The Kashmiri Gate (or Kashmere Gate and other variants; Hindi: कश्मीरी गेट Urdu: کشمیدی گیٹ) is a gate located in Delhi, it is the northern gate to the historic walled city of Delhi. Built by Military Engineer Robert Smith in 1835, the gate is so named because it used to start a road that led to Kashmir.
Today it is also the name surrounding locality in North Delhi, in the Old Delhi area, and a an important road junction as the Red Fort, ISBT and Delhi Junction railway station lie in its vicinity.
Historical Significance
It was the area around the North gate of the walled city of the Delhi, leading to the Laal Quila, the Red Fort of Delhi, the gate was facing towards Kashmir, so it was named as Kashmiri Gate, spelled Kashmere Gate under British Raj. The monument can still be seen. The southern gate to the walled city, is called Delhi Gate.
When Britishers first started settling in Delhi in 1803, they found the walls of Old Delhi city, Shahjahanabad lacking repairs, especially after seige by Maratha Holkar in 1804, subsequently they reinforced city's walls. They gradually set up their residential estates in Kashmere Gate area, which once housed Mughal palaces and homes of nobility . The gate next gained national attention during the Mutiny of 1857, considered to be the first war of Indian Independence (See Mangal Pandey). Indian freedom fighters fired volleys of cannon balls from this gate at the British and used the area to assemble for strategizing fighting and resistance. Here, the first patriots committed their lives to the cause of independence.
The British had used the gate to prevent the mutineers from entering the city. Evidence of the struggles are visible today in damages to the existing walls (the damage is presumably cannon ball related). Kashmere Gate was the scene of an important assault by British Army during Indian rebellion of 1857, during which on the morning of September 14, 1857 the bridge and the left leaf of the Gate were destroyed using gunpowder, starting the final assault on the rebels towards the end of Siege of Delhi.
After 1857, the British moved to Civil Lines, and Kashmere Gate became the fashionable and commercial centre of Delhi, a status it lost only after the creation of New Delhi in 1931. In, 1965, a section of the Kashmere Gate was demolished to allow faster movement of vehicular traffic, since then it has become a protected monument by ASI
St. James' Church
St. James Church also known as Skinner's Church, was commissioned by Colonel James Skinner (1778-1841), a distinguished Anglo-Indian military officer, famous for the cavalry regiment Skinner’s Horse. It was designed by Major Robert Smith and built between 1826-36.
ISBT
The Maharana Pratap Inter-state bus terminus or ISBT is the oldest and one of the the biggest Inter State Bus Terminals in India , operating bus services between Delhi and 6 states viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan states.
Railway station
The Old Delhi Railway Station of Delhi, i.e. the Delhi Junction Railway station, built like a fort, stands here, with two opposite sides namely Kashmere Gate & Chandni Chowk. The two localities are linked by an elevated pedestrian bridge called Kodiya Pul.
Metro Station
The Kashmere Gate station of the Delhi Metro,is a junction for the Red Line 1 (Shahdara - Rithala) and Yellow Line 2 (Vishwa Vidyalaya - Central Secretariat) lines. Kashmere Gate also serves as the Headquarters for the Delhi Metro.
GPO
The place also has the General Post Office of Indian Postal Service, which is one of the oldest in the country.
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