The British military cantonment established in Meerut in the early 19th century is one of the largest and best-preserved colonial cantonments in India. Wide tree-lined roads, bungalows with large compounds, and parade grounds laid out on a grid give the cantonment a very different character from the dense, organic old city nearby. The contrast is part of what makes Meerut an interesting place to walk: colonial order and Mughal-era bazaar exist within kilometres of each other.
The cantonment is still an active military area and parts are not accessible to civilians, but the main avenues, St. John's Church, and several colonial-era buildings can be visited. The architecture records the ambitions and anxieties of British colonial administration in India with some precision — the broad roads between buildings were partly designed so that artillery could be brought to bear in case of another uprising like 1857.