 The British made some additions to the Choto Katra, once used by the first English Medium School in Dhaka (1816) set up by Padre Leonardo, and then the first normal school (1857).The Nawabs of Dhaka rented the places as a coal and lime go-down for sometime.Accounts by Charles D'oyle in 1822 testify to the beauty of the partly surviving Bara Katra, plundered by the poor inhabitants who are still there.