- Serangoon
SG neighbourhood
image
englishname=Serangoon
chinesename=实龙岗
poj=
pengim=
pinyin=Shílónggāng
malayname=Serangoon
tamilname=சிராங்கூன்Serangoon is a district situated in the central part of the
city-state ofSingapore , within the North-East Region. TheHousing and Development Board housing estate ofSerangoon New Town in Serangoon is one of the smallernew town s. Its town centre is known as "Serangoon Central", and is the target of extensive future development. TheSerangoon Planning Area , anurban planning zone under theUrban Redevelopment Authority , encompasses the entire Serangoon New Town and the private estates at Serangoon Gardens. It lies betweenAng Mo Kio andHougang .For
public transport , Serangoon New Town is served by the Mass Rapid Transit line, at the North-East Line station ofSerangoon MRT Station , and publicbus services.Serangoon also refers to the area where Serangoon Road passes through and where is now known as Little India.
Serangoon Road and Upper Serangoon Road
Serangoon Road, together with Upper Serangoon Road, forms a
radial arterial road from the city area of Singapore which forms anarterial road to the Serangoon,Hougang ,Sengkang andPunggol areas. For this arterial road, the section fromSelegie Road toMacPherson Road is called Serangoon Road, while the section north of MacPherson Road is called Upper Serangoon Road.A large part of the
North East MRT Line runs in parallel with this arterial road. Stations that are located along this road includes Little India, Farrer Park, Boon Keng, Potong Pasir, Woodleigh, Serangoon and Kovan.Etymology and history
Tamil Muslim traders from India pioneered the settlement of Serangoon in early 19th century. [ [http://littleindia.com/news/123/ARTICLE/1267/2005-11-12.html Tamil Muslim traders pioneer settlement of Serangoon in early 19th century] ] Serangoon Road was first identified as abridle path in1821 , and by1822 it had reached the present Woodsville Corner. A road was proposed in1822 and by1827 the road reached the Serangoon River.It is difficult to say what the word "Serangoon" actually means. The etymology of the word is uncertain. The most plausible view holds that it was derived from a small
marsh bird , the "burong ranggong", which was common in theswamp s of the Serangoon River (formerly the Rangon River). It had a black back, white breast, long, sharp bill, grey crest, long neck and unwebbed feet.On early maps of Singapore, the name of the area is called "Seranggong". "Sa" is short for "satu", or "one", in Malay. An alternative derivation is offered by Haji Sidek, an amateur
etymologist interested in Malay place names, who speculates that the name Serangoon is derived from the Malay words "di serang dengan gong", which means "to attack withgong s anddrum s". According to Haji Sidek, people used to go to Benut inJohore through the Serangoon area and had to use gongs to frighten off wild animals andsnake s which used to roam thejungle covered area. "Serang dengan gong" gradually became Serangoon over the years.Siddique and Puru Shotam, however, argue that such as derivation meant that the name developed after the road, which is inconsistent with the fact that the term "ranggong" predates the development of the road.
In the
1828 Franklin and Jackson's "Plan of Singapore", there are three references to Rangung: Tanjong "Rangung", the River "Rangung" and the Island "Rangung". In Coleman's1836 "Map of Singapore", the names Tanjong Rangon and Rangon River can already be found. "Rangong" in Malay means "warped or shrunken", as of the plane of awall ,roof ordecking . It is evident that the road cut from Selegi was named by the early references to "Rangung" in the north-east of the island — one road linking the swamp bird area of "ranggong" — hence "Serangoon".For the Chinese, the road is called "hou gang lu"(後港路) or "ow kang", meaning "back of the port road", signifying that one could go to the back of the
port inKallang .The northern tip of Serangoon Road is known as "nan sheng hua yuen pien" (南?花園邊), or "fringe of garden in the south", which referred to the Chinese
vegetable gardens in the Bendemeer area. This general area was also termed "mang chai chiao" (feet of thejackfruit ) because of the many jackfruit trees which grew there. The Hokkien Chinese name for Serangoon Road was "au kang in", meaning "back creek". The Chinese refer toSerangoon Gardens as "ang sali".The main occupants of the area were, however, the
India n community. Indians congregated here from1826 to work in thebrick kiln s andcattle industries situated here. The kilns were discontinued in1860 and the cattle sheds were removed by themunicipality in1936 . The area, however, remains predominantly Indian and today is known as "Little India", the locus of Singapore Indianretail ing, everydayculture and festivities.The
Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple on Serangoon Road built more than a century ago went under rebuilding for three years (1984 -1987 ) costingS$ 2.2 million.Consecration ceremony of the newtemple took place on8 February 1987 .References
*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), "Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names", Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
External links
* [http://www.ura.gov.sg/ppd/mp2003/index.jsp?content=nework03®ion=northeast Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority's Masterplan 2003]
* [http://www.ura.gov.sg/dgp_reports/srgoon/int-hist.html Serangoon Planning Report 1995]Gallery
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.