Explore Tamil Nadu’s history and its battles through its myriad forts
Team MetroPlus curates a list of historic forts to explore, taking advantage of the cooler weather. And they are all day trips from Chennai
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, bombs and guns across the world fell silent as Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies, signalling the end of the First World War.

At Chennai’s fort St. George, the only bomb-proof shelter in the premises — St. Mary’s Church — bells tolled and a signal gun was fired. Back then, this British citadel with the the oldest Anglican church east of the Suez, remembered the fallen, with hardly any acknowledgement to the 74,000-odd Indian soldiers who fought at Somme and Flanders fields. Yet, life within the fort went on, a hard fought freedom from the British coloniser was won, and a State Legislative Assembly found space inside its bastions.