Being a tourist this round; our stop is of course the Fort Cornwallis which is another heritage not to be missed. The Fort Cornwallis brings you with the story of Sir Francis Light from the British East India Company and his intention of building the Ford.
Fort Cornwallis’ history dated back to the starting point when Sir Captain Francis Light from the British East India Company, first landed on the island with his crew in the year 1786. He was to take possession of the island from the Sultan of Kedah back then, to serve as a base or stop-over for the British company’s spice and silk trading route.
THE HISTORY
In order to protect the base from any foreign military forces, pirates and even Kedah itself, Francis Light decided to build a fort on the cape of the island’s north eastern coast, overlooking the sea -where he first set foot. The initial simple fort was made out of only ‘nibong’ palm trunks as stockades, without any concrete structures. Francis Light named the fort after the Governor General in Bengal at that time – Charles Cornwallis. The fort was only reinforced with bricks years later again by Francis Light but under a different Governor, designing it as a star-shape, covering approximately 418 square feet.
And though, the intention of the fort was built to withhold and defend attacks from enemy invasions, apparently no battles ever occurred throughout the headship of the British company at the fort. In the end, it is used more for administrative and storage base rather than a combat ground.
When visiting the fort, the five major must-see artefacts are, first and foremost, the statue of the legendary Sir Captain Francis Light. In fact, no visitors would be able to miss the statue of Francis Light as its positioned overlooking the fort entrance, greeting visitors. The bronze statue was sculpted by F.J. Wilcoxson in the year 1936 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Francis Light’s historic landing. Today, this statue, even though was sculptured based on his son, William Light’s picture, it is undeniably one of the famous icons associated with the history of the colonial era of Penang Island.
(From Tourism Penang Website)
By Foot or Taxi
1) Fort Cornwallis is on the edge of Central Georgetown on Jalan T. S. S. Barakbah off Lebuh Light.
2) Rapid Penang Bus Route No: U102 / U104 / U105 / U204
3) Penang Hop In Hop Off Bus. Drop at Station #14
FARES:
The admission fees to the fort
Malaysians with MyKad
RM10/adult
RM5/child
Senior Citizens – RM5
OKU – FREE
Others
RM20/adult
RM10/child
Senior Citizens – RM10
OKU – FREE
Address:
Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, 10200 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 9am to 7pm daily from Monday to Sunday.
*This trip is sponsored by Malaysia Airlines Berhad. You may book your ticket to Penang at their website at anytime and the trip to Penang from KLIA only take approximately 40-50 minutes.