Sunday, 14 September 2008

Fort Relics









~Chapel~
-Located at the South-West angle of the Fort, this is the first chapel uilt in Penang and the first recorded service which took place was the marriage of Francis Light's widow, Martina Rozells, to John Timmer











~Cell~
-Built in 1811, formerly used as a barracks to house a company of European artillery and later to cell rooms.





~Gunpowder Magazine~
-Constructed in 1814, located at the north-west bastion of the fort and it was used the store explosive. It was designed to minimize the damaged caused by an explosion.



~Seri Rambai Cannon~
-This cannon was presented to the Sultan of Johore by the Dutch. However, it was later given to Acheh, and installed at Kuala Selangor. Finally this cannon was seized by the British and installed here at the north-west bastion of the fort in 1871.

The History of Fort Cornwallis


In 1786, soon after took possession of the island, Francis Light erected a fort of nibong palms at the tip of the cape which called Fort Point and named it after the Governor-General in Bengal- Charles Cornwallis. This fort was after later reconstructed in the same size, shape and layout. Convict labour which was first imported in 1789 was immediately put to work on the fort by Francis Light to rebuilt the fort in brick for 67,000 Spanish dollars in 1793.

Fort Cornwallis was the first military and administrative base of the East India Company. The star-shaped fort mounted with cannons along the perimeter and the most famous of these cannons is the Seri Rambai which still located at the northwest bastion of the fort.