Fort Cairns is one of only three military forts from the 19th century Caste War still standing today. But tonight the Institute of Archaeology says we might have only two after Cairns was allegedly destroyed by the Orange Walk Town Council. Fort Cairns is located in the heart of Orange Walk Town on Arthur Street - that's just opposite the town hall. It was built by the Western Indian regiment back in 1876 to protect the settlement, but last week it faced a different kind of confrontation. Keith Swift reports.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The Institute of Archaeology says the culprit is the Orange Walk Town Council which they claim stormed in with a bulldozer last week. Dr. John Morris is the associate director for research and education at the institute.
Dr. John Morris, Institute of Archaeology
"We are certain that it is bulldozer that came in and ripped out all of this area here which is distressful to say the very least because we are destroying the few remains of what is Fort Cairns. There are some other parts of it that lie over the other side of the road but this is one of the few areas that shows us the remains of the mounds and the mote. And to come here and to find out that it has been bulldozed, we are not very happy about that."
This evening via phone from his office in Orange Walk Town, Mayor Ravell Gonzalez told us that his council is simply doing what the PUP town council did.
Ravell Gonzalez, Orange Walk Town Mayor
"The town council's position is that we are going to do some minor beautification work on the area. Its no big scale
development, its just trying to allocate space and trying to improve on the overall area to make it a tourist attraction."
Keith Swift,
Did you destroy any part of the Fort?
Ravell Gonzalez,
"The part of the Fort that we used had already been used by the previous administration."
But NICH says the area was destroyed and apparently 2 centuries of history was cleared to make space for these trailers, one selling shoes and the other selling used clothes. According to Dr. Morris - Ravell Gonzalez's council should have asked permission before beginning work on the site and he says what the town council did was simply shameful.
Dr. John Morris,
"I think it is a shame for us to destroy our culture in this fashion when it could easily have been prevented. I don't think it is a case of lack of knowledge in this particular case Fort Cairns has been documented quite extensively and I believe that a lot of people in Orange Walk know that this place existed and to have done this is, to say the least, distressful for us."
The interview in that story was conducted by our colleague at CTV-3 in Orange Walk Jorge Aldana. Orange Walk is also home to Fort Mundy while Fort Barley is located in Corozal. The Institute is investigating the incident and could levy fines against the town council but that is a lengthy process. Mayor Ravell Gonzalez told us this evening that his council will work along with NICH on future projects in the area.
