Extended Journey to Doric Bungalow and Arippu Fort

We had this journey as an extended opportunity of a main journey. We don’t had any plan to visit this area but we had to go there as our route go deviated from the plan. However it is a good opportunity for me to see these places as I won’t be come again to see them. All of these ruins are a part of our history and archaeology dept currently protecting them and we should be aware about this heritage and should protect for the future.

Doric Bungalow – ඩොරික් බංගලාව

Once ghost towns along the Puttlum – Mannar coastal line bordering Wilpattu National Park, these small towns and villages have now woken up form the 30 year slumber after the end of the LTTE terrorist occupation.

This stretch of sea was world famous for thousands of years for for producing finest pearls in the world but today a waste land with few fishing villages due to over exploitation.

Portuguese, Dutch and British all had considerable interest in the region and the best example is the massive bungalow of the British Governor, Sir Frederick North (1798-1805) built for the supervision of pearl fishery operations in the region.

Frederic North, who became Earl of Guilford later, arrived here in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1798 and visited Arippu a few times during the next few years as the pearl fishery was revived by the British. By this time, pearl fishery was revived in Kondachchi, a tiny village south of Silavathura. Kondachchi later became popular due to the establishment of government cashew plantations.

It could be probably during these visits that Frederic North had the idea of building a bungalow in these premises. The governor himself laid the foundation stone of the Doric building on March 18, 1802, and it took almost two years to complete the construction. There are official records such as letters and minutes to suggest that this was almost completed by early 1804. Governor North was probably able to stay in this bungalow for the first time during the fishery of 1804, as he was at Arippu from early February to early April.

Cordiner in his Description of Ceylon mentions that this building was planned by the Governor. He further provides a detailed account of this building with a drawing made by him. This drawing shows the Doric columns rising on the front and rear porticos, which are no more available. Cordiner provides the layout plan of the building, which could be traced even now. According to him, there were four small bed rooms on the ground floor and stairs on the center; two well proportioned were on the upper floor. Though the upper floor is no more, the ground floor plan is very similar to the existing plan of the ruin. The building had a terraced roof over the upper floor, from where someone could have seen the entire area around, providing an excellent place to watch the fishery activities on the sea. Even from the top of the existing ruin, we could observe the area around us. Cordiner states that this was ‘undoubtedly the most beautiful building in the island and almost the only one which is planned according to any order of architecture’.

Time showed the ravages of nature on this building. – Sea breeze, harsh conditions and negligence were the key reasons for this. By the early 1900s, the upper floor was gone and the rear portico to the seaside was a prey to sea erosion in 1980s. The remaining walls are being continuously corroded by the wind and washed by the rains. The damage continues as the northern section of the building (which seems intact in the photos) had also collapsed in 2004, when our friend Ajitha Madanayake visited the site and photographed the building. There is a serious uncertainty of the future of the ruins, which is a part of our heritage.

The Doric has been erroneously mentioned as the Dutch Fort by a few journalists and authors recently. Some of these have provided photographs of it. This mistaken identification seems to be due to few reasons. Though many knew about the existence of the Dutch Fort in Arippu, most of them were ignorant of the existence of a British mansion in the aarea. Also the lack of frequent visitors is the main cause of this ignorance. In some extreme cases the Doric was mentioned as a Portuguese mansion and the palace of a legendary queen!

The Tower at Arippu, (Arippu Tower, Doric Tower) lying few hundred meters way from the fort is a strange cerement tower with no apparent use. Top of this square tower tapers off in to a pyramid shape. Despite any visible signs, this tower is believed to be a sort of a light house which had a fire burning at the top guiding the pearl vessels to land.

Article by : Dhanesh Wisumperuma
Daily Mirror

About the history

Here is it

Remaining of it

Giants

See the strength

Windows

The Beach

Some other

Side view of it

Black sand

Another view

Like a castle in fairy tales

Ruins of the bungalow

Beautiful history

Under protection

More to see

See the construction

Staircase

Arch	Inside view

Another angle

More to see

Should protect

Walk along the beach

Slow Shutter

From another side

Insect

Colorful

Waves

Going back to the sea

A life

Arippu Fort – අරිප්පු බලකොටුව

Arripu Fort is a small two bastion fort built by the Portuguese just before the causeway at Arippu. This fort was handed over to the Dutch in 1658 after the fall of Mannar. This fort again changed hands to the British.

Mannar Seas has always been a important area for all rulers of Sri Lanka since ancient times known for abundance of high quality pearls. Fedrick North, the first British Governor to then Ceylon Built his official residency at the Beach Front now known as the Doric, and converted this fort to a bungalow for the officers who managed the pearl fisheries in the area.

Later this bunglow was converted to a Rest House but abandoned due to the LTTE terrorist war which spilled in to this area too.

Incidentally it was to this fort that Robert Knox, the famous prisoner of Kandyan King escaped to after 19 1/2 years in captivity. The dutch, who was in control of this country at the time made arrangements to send him back to England. On his return to England, he published his work ‘An Historical Relation of Ceylon’ in 1681.

This book was later translated into Dutch, German and French, and came to be internationally recognised as a book dealing with the Kandyan kingdom, its inhabitants and his experience concerning the socio-economic history of the island. The book inspired to a certain extent as one of the best-known works of the English fiction ‘Robinson Crusoe’ written by Daniel Defoe.

On the way to Arippu fort

Here is it

Notice of the history

Arippu Fort

Remaining

Full view

Giants

Ruins

See the structure

Out of order

Path towards to another destination

Scenic road

Wild animals also there

Water

Some remaining

The bridge

Kumbuk

The road

Vehicles should go from here

Here it go

Calm environment

Shadows

The river bend

Riding more

Solution for the electricity

Wind Mills

Amazing and beautiful

Final capture

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©