|
Date: |
|
Description: | Water-colour painting of the west face of the fortress of Gooty, with a key attached by Thomas Fraser (1776-1823) c.1802. Inscribed on the front in ink is: 'View of the West Face of the Fortress of Gooty from the Eedgah at the S. W. angle of the Pettah Wall. T. Fraser. Engr.'; and on the back in ink: 'C.No.14. Gooty.' Fraser served with the Madras Engineers from 1796 to 1823. During 1802 he appears to have been inspecting and surveying forts in the Ceded Districts of Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapur and Cuddapah. Later in 1803 he became Superintending Engineer of Public Works for the Madras Presidency Division.
The town of Gooty in Andhra Pradesh is surrounded by a circle of rocky hills, on the highest of which stands the fort, 301 metres (989 feet) above the plain. It is approached by a path which winds its way up the steep sides of the rock to the citadel on the summit. The fort, built between 1509 and 1530, was once the stronghold of Murari Rao, a famous Mahratha warrior and ally of the British who joined Robert Clive at Arcot in 1751. The ruler of Mysore, Haidar Ali (c. 1722-1782) seized the fort in 1776 however in the Mysore campaign of 1799 it fell to the British. | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Fraser, Thomas (1776-1823) | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
|