Description:
The Bridges of Old Madras: A Historical Exploration takes readers on a fascinating journey across the waterways of Chennai (formerly Madras), uncovering the stories of the city’s historic bridges. Far more than feats of engineering, these bridges stand as enduring witnesses to colonial enterprise, urban expansion, and the everyday lives of people who crossed them for centuries.
Drawing from archival sources, maps, photographs, and field visits, the book traces the evolution of these structures—from the earliest causeways built under the East India Company to the grand stone and iron bridges of the 19th and 20th centuries. Each chapter brings alive the cultural, economic, and political contexts in which these bridges were built, showing how they shaped the movement of goods, ideas, and communities in Madras.
Blending architectural history with urban memory, The Bridges of Old Madras is both a scholarly resource and a visual narrative, appealing to historians, students, heritage enthusiasts, and general readers interested in understanding how the city’s past continues to flow through its living structures.
