Bencoolen Street
Bencoolen Street is a street in Central, Singapore that starts at the junction of , Rochor Canal Road and Jalan Besar and ends at the junction of , Stamford Road and Orchard Road. The street houses several landmarks including Sim Lim Square, and . A number of hotels and serviced apartments exist, namely , , , Strand Hotel, Rendezvous Hotel and . It is accessible via Bencoolen MRT station which is located under Bencoolen Street itself.
Etymology and history[]
Bencoolen Street was named in remembrance of Sir Stamford Raffles' position as Lieutenant Governor in Bencoolen (now Bengkulu), Sumatra, as well as that it was located in .
When Raffles came to the island in 1819, a number of Bencoolen Malays came as well and settled in the area where the street was. When the British gave up Bencoolen in 1824, after signing the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, the number of Bencoolen Malays grew. The majority of the oldest Singaporean Malays and Eurasians descended from the Bencoolen Malays.
Kampong Bencoolen covers the area of Bencoolen Street itself, Waterloo Street, , Middle Road and . Bencoolen Muslims built a mosque between 1825 and 1845 known as the . The first building was made from attap. In 1845, an Arab merchant known as built the second building. Bencoolen Mosque was demolished in the early 2000s and made way for a new mosque. The mosque is currently owned by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS). Along with the new mosque, a service apartment building run by the exists. The graveyards of the Bencoolen Muslims were located where the current Istana is, facing Orchard Road.
References[]
- Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004), Toponymics A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern University Press, ISBN 981-210-364-3
Coordinates: 1°18′02″N 103°51′06″E / 1.30056°N 103.85167°E
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