u/RahulAjmera_

In 2006, the Minister of Culture told Parliament that the ASI had lost 35 of its own protected monuments, including Pune’s “Old European Tombs.”

The ASI has now traced one of them.

Behind Pune’s Collector’s Office stands an old graveyard with a beautiful stone dome. Many pass it without noticing. Google Maps calls these French Tombs. Newspapers have called them German, French and even Jewish. They are none of those.

This is Pune’s oldest surviving British colonial monument, with graves dating back to 1819. It has stood hidden in plain sight for over 200 years.

And the people buried here have some fascinating connections.

Henry Forbes Shubrick died here at just 11 months old, from the same family that gave its name to four U.S. Navy warships called USS Shubrick.

Two founding officers of the Poona Auxiliary Horse are buried here too. Their regiment survives today as 17 Horse (The Poona Horse), an armoured regiment of the Indian Army.

The cemetery was protected as part of Pune’s “Old European Tombs” in 1909. Decades later, those tombs were declared “untraceable”.

Last month, I shared old documents with the ASI that confirmed its identity at the same location.

The story made the Hindustan Times Pune front page today, with the detailed report on Page 5.

It was never really missing. It was there all along. Just forgotten.

Full detailed research blogpost with sources in comments.

Most of us have been to Fashion Street at Pune Camp. Bought something there. Haggled there.

We've been shopping on a graveyard.

The East Street Cemetery - 231 graves, Protected National Monument since 1909, same legal status as the Taj Mahal - is officially listed as untraceable by the ASI since 2006. It didn't disappear. It became our favourite shopping market.

While going through an old book about Poona Cantonment, I found this 1879 map. Right where Fashion Street stands today - a trapezoid plot labelled "Old Burial Ground."

Published authors with their own Wikipedia pages are buried here. An author whom William Wordsworth called one of the finest minds he ever knew. India's first woman newspaper editor. The former Mayor and Sheriff of Bombay. A soldier who took Tipu Sultan's ring and hair at his last battle. An infant whose brother translated the English version of Kama Sutra for the world. All buried here.

After 1947, the British left and this graveyard was eventually forgotten. By the 1990s, the graves were cleared and this was used a car parking named Kamble Maidan. In 1997 the Pune Cantonment Board moved hawkers there. Fashion Street was born. Directly on top of it.

This story got 200K views and 1,000+ upvotes on r/IndianHistory last week. But honestly - r/Pune was the audience this was always meant for.

Covered by PunekarNews - video interview and full article in the comments. If you are interested in reading about the detailed history, link to the research heritage blog also mentioned below.

A 200-year-old British cemetery full of famous people was quietly cleared and converted into a shopping market in Pune - and the Indian government has officially listed it as a missing protected monument since 2006.

While going through old Poona Cantonment documents I stumbled upon a 1879 map showing a large plot labelled "Old Burial Ground" - right where a busy shopping market stands today in Pune.

231 graves. Protected National Monument since 1909. Same legal status as the Taj Mahal. Officially untraceable since 2006.

Published authors with Wikipedia pages are buried here. An author William Wordsworth called one of the finest minds he had ever known. India's first woman newspaper editor. The former Mayor and Sheriff of Bombay. A soldier who walked away from Seringapatam with Tipu Sultan's gold ring. An infant whose brother co-produced the first English translation of the Kama Sutra.

After Independence the graves were quietly cleared. The Pune Cantonment Board converted it into a hawkers market in 1997.

The monument nobody found. Until now.

Covered by PunekarNews. Full detailed research blogpost with sources in comments.