This image was captured by Google Street View (Image capture: Oct 2015) one month before the tower collapsed. It clearly shows the road development process that was carried out near the tower.
Kandawala Survey Tower (Sinhala: කඳවල මිනුම් කුළුණ) was an old tower located at Kandawala junction on the Negombo-Giriulla-Baseline road in Negombo, Gampaha District, Sri Lanka. The tower was considered the oldest survey tower in the country (Dias et al., 2016).
History
The Department of Survey of Sri Lanka (or the Department of the Surveyor General) which is the oldest unchanged government department in the country, was established by the British on 2 August 1800 (Vithana, 2006). Under the Surveyor General W. D. Gosset (1855-1858), the establishment of control for surveys on the island commenced with the base measurements in 1857 for Principal Triangulation and several survey towers were used across the country for this process (Dias et al., 2016).
The Dutch-built tower which was standing in Kandawala, Negombo is said to be the first survey tower used by them (Dias et al., 2016).
Collapse
However, the tower completely collapsed on the ground on 28 November 2015 due to the negligence of relevant government authorities.
The Dutch-built tower which was standing in Kandawala, Negombo is said to be the first survey tower used by them (Dias et al., 2016).
Collapse
However, the tower completely collapsed on the ground on 28 November 2015 due to the negligence of relevant government authorities.
References
1) Dias, M.; Koralage, S.B.; Asanga, K., 2016. The archaeological heritage of Jaffna peninsula. Department of Archaeology. Colombo. p.226.
2) Vithana, P. K., 2006. Surveying and mapping in Sri Lanka. Seventeenth United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok. pp.1-9.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 25 June 2023