The Awariwatta Survey Tower in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, is a British-era cylindrical structure used for 19th-century triangulation surveys.
Awariwatta Survey Tower (Katunayake) A wariwatta Survey Tower (Sinhala: කටුනායක ඇවරිවත්ත මිනුම් කුළුණ) is an old colonial-era 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 p…
