St. George's Bridge - A heritage bridge of Chennai

If you are from Chennai, you would have definitely traveled via Periyar Bridge, the river bridge which connects Anna Salai of Island Grounds area with the rest of Anna Salai that starts with the Hindu office. Do you know this bridge named after the Dravidian political leader has heritage value?

The East India Company acquired the land located in the northwest direction of St. George's Fort. They used the land to produce salt. In those days, Madras had the Elambore River, now part of Buckingham Canal. The Elambore River and the Cooum River were joined with a channel; thus, the land became an island. Later, the land was used for military activities. In order to connect the island with the city, a few bridges were built. The bridge, which is called Periyar Bridge, is one among them.

It is not known when this bridge was first constructed. Historians believed the construction year should be sometime between 1715 CE and 1718 CE. This bridge was built to connect the Island with Triplicane and the Fort with St. Thomas Mount. Originally, called the Triplicane Bridge, it was damaged by floods in 1721 CE. Before completing the repair works, it was destroyed again by flood.

In 1746 CE, it appears that the English had brought down the Triplicane bridge when the French army under la Bourdonnais invaded Chennai. In 1805 CE, a new bridge was built in the exact location but of a different alignment. It's a beautiful multi-arch brick masonry bridge. There are a total of eleven arches on this bridge. Now, it was named as St. George's Bridge. For a short period, it was named as Willingdon Bridge. In the late 1970s, the bridge was named after E.V.R.

Happy travelling.