Project - Singapore's History Investigated - Tanjong Katong Fort

This is one of a series of relatively unknown historical sites in Singapore from both colonial and pre-colonial eras which I intend to research and then physically investigate just for the heck of it. I'll keep adding more sites under this heading as I find more interesting stuff to investigate/research.

Anyone else keen on joining me please feel free to do so. Each of the sites will comprise mini-projects of their own, and will come in two phases;

1. research phase:- where we collect data and information on what, who and most importantly where they are located

2. investigation phase:- we suit-up, arm ourselves with cameras and lots of mosquito repellent and GO (if possible)

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Tanjong Katong Fort
(extracted from spi.com.sg)

The Tanjong Katong Fort, as one of Singapore's oldest, 19th century colonial fort now is bearing the risk of being forgotten again. For this unique Singapore's only 'true fort', the authorities adopted a 'wait-and-see' approach in order to determine further plans to excavate it or leave it alone.

According to historical research, this fort has already been buried deliberately during the 127 years of its history. It was built in 1879 by the British to fortify the south-eastern sea shore from potential Russian invaders with firing cannons and guns.

However, the first burial of the fort took place when it was later abandoned in 1901 after the WW1 was over and the Russian threat diminished. One simple way the British thought of preserving it is by burying it under the soil. It costs less and thought to be a better approach than destroying it given its large size.

The burial was a good job but. May be it was done in a hurry, some part was not totally and deeply covered. A small bastion stuck out above ground in the late 1960s. That was when at almost the same time land reclamation in the East Coast took place. And the Katong Park as in today was built on top of the fort.

It was in year 2001, a resident reported that he found some rocks there but they were not like rocks. The seemingly concrete area where the grass cannot grow on top resembles a part of a much larger structure. It was indeed the 6000 square meter fort sleeping underneath.

MJChow, a SPI Elite member said he has already noticed this strange looking 'concrete' characteristic since his childhood days in 1970's (that is 30 years before this person). He even saw park-keepers used it conveniently as a burning area for grass, branches and leaves after their routine park cleaning. Also another clue of its existence is by the name Fort Road just nearby.

It was until year 2001, public attention was brought to a possible huge fort lying underneath Katong park. Some years elapsed, and in year 2004, the Mountbatten Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC) commissioned the archaeological digging that lasted for 10 months. $200,000 was raised for this excavation project. But after the 10 months, no further plan was made in the next phase on what to do with it. Mr. Jack Sim, president of the Restroom Association of Singapore commented that "They go to all the trouble to dig it up and then instead of making some kind of monument out of it, they put everything back."

Mr Lim Chen Sian, the archaeologist who led the dig, said his team had only been asked by the committee to find out how much of the fort was still there. Chen said, "We didn't know who was going to take over for the next phase, so we thought the safest thing was to bury it back." This technique is called "Backfilling" which is a common practice in archaeology to protect finds.

The second burial is necessary when excavation were to be paused, because the dug-out pits could breed mosquitoes. Also the pit holes as deep as 2 meters, can get someone injured if he falls onto it. But it was questioned that how can someone fall into the pit when that area is well barricaded with solid railings?

A spokesman for the Preservation of Monuments Board confirmed that it was deciding whether the fort can be declared a national monument. But this is not as simple as it sounds. There is the matter of balancing historical value against the income that the site can earn if it were developed for other uses. National Heritage Society president Kevin Tan said: 'No one knows whose responsibility this fort is. No one is going to come forward and be a hero.'

Before so, here is some documentation on the significant findings about the fort that is one of Singapore's most important archaeological finds. Experts call it Singapore's only 'true fort' - one with protection all around. In its heyday, Fort Tanjong Katong was completely surrounded by a moat. Others here were simpler gun installations.

The fort is also the only one in Singapore to reflect 19th-century military architecture. Other forts like Fort Siloso in Sentosa and Fort Canning were built around the same time, but were upgraded at points in their history. Fort Tanjong Katong, on the other hand, was built but never used and therefore did not see any alterations.

Fort Tanjong Katong has another claim: It is one of the most complete forts found. The perimeter wall is intact, unlike Fort Canning, where all that is left is a gate and a bit of wall.