Thalassery Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

In Thalassery, formerly Tellicherry, some twenty kilometres south of Kannur, the fort overlooks the sea from a mound about 90 feet high. It is one of the principal surviving witnesses to the establishment of the British East India Company on the Malabar Coast, where the trade in pepper and cardamom drew Europeans. Its laterite walls, flanked by bastions, rise from a massive plinth; the entrance opens into a wall some ten metres high and retains carved wooden doors. According to tradition, the mortar was mixed with quicklime, egg white and candied sugar. Secret tunnels are said to descend towards the sea, along with two underground chambers where spices were stored, and the minting of the Company's coins within its walls. A small lighthouse completes the ensemble. Close to the municipal stadium, the Rosary Church and the Sardar Mosque, the fort forms part of the historic landscape of the town.