Kanpur Memorial Well

Highlights

• It was completed in 1863 in remembrance of the British women and children who were buried in the Kanpur well following the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• After British forces regained control of the city, a simple monument was first built over the well connected to the killings.
• In 1860 a more complex monument was commissioned to produce the structure made up of an angel sculptured by Carlo Marochetti, and an eight sided stone screen with Gothic arches designed by Henry Yule.
• The surrounding ground was transformed into the Cawnpore Memorial Garden.
• After India's independence, the memorial was moved away from the site of the well to the Memorial Church in Kanpur, where it exists in a rearranged form, and the garden was renamed Nana Rao Park.

Dress Code

Modest, respectful clothing is expected at this site.

History

• •Efforts to commemorate the British lives lost in the Bibighar massacre began shortly after the British recapture of Kanpur in 1857.
• •Proposals for a permanent memorial were put forward in September of that year, and on 21 November soldiers of the 32nd Regiment erected a simple wooden cross near the well where the body remains had been discovered.
• •In December 1857, John Walter Sherer, magistrate of Kanpur, suggested that a chapel be constructed on the site as a lasting tribute to the dead.

Architecture

• •The entire monument, consisting of an angel, cross, stone screen, stepped platform, and accompanying tombs are surrounded by an ornamental railing and are aligned with the church and designed to appear as an outdoor extension of the church building.
• •The memorial is surrounded by a decorative fence and accessed through the original gateway, which carries a biblical inscription on one side and a reference to the British Government’s patronage on the other.

Things to Do

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Information

Related Topics