The British Magazine

During the 1857 uprising, hundreds of sepoys came into Delhi after a  mutiny in Meerut where they killed all the British. In Delhi too they went about killing all the English – men, women, children they could find. By the afternoon, almost all of them in the city had been killed. At around 4 PM, the sepoys went to the Mughal king – Bahadur Shah Zafar to seek his blessing and support for the uprising.
The old king, having very less options, reluctantly agreed to it. As soon as he came back to his quarters after announcing this publicly, there was a huge blast north to the Palace (The Red Fort). It was so strong that it was heard 20 miles away.

The epicenter of this blast was the British Magazine – North India’s largest arsenal of ammunition and guns. Lieutenant Willoughby was defending this Magazine since morning. By the afternoon he was fully surrounded by the sepoys. To prevent such a large cache of arms and ammunition landing in the mutineer’s hands, Willoughby blew up the whole building along with a large mob of the sepoys who were attacking it and of course himself.

What remains of this magazine are the two entrances around 100 meters apart. Kashmiri Gate Post office stands where perhaps  there was a warehouse of the ‘modern’ Enfield rifles which were the primary reason for the 1857 uprising.