Chintadripettah did not exist, and Blacktown had not overflowed into Egmore and the Choultry Plain to spread a network of drains over the banks of the river and turn it into a city sewer. Here the Company had its first garden-house built upon the west end of the present grounds of the General Hospital. It was destroyed by the French (1746), and with it was destroyed the carefully laid out garden which occupied so much of the attention of Pitt. On the return of the English (1749) the half-ruined houses by the Cooum were abandoned by the servants of the Company for others that were erected further afield. In 1753 twelve of the old buildings were taken by the Company for the use of the General Hospital, at first by hire and afterwards by purchase. One of these, which stood at the western end of the property, had been formerly used as a store go-down by the Company. This gave rise to the tradition that the General Hospital was once the Company’s warehouse, a tale not altogether without foundation. There was an old bridge over the Cooum leading to the garden-houses that went by the name of the Garden Bridge. It was demolished after the Wallajah bridge was built and the course of the river altered.
The river has witnessed some strange scenes, and could tell queer tales of the revelry that went on by its banks. Mr. Warner, the Company’s chaplain, had something to say on the subject ; but we have no proof that society was any worse by the side of the Cooum than it was by the side of the Thames. The puritanical spirit was abroad frowning disapproval on all kinds of amusement, and classing the innocent with the guilty. It was here that Yale had a garden-house, and scandal was busy with his name and that of Mrs. Nicks, a remarkable woman, who was his friend and neighbour. She was bridesmaid to his wife at his marriage in the fort–the first to take place in the new church of St. Mary’s (1680).
