Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/90

 afterwards Sir Robert, Barker, an engineer and captain of artillery who rose to the command of the Bengal Army under Hastings in 1773-4, made a report to the board in May, 1757, on some of these suggested sites for the new Fort. As regards one of these proposals he wrote:—

"Agreeable to a request made by the Governor, I have examined the ground to the eastward of the present Fort, and am of opinion that with very little expense a proper spot of ground might be cleared about six hundred yards directly to the east of it, sufficient for a Fort, and Esplanade round it of seven or eight hundred yards. . . . Nothing more is required than an avenue to the river, which is nearly already done, and would be completely so were the houses cleared away, from the Court-house to Mr. Cooke's house, when the old Fort is pulled down."

This ground to the eastward of the old Fort, is that occupied by Lal Bazar, and the avenue to the river would have been along Dalhousie Square North. The Court-house, as we shall see later on, stood on the ground now occupied by St Andrew's Church, St Anne's having stood at the other end of Dalhousie Square North.