). "Buried, dug up—and buried again". The Straits Times. p. News section.
  4. ^ AsiaOne. "Fort Tanjong Katong will not be gazetted". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2010.