Howrah

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Howrah
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates: 22.59°N, 88.31°E
Altitude: 12 m (39 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name: Howrah
State/Province: West Bengal
Country: India
Transport links
East Indian Railway’ (EIR), ‘Bengal-Nagpur Railway’(BNR) , ‘Howrah-Amta Light Railway’ and 'Howrah-Sheakhalla Light Railway

See page Howrah Railway Station for details

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing
places of interest during the British period
[xxxxx Howrah]


Howrah is situated across the river from Calcutta, on the west bank of the Hugli River. It was the headquarters of Howrah District in the division of the same name in the Bengal Districts during the British period.

Spelling variants

Modern name: Howrah
Variants: Habara

FIBIS Resources

St. Thomas' Church, Howrah

Churches

  • St Thomas Church

Cemeteries

Entrance to Bantra Cemetery, Howrah
  • Bantra Cemetery
  • Many maritime related burials took place at Howrah, where St Thomas' Church and Cemetery were established in 1833. See external link below to Bengal Obituary

Howrah Bridge

See also separate page Howrah Floating Bridge and Howrah Bridge for further information


The Howrah Bridge was designed to link Howrah with the city of Calcutta. The old Floating Pontoon Bridge was built by Sir Bradford Leslie in 1874. It was largely a timber construction which opened to let river traffic through.

View of old Floating Pontoon Howrah Bridge

In 1937 work began on a new bridge - which is a landmark of Kolkata (Calcutta) today, being one of the foremost cantilever bridges in the world. It was formally opened in 1943 and the old bridge was decommissioned soon after in 1946. The new bridge was renamed Rabindra Setu in 1965 to honour Rabindranath Tagore - the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, it is still commonly referred to as the Howrah Bridge.

External links

Historical books online