Buckingham Street(新街头)

Map of Buckingham Street


View Larger Map















The road sign at the entrance of the street, opposite Campbell Street market















The shophouse at the right corner of the street, located at the junction with Pitt Street















Masjid Kapitan Kling ,located at the left corner at the junction of Pitt Street
















Side of the Masjid Kapitan Kling















The side entrance to the Masjid Kapitan Kling, the mosque is still used for Friday prayer for the Muslim.















The view after the Seck Chuan Lane














Sek Chuan Lane, a small lane lead to Chulia Street















The old shops along the Buckingham Street,newly renovated. Previously it was lented out to Chinese businessmen, but after the abolish of Rent Control Act, some have moved out.















The beautiful colonial style, just renovated.

Buckingham Street

Buckingham Street or Lebuh Buckingham(新街头 sin-kay-tau, the name in Chinese literally means at the head of Campbell street). It is located between Pitt Street (now known as Jalan Masjid Capitan Kling), and the junction of Carnarvon Street(沓田仔) and Campbell Street (新街 sin-kay)

It has a side road at the right , Seck Chuan Lane (石泉巷), Chinese called it toa-mui-lau-lai (大門樓裏) which literally means within the big archway, some Chinese also called it " be-bak-kay(卖肉巷)", which literally means pork sellers' street.

The Buckingham Street is located within the core zone of George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The name of the street was named after Buckingham Palace in England. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. It is located at the city of Westminster, the palace is used for state functions and royal hospitality, and a major tourist attraction in London. It is the location where the British people will meet to rally at the time of crisis or celebration. It is originally known as Buckingham House. For further information on the palace, please refer to www.wikipedia.org, or any tourist information web site in UK. Buckingham is actually the name of the town,it is situated at the north of Buckinghamshire, England. The University of Buckingham is located there.

Buckingham Street was created when the Municipal Commission of George Town bought land back from the estate of the Kapitan Keling Mosque,to built roads , Campbell street market , and Carnarvon Street police station. The land surrounding Buckingham Street was the Indian Muslim settlement. The estate of the Kapitan Keling Mosque is now renovating the shop houses owned by them at the street and surrounding area. All the shops at Buckingham Street are owned by the trust.

At the left corner of the street, at the junction with Pitt Street , is the famous Masjid Capitan Keling. It has been the tourist attraction and icon of Penang's islamic history. Before the building of State Mosque at Jalan Air Itam, the mosque was the state mosque.

The tomb of Cauder Mydin Merican, the Indian Muslim leader that founded the mosque, located on a plot of land between Buckingham Street and Kampung Kolam.


Note:

To rebuild the historical site for the Heritage City, the old cemetery and tomb of the Penang pioneer need to be protected e.g. Postestant Cemetery, which were the burial ground for the founder of Penang, Capt Francis Light, David Brown(nutmeg king of Glugor Estate, James Scott, and some of the governors of the state during colonial time; and the tomb of Cauder Mydin Merican, other Chinese kapitan tombstones(?), are all in the bad state. The first step for the Heritage City authority(if there is any?) is to prevent these historical burial site from disappearing.....