Awariwatta Survey Tower (Katunayake)

The Awariwatta Survey Tower in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, is a British-era cylindrical structure used for 19th-century triangulation surveys.
Awariwatta Survey Tower
Awariwatta Survey Tower

Awariwatta Survey Tower (Sinhala: කටුනායක ඇවරිවත්ත මිනුම් කුළුණ) is an old tower located on the wayside of Baseline Road between Katunayake and Seeduwa in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka. The Kandawala Survey Tower which was the oldest survey tower in the Katunayake area collapsed on the ground on 28 November 2015 due to the negligence of relevant government authorities.

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 tower presently standing at Awariwatta, Katunayaka is said to be one of the towers used by the British for surveying purposes.

The Tower

The cylindrical-shaped tower has three representative stories and they get smaller as the tower rises from the bottom to the top. At the bottom of it, an arch-shaped passage can be seen while on the top of the tower is a platform for surveyors to take measurements.

Awariwatta Survey Tower

Related Posts

Read Also

References

Books, Journal Articles

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

Dynamic Google Map

Attribution

To Whom

LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Lalith Kekultotuwage for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.

Post a Comment

Cookie Consent
We serve cookies on this site to analyze traffic, remember your preferences, and optimize your experience.
Oops!
It seems there is something wrong with your internet connection. Please connect to the internet and start browsing again.
AdBlock Detected!
We have detected that you are using adblocking plugin in your browser.
The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website, we request you to whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.
Site is Blocked
Sorry! This site is not available in your country.