Fort Marlborough

The English East India Company built Fort Marlborough at Bencoolen between 1713 and 1719 to secure the pepper trade on the west Sumatran coast, and it is the largest British fortification in Southeast Asia - a turtle-backed bastioned work with thick walls, a moat, barracks and a parade ground. The settlement was never profitable, and disease, revolts and rival powers made it a posting nobody wanted; Thomas Stamford Raffles was lieutenant-governor here from 1818 to 1824, and it was during that period that he founded Singapore. In 1824 the Anglo-Dutch treaty transferred Bencoolen to the Netherlands in exchange for Malacca and recognition of the British position in Singapore, which is the trade the fort is remembered for. Sukarno was exiled to Bengkulu in the 1930s and his house is a museum.

History

The English East India Company built the fort between 1713 and 1719 under Governor Joseph Collett, on an artificial hill two miles from the older Fort York, using convict and local labour. In 1760, in the Seven Years' War, a French squadron under the Comte d'Estaing took it and then ransomed it back to the British; it was one of the strongest British forts in the East, second only to Fort St. George in Madras (Wikipedia, Fort Marlborough).

What's there

• The largest British fort in the region - bastioned walls, moat and parade ground.
• Raffles's posting - the fort he governed from before founding Singapore.
• The 1824 exchange - traded to the Dutch for Malacca and Singapore.
• Sukarno's exile house - the 1930s residence, a museum in the town.

When to go

All year; mornings before the heat. Half a day.

Before you go

Interpretation is limited and much of the interior is empty rooms. It is hot and exposed on the walls. Bengkulu is off most itineraries and connections are limited.

Nearby

Sukarno's exile house and the Bengkulu seafront are close.

Key facts