Nowshera Cantonment

British-era military cantonment on the south bank of the Kabul River

Across the Kabul river from the civilian town, the cantonment is a separate planned settlement of leafy avenues, parade grounds, and stone bungalows dating from the British military occupation of the mid-19th century. It still functions as the headquarters of an active Pakistan Army division and access is regulated, but the public roads through it remain the most pleasant part of greater Nowshera to walk.

Several Anglican churches and an old garrison hospital from the 1860s survive. The cantonment cemetery contains graves from the Second Afghan War of 1878-80.

things to do sight
A story
The cantonment was laid out in 1849, immediately after the British annexation of the Punjab, as a forward staging post for operations on the North-West Frontier. The street grid and the original stone barracks survive largely intact, and the Pakistan Army still bases a divisional headquarters here.