The grand palace of Palakkad is believed to have existed since the ancient times, but the present form of the fort was constructed by the great emperor of Mysore, Haider Ali in 1766 A.D. According to the earliest available historical records, King of Palakkad (Paliyath Achchan) was a part of the Zamorin. However, he drifted away from their rule and carved out an independent state for himself at the beginning of the 18th century. When the Zamorins attacked him in 1757, he approached Hyder Ali who took over Palghat and gained control over the Palakkad Fort too.From that time until 1790, the glorious fort was consistently in the hands of the Mysore Sultans or the British rulers. The latter came to power in 1768; this mighty fortification was taken over by Colonel Wood but was soon recaptured by Hyder Ali. What followed this was a series of capturing and recovering by various authorities; Colonel Fullarton captured in 1783 followed by the Zamorin's troops. In 1790 it was finally captured by the British under the rule of Colonel Stuart. Ultimately it was converted into a taluk office in the early 1900s.