Hulftsdorp Court Complex (Photo credit: Google Street View)
The Hulftsdorp Court Complex is a large courthouse complex located in Hulftdorp in Colombo District, Sri Lanka, housing various courts of the country's judicial system. The court complex is situated on a short hill known as Hulftsdorp from which it derives its name. The history of this complex runs back to 1805 and to the period of the first Provincial Judge, John Dean in Hulftsdorp [(1815s) Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016].
The court complex presently houses a number of High Courts, District Courts, Magistrates Courts and the Colombo Traffic Courts. The old high court building is positioned in the central courtyard of the complex. According to general belief, this building was originally built in 1655 and was the dwelling of the Dutch General Hulft (Manathunga, 2016). British Governor Frederick North (1766–1827) is said to have lived here until 1805 (Manathunga, 2016).
A protected site
The buildings in which the High Court, District Court and the Commercial Court are being held situated in the Hulftsdorp High Court premises in the Grama Niladhari Wasam of Hulftsdorp West and Keselwatta in the Colombo Divisional Secretary’s Division are archaeological protected monuments, declared by a government gazette notification published on 22 July 2011.
References
1) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. pp.75-76.
2) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. no: 1716. 22 July 2011. p.512.
3) Welandawe, H., Weerasinghe, J., 2016. Urban Heritage in the Western Region Megapolis Planning Project. pp.82-84.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 8 September 2022
