https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Flagstaff_TowerFlagstaff Tower - Revision history2026-07-31T07:14:50ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Flagstaff_Tower&diff=445454&oldid=prevStuee.Singh at 12:36, 15 March 20262026-03-15T12:36:24Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|19th-century signal tower in Kamla Nehru Ridge, Delhi, India}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}<br />
[[File:Flag Staff Tower.JPG|right|thumb|Flag Staff Tower.]]<br />
'''Flagstaff Tower''' is a one-room, castellated tower, built around 1828 as a [[Signalling control|signal tower]], located in [[Delhi ridge|Kamla Nehru Ridge]] near the present-day North Campus of [[Delhi University]] in [[Delhi]], [[India]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Flagstaff Tower, Old Delhi.|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/27.html|publisher=victorianweb.org|access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref> It was here that many Europeans and their families sheltered on 11 May 1857, during the [[Siege of Delhi]] by the rebels at the beginning of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian rebellion of that year]],<ref name=hin>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article3761503.ece|title=DU plans a heritage walk through the Ridge|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=13 August 2012|access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tales of the ridge monuments |url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3696396.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |date=29 July 2012 |access-date=5 September 2012}}</ref> waiting for help to arrive from nearby [[Meerut]]. <ref name=jo>[[#Jo|Jones, p. 203]]</ref> Built by the [[British Indian Army]], the building was part of the British cantonment and was used as a signal tower. Before forestation started in 1910, the area where the tower was built was the highest point on the ridge and was mostly barren, covered with low-lying shrub. Today it is a memorial and "protected monument" under [[ Archaeological Survey of India]].<ref name=hin/><br />
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The monument is still preserved and in very good condition. This [[cemetery]], where the few [[British Empire|British]] who fell during the uprising are buried with their leader, [[Brigadier]] [[John Nicholson (East India Company officer)|John Nicholson]], is now that well preserved that a Britain's [[High commissioner|High Commissioner]], Mr. Michael Arthur, who once helped in the restoration and repairing of the cemetery thought that it surpassed many of the cemeteries in [[United Kingdom|Britain]], with its beautiful glimpse of the history of the year 1857.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=R. v|date=2012-07-29|title=Tales of the ridge monuments|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/tales-of-the-ridge-monuments/article3696396.ece|access-date=2021-09-30|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><br />
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== History ==<br />
[[File:1858 Delhi flag tower.jpg|thumb|right|The Flagstaff Tower, Delhi, in 1858]]<br />
[[File:Flagstaff Tower 4.jpg|thumb|Flagstaff Tower]]<br />
Flagstaff Tower played an important role during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], when Delhi was [[Siege_of_Delhi#Capture of Delhi by the rebels|captured by the rebellious East India Company forces]]. On the morning of 11 May 1857, when the [[sepoys]] started hunting for and killing European personnel and Christian Indians in the Cantonment, [[Civil Lines]] and the [[walled city of Delhi]], the survivors started fleeing towards the Tower. <br />
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A month later the Company army returned to capture [[Delhi]], which was now with the sepoys. On 7 June, they faced stiff resistance from the sepoys at the Flagstaff Tower. A fierce battle followed which led to the killing and wounding of a great number of soldiers. However, by five in the evening the ridge had been recaptured and was now under British control.<br />
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== Architecture ==<br />
Inside the tower, which is locked, there is a circular room that can hold a crowd of up to a hundred people. It resembles a mini [[Fortification|fort]] but not that safe. In recent times some parts of the tower have been ruined due to people having scribbled on its wall. Before [[forestation]] in the year 1910, the area where the tower was built was the point on the [[ridge]] and was mostly [[Barren Earth|barren]] and covered with small-sized [[Shrub|shrubs]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=City|first=So|date=2017-09-24|title=Built By The British As A Signal Tower, Have You Noticed The Flagstaff Tower On Kamla Nehru Ridge?|url=https://so.city/delhi/article/built-by-the-british-as-a-signal-tower-have-you-noticed-the-flagstaff-tower-on-kamla-nehru-ridge|access-date=2021-09-30|website=So City|language=en}}</ref><br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Siege of Cawnpore]]<br />
* [[Siege of Delhi]]<br />
* [[Siege of Lucknow]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
{{commonscat}}<br />
* {{cite book |title=The Great Uprising in India, 1857-58: Untold Stories, Indian and British|author=Rosie Llewellyn-Jones|publisher= Boydell & Brewer|year=2007|isbn=978-1843833048 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDLah61DFW4C&q=flagstaff+tower+delhi |ref=Jo }}<br />
* {{cite book |title=The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857|author=William Dalrymple|publisher= Penguin Viking|year=2006|isbn=0670999253 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln11sxANjTkC&q=The+last+mughal|ref=Da}}<br />
* [http://wikimapia.org/7744185/Flagstaff-Tower Flagstaff Tower] at [[wikimapia]]<br />
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[[Category:Monuments of National Importance in Delhi]]<br />
[[Category:Towers completed in 1828]]</div>Stuee.Singh