The Old Lighthouse and Clock Tower in Colombo, built in 1856, served as both a lighthouse and clock tower. It was deactivated in 1952.
Old Lighthouse and Clock Tower (Colombo)
The Colombo Old Lighthouse & Clock Tower (Sinhala: කොළඹ කොටුව පැරණි ප්රදීපාගාරය සහ ඔරලෝසු කණුව; Tamil: கொழும்பு கோட்டை மற்றும் கடிகாரங்கள் போஸ்ட்) is a clock tower and was a lighthouse situated at the junction of Chatham Street and Janadhipathi Mawatha in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka. The tower was used in navigation to indicate the safe passage for vessels entering the Colombo Harbor at night time. Although the lighthouse is no longer operational, the tower still functions as a clock tower. This clock tower is unique because it is the zero-mileage point in Colombo (Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). History Following the construction plan by Emily Elizabeth Swinburne, the wife of Governor Sir Henry George Ward (1797-1860 A.D.), the tower was built under the supervision of John Fleming Churchill (1829–1894 A.D.) during the years 1856-1857 and the construction was done by the Public Work Department (Manathunga, 2016; Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). The 29 m tall tower was the talle…
