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The Maratha Ditch was a three-mile-long deep entrenchment constructed by the English East India Company around Fort William in Calcutta. It was built to protect the surrounding villages and forts from the Maratha attacks. The ditch marked the outer limits of Calcutta city in the nineteenth century.
However, the threat of Maratha invasions ceased before the ditch could be completed and it was left unfinished. Subsequently, it marked the outer limits of Calcutta during the 19th century. After that, it became more or less useless as a defensive work, since the deteriorated ditch could only make the movement of troops and artillery significantly difficult.
The ditch was partly paved in 1799 for the Circular Road of Calcutta and was completely filled in 1893 for construction of the Harrison Road. Today, a road in North Kolkata by the name of Maratha Ditch Lane marks where the entrenchment once stood.
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