Jaffna Old Park

Jaffna Old Park , (Sinhala: යාපනය පැරණි උද්‍යානය; Tamil: பழைய பூங்கா) is an urban park situated near Old Kachcheri in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. History The history of Old Park is associated with Percival Ackland Dyke (1805-1867 A.D.) who was appointed to the Ceylon Civil Service on 15 May 1822 by the British government (Bastiampillai, 1987). He became the Assistant Collector in Jaffna on 1 March 1824 and then the Fiscal and Sitting Magistrate there by 1 February 1825 (Bastiampillai, 1987). In 1829 he was appointed as the Government Collector for Jaffna and on 1 October 1933, he assumed duties as the Government Agent which he held for nearly 40 years  (Martyn, 1923). The Old Park is said to be the garden of the private residency of Percival Auckland Dyke who created it in 1829 (Pushparatnam, 2014).  At the time, the garden consisted of a pond, and various types of fruit and flower-bearing trees (Pushparatnam, 2014). People were allowed to spend their leisure time in the garden without an…