This page introduces a series of ten short articles that are excerpts from a research project for the NHB Heritage Research Grant (HRG) titled “A Fine Grain History of Singapore Town: The Architecture and Socio-Morphology of Four Forgotten Neighbourhoods.”
The research looked at a number of historical urban neighbourhoods in Singapore Town that bear the apellation “kampong”. They have largely been forgotten and do not figure in our heritage narrative. These neighbourhoods are listed below, with key notes on their names from map sources as well as in colloquial usage:
a. Kampong Bengkulu (Campong Benculu/Bencoolen)
Kampong Bengkulu is bounded by current-day Albert Street, Short Street, Middle Road, Waterloo Street. The Hokkien and Cantonese names for Albert Street and Middle Road refer explicitly to Kam-kong Mang-ku-lu (Hokkien) and Mong-kwo-lo (Cantonese). Articles and advertisements by Europeans in the English newspapers of Singapore in the 1840s to 1850s, and the Municipal notices of 1849-1855 also use this name for Queen Street and Church (Waterloo) Street.
In a map from 1842, Campong Bengkulu is spelled as Campong Benculu, while Campong Glam and Campong Rochor are also found in the same map. In another map from 1878, Campong Bengkulu is spelled as Kampong Bencoolen.
b. Kampong Serani and Kampong Dobi (Campong Dobie/Dhoby)
Kampong Serani was the name for Manila and Queen Street. It was also used in the transliterated form in Hokkien as “Sek Kia Ni Koi” (Serani Street). “Serani” was the Malay form of the term Nazarene, used to denote primarily Portuguese Eurasians.
Kampong Dobi, meanwhile, is another virtually forgotten toponym located at the upper end of Queen Street, where a north Indian community once existed. In Tamil this area was called Dobi Kampam, a transliteration of the Malay name.
c. Kampong Melaka (Campong Malacca)
Campong Malacca is bounded by current-day Angus, Cumming, Fisher, Kem, Keng Cheow, Solomon and Omar Streets. These streets were all known as “Kam Kong Ma La Kak” in Hokkien, the transliteration of the Malay name Kampong Melaka. Canal Road, and Hong Lim Quay had the additional appellations Kang and Hai Ki respectively to the standard “Kam Kong Ma La Kak”.
Campong Malacca is annotated in maps from 1842, 1846, 1860, 1893, and 1905.
d. Chuliah Campong (shifted) and Campong Kling – Cross Street and its vicinity
In the original Nov-Dec 1822 instructions that produced the Plan of Singapore Town by Lieutenant Jackson (the so-called Jackson Plan), a “Chuliah Campong” was indicated in the area where Clarke Quay MRT station and Central shopping mall is found today. By the 1820s and 1840s, however, this had actually become the site of Campong Malacca, as explained above.
It appears that Chulia Campong shifted further south. Already in the 1822 Jackson Plan, a “Kling Chapel” was indicated further south, in the vicinity of Cross Street. In fact, the toponym Campong Kling appears in the Municipal notices from 1849 to 1855 in this same area. The term refers to the area around Jamek Chulia Mosque and Sri Mariamman Temple at South Bridge Road, Cross Street, Mosque Street, Pagoda Street, and Temple Street.
However, this name ‘Campong Kling’ appears to have had limited circulation. Cross Street did nevertheless take on the name “Kiat Leng Kia Koi” (Kling People’s / Klingmen’s Street) and Kampong Susu in Malay (in reference to the dairymen who sold milk, “susu” in Malay).
We may surmise therefore that the Chuliah Campong in the 1822 plan did not materialise on the site upon which it had been indicated. The location became Kampong Melaka (Campong Malacca) instead. Meanwhile, Campong Kling developed further south, in the area around the Jamek Chulia Mosque and Sri Mariamman Temple. It shoul dbe noted that the terms Chulia and Kling were both used to refer to Tamil / South Indian communities, both Muslim and Hindu. In fact the street on the northern edge of Raffles Place (first name: Commercial Square) was originally called Kling Street before it was renamed Chulia Street in 1822 based on a request by the Indian community.
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