Arippu Fort (Sinhala: අරිප්පු බලකොටුව; Tamil: அரிப்புக் கோட்டை) is a small colonial fort situated in Arippu in Mannar District, Sri Lanka.
The fort was first erected by the Portuguese and taken over by the Dutch in 1658 (Pushparatnam, 2014). Robert Knox (1641-1720 A.D.), the English sea captain who lived in Sri Lanka for 19 years as a captive of King Rajasinghe II (1635-1687 A.D.) of Kandy escaped to this fort in 1679 by walking through Anuradhapura (Winterbottom, 2009). With the help of the Dutch, he was able to return to England in 1680.
The Dutch were expelled from the island in 1796 by the British. The first British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Frederick North (office: 1798-1805 A.D.) converted this fort into a bungalow for the officers supervising the pearl fishery close to the Doric Bungalow, the mansion he built for himself. The bungalow later became the rest house at Arippu.
References
1) Pushparatnam, P., 2014. Tourism and monuments of archaeological heritage in Northern Sri Lanka. Author Publication. ISBN: 978-955-0811-08-3. p.138.
2) Winterbottom, A., 2009. Producing and using the historical relation of Ceylon: Robert Knox, the East India Company and the Royal Society. The British Journal for the History of Science, 42(4), pp.515-538.
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This page was last updated on 21 May 2023