The historical Buckingham Canal of Tangasseri here has fallen into real-estate hands. Part of Fort Thomas and qualified to be a monument, the canal has lost much of its area to reclamation. The reclaimed land is being sold off. The canal is believed to have been constructed more than 450 years ago for safe transportation of personnel and provisions from ships to the fort, when the fort was built. Tangasseri area of the sea, though a natural port, was reef infested. Exports reached ship through the canal on the barges. When the british took over Tangasseri fro the Dutch, the canal came to be called Buckingham canal. After independence, the fort came under the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). Tangasseri being a projection into the sea, the western portion of the canal was connected to the sea and the eastern portion was a dead end.
(The Hindu, 29th January,2007)
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