hornby vellard=the causeway leads to Warden Road on the left and Tardeo Road on the right.

Did you mean: The Great Breach The only record which survives of large-scale engineering before the arrival of the Portuguese is that of the remnants of a massive stone causeway across the Flats on the island of Bombay. These Flats were the low-lying lands between Dongri and Malabar hill, separated from the island of Worli by the Great Breach, through which the sea poured in at high tide

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Hornby Vellard - Sarmisal

The Great Breach

The only record which survives of large-scale engineering before the arrival of the Portuguese is that of the remnants of a massive stone causeway across the Flats on the island of Bombay. These Flats were the low-lying lands between Dongri and Malabar hills, seperated from the island of Worli by the Great Breach, through which the sea poured in at high tide.

Bombay Photo Images[ Mumbai]: View of the Breach Causeway at Bombay.

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View of the Breach Causeway. View across a bay; horses and figures on the Breach Causeway;

Pydhonie and Umarkhadi

The Great Breach may have extended almost to Umarkhadi, the creek seperating Bombay from Mazagaon. Occasionally the two would be linked by a shallow creek at the site of the crowded present-day bazaar area of Pydhonie. Only the name, which means "foot wash", now gives a clue to the fact that it was once a creek, because this was probably the first piece of land to be reclaimed from the sea.

Quite as likely, Umarkhadi was also filled in soon after the arrival of the British and joined Mazagaon irretrievably to Bombay. The last story in which Mazagaon appears as a seperate island relates to its occupation by the Sidi of Janjira in 1690-1. He was repelled by a rag-tag navy of fishermen led by the amateur Parsi admiral Rustomji Dorabji.

The Hornby Vellard

 

 

Early efforts at land reclamation concentrated on the small creeks crossing the northern Flats of Bombay island. Several of these were dammed or filled in during the eighteenth century. As a result, the areas north and east of Umarkhadi andMazagaon were slowly settled in this period. However, the next major reclamation was due to the closure of the Great Breach north of Cumballa Hill in 1784 by the building of a sea-wall called the Hornby Vellard. The wall allowed reclamation of the Flats and supplied about 400 acres of land for the extension of the crowded inner city. The precincts of Mahalaxmi,Kamathipura, Tardeo and parts of Bycullah were settled.

View of the Breach from Love Grove. View across a bay; Breach Causeway on the left; cattle in the

An 1870 photo with a view of the Hornby Vellard and Worli from Cumballa Hill in Bombay. The view looks towards Worli and the Hornby Vellard from Cumballa Hill. A dwelling seen in the foreground is likely the Breach Candy area. The forested hillock visible in the foreground is Worli. A Causeway leads from Breach Candy to the hillock.

Bombay was originally a group of seven islands. Some of the islands would get submerged during high tide and the monsoon. The places from where the sea rushed in to flood the land were generally referred to as breaches. Out of the seven, only four islands would be on higher ground from the sea.

The major breaches were between Sion and Dharavi, Dharavi and Mahim, Mahim and Worli. The biggest of them all was called the “Great Breach”. It was between Malabar Hill and Worli. All the breaches were closed by 1712. What was left was the damming of the Great Breach. It was a problematic point since the waters of the Great Breach was at least 60 feet deep.

It took a while to close this water entry point. The then Governor of Bombay, William Hornby, successfully oversaw the work of closing the Great Breach in 1780. It took a tremendous amount of effort to dam the opening.  A Vellard (embankment) was built across the breach after many attempts. It was named Hornby Vellard in honor of the governor. To travel across the Hornby Vellard a causeway was built over it, see photo. Once the breached points were closed, unifying the seven islands took place by reclamation which was completed between 1830-50.

Did you know – that the causeway leads to Warden Road on the left and Tardeo Road on the right. 

Past posts – M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Drawing 1964 (#19)., European Women In Bullock Cart British India, 1900 PC ., Buckingham Canal In Chennai – Old Print 1922., A Page On Calicut From A Rare 1713 Latin Book.