Queen's Tower, Delft Island, Sri Lanka

Queen's Tower is an old measurement tower located on the southeastern coast of the island of Delft (Tamil: Neduntheevu), Sri Lanka.

History

The tower was erected by the British (British Ceylon: 1815-1948) as a trigonometric point and a light navigation point for diurnally operated ships (Dias et al., 2016). Recorded evidence has confirmed that the tower had been used by them to measure the land by setting up an instrument on the top of the tower (Dias et al., 2016).

However, an incorrect opinion suggests that this tower had been used as a lighthouse (Dias et al., 2016). According to that notion, the smoke released by a fire set at the bottom of the tower creates a vacuum forcing the air to come out from the opening of the wall at the top of the tower's chimney-like tube thus making it visible to sailors during the day and in the night.

Tower

The tower is about 55 ft tall and has been built with cubic shape cut limestone rocks (Dias et al., 2016). The tower is getting smaller as it rises from the bottom to the top.

A protected monument

The Lighthouse (Queens Pillar) found in the area called Alamavanan in the Grama Niladhari Wasama No. Pe/6, Delft North-East in the Delft Divisional Secretary’s Division is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government Gazette notification published on 22 July 2011.