Ward's Lake, locally known as Pollock Lake or Nan Polok, is an

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Located in the centre of the city, it is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Shillong.

History

The lake was planned by the then chief commissioner of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, Sir William Ward. It was designed by Fitzwilliam Thomas Pollok and built by Colonel Hopkins in 1894. It is said that the area around the lake was developed by a Khasi prisoner who did so to mitigate the monotony of his daily routine.

The lake

The horse-shoe-shaped lake lies close to the

Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan () is the common name of the official residences of the governors of the states of India and may refer to: List of Raj Bhavan See also * Raj Niwas *Rashtrapati Ashiana *Rashtrapati Bhavan *Rashtrapati Nilayam Rashtrapati Nilaya ...

, the Governor's official residence. The lake is surrounded by a botanical garden with cobble-stone footpaths and a fountain. The botanical garden has several orchids besides other floral species. One of the most prominent features of the lake is a wooden bridge in the middle of the lake. The lake has a boating facility and a cafeteria next to it.

References

External links

{{Authority control Geography of Meghalaya 1894 establishments in India Lakes of Meghalaya Tourist attractions in Meghalaya Artificial lakes of India Shillong