Shirgaon Fort

Shirgaon Fort stands in Shirgaon village, 6.5 km from Palghar, and is in very good condition: its outer walls, steps, parapets and bastions of solid masonry are in excellent order. It was built under the Yadavas of Devgiri in 1225 and passed to the Gujarat sultans in 1432, the Bahmanis and briefly the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. The Portuguese took it with the other forts around Vasai between 1520 and 1533. A Maratha attempt failed in late 1737, but after the siege of Vasai the Marathas captured it on 22 January 1739 and repaired it in 1772; the British took it in 1818.

The fort is rectangular, with an east-facing gate followed at a right angle by a second gate, near which the year 1714 is inscribed. It has five bastions, octagonal at the four corners and circular at the entrance, and the guards' rooms by the gate are well kept. A walk along the parapet takes about an hour. Palghar, 109 km from Mumbai, is well connected by road and rail.