Bell Tower atop the Rock fort Complex, Tiruchirappalli

Tiruchi rock fort Bell tower.tripsavvy.com

Rock Fort and the temples atop of the small hillock (height 83 meters) form an important land mark in this historical big city of Tiruchirappalli where once the founder of the British Empire Robert Clive stayed during the siege of this city. The British wanted to save Arcot Nawab from the forces of ruler Chand Saheb who was backed by the French forces. The city saw several battles and peace treaties involving various dynasties and rulers including the British.

Tiruchi rock fort Bell tower.pages.razorpay.com

Visitors to this city never fail to go to the top of the hill where there is a temple dedicated to God Ganapathi (in Tamil Utchi Pillaiyar kovil). Just down hill near-by is Thayumanaswami temple dedicated to God Shiva. These temples are carved out from the rock caves in the out crop. During the Madurai Nayak rule (vassal of Vijayanagara empire), the fortification of the Rock fort took place for security reasons. The cave temple on the hill came up during the Pallavas reign during the 7th-8th centuries and later the Vijayanagara and Nayak rulers made additions and reconstruction. e

The British rule was established after the Carnatic wars and Robert Clive emerged as a hero who later went to Kolkata (Calcutta) to retrieve Ft. William and seize it from Nawab Siraj-ud Daulah in the 18th century. Thus the British empire began here with the arrival of Clive who gained war experience in Tiruchi and at Arcot.

Tiruchi rock fort Bell tower.alamy.com

.Tiruchi rock fort Bell tower .gosahin.com

Above image: Tiruchi rock fort, Tiruchirappalli city. The Bell Tower is partially visible on the left side. . Pillaiyar temple is at top. (height of the hillock 237 feet)........................

Visitors to the temple, more often than not go past a small Bell tower of medium height close to the Ganapati temple. Of course, no body can miss it, but peoples' focus is more on reaching the Vinayagar temple and after brief prayer go round the prakara and take a view of the city. No doubt you get a fine view of the city; an endless vista of the city stretching before you. An enchanting sight particularly, in the late evening.

Tiruchi rock fort Bell tower mapio.net/

Details are not available about the bell tower and its purpose, date of construction, name of the builder, etc. However, till early sixties while I was a college student here I used to hear the bell - rung manually daily in the evening. The traffic din was not very much and one could hear sound very well within the Main Guard gate area. In the later years, it seems, the bell developed some repairs and it was not rung any more.

An interesting fact about the bell is it was donated by G. Grongton Loco and Carriage Company operating in India. When I googled its name, no information was available.

My assumption is it must be Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (GRC&W), a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Gloucester, England from 1860 till the 1900s. This firm in 1936 won the contract to build a 68 foot long air-conditioned carriage for the Maharajah of Indore Yaswantrao Holker, a man of different taste and styles.

Whichever company made the bell in the bell tower in the rock-fort, it was associated with SIR privately owned railway company under the Raj. The big bell was cast in 1918 in the railway workshop in Nagapattinam. The saga of the railways in south India had begun here with the laying of first ever line at Negapattinam to Trichinopoly (Tiruchirappalli), on 5th April; it was done by the Great Southern of India Railway Company.

The workshop was run by the SIR (South Indian Railway, a British private company. After independence it was taken over by the Tatas. However, in the 1970s, I presume, it was closed for good due to labor problem. Then in East Thanjavur, Communists were very active and created all kinds of labor problems for the small companies as well as for the small land holders. .

As to the Bell tower, I made a futile attempt to get the details.

https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2014/10/rockfort-temple-of-tiruchrapalli-tamil.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ucchi_Pillayar_Temple,_Rockfort