Singapore July 2022 - Fort Canning Park
Having just finished up with the shopping at Sim Lim Square, and having half the day remaining, I decided to head to another place suggested by a friend, Fort Canning Park. And remember I like to walk everywhere, even in 30c heat, so coming back from Sim Lim square, I stopped for some fast food, then headed back to the Funan centre, via the tunnels from Raffels City, as there is a bridge connecting to one of the entrances to the park.
And yes, I am aware you can get to the park from several MRT stations, but at the time of this visit I was not aware of it, so used the bridge from Funan, followed by way too many steps. Lesson learned, next time I will take the MRT escalators.
There are many things to see at the park, but from my research the Fort Gate was at the top of my list. Anyway on one side of the gate there was a sign with some background information on the gate and the park in general, which, being interested in history was fascinating.
From the sign: [My Photo of the sign]
The structure before you is Fort Gate, the entrance of a British-build fort completed on this hill in 1860. The fort was named Fort Canning after then then-Governor-General of India, Lord Charles John Canning. Its construction began in March 1859, and involved the labour of over 500 men.
Fort Canning was built to protect Singapore from seaborne attacks. Fort Gate, the main entrance to the fort, therefore strategically faced the beach. This made it difficult for invading seaborne forces to breach the fort unnoticed. A second purpose of the fort was to provide refuge for Singapore's European population in the event of local unrest.
Fort Canning originally had a call and moat running around it's perimeter. The fort wall was low and thick, and constructed to withstand artillery bombardment. It had an outer face of granite and a brick interior, with an earthen fill in between to absorb the impact of cannonballs. Today only a small fragment of this wall and the Fort Gate survive from the original Fort Canning.
My timing was perfect taking the above photo, as just after I took it, a school excursion arrived.
Moving on to the next place on the list, the Mural Wall which is a huge sandstone carving showing scenes which may have happened in ancient Singapore. And yes this is another one which I am planning to revisit with my good camera and a tripod, during my next trip.
Moving on from the Mural wall, and just some general wanderings
In my general wanderings, I came across Raffles Garden and took this shot to show how centrally located the park is, and yes that's the Marina Bay Sands hotel in the background.
Now this park did used to be, as the name suggested a Fort, so seeing some artillery, was not unexpected. Anyhow this is one example of, what I believe is a 9 pound canon.
Its been a long day, having visited both Sim Lim Square and this park, the step count was at a new record (so far), so it was back to the hotel for some food and to put the feet up.
Daily Stats: 32,370 steps. 28.01km
- Fort Canning Park [nparks.gov.sg]