Ruwanwella Fort

Ruwanwella Fort

Ruwanwella Fort (Sinhala: රුවන්වැල්ල බලකොටුව; Tamil: உருவான்வெல்லைக் கோட்டைைை) is an ancient fort situated at the confluence of the  Kelani Ganga River  and the Gurugoda Oya stream in Ruwanwella town in Kegalle District, Sri Lanka.  History This was originally constructed as a stockade in the 1590s by the Portuguese who arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505 (Mandawala, 2012). In 1665, the Dutch captured it and formed a palisaded encampment fortified outside with piles and inside with an earth wall (Bell, 1904; Mandawala, 2012). However, they abandoned it to the Kandyans within a few years upon the capture of Bibiligama Fort (Bell, 1904). In 1817, the British built a new fort with two bastions and used it as an outpost (Mandawala, 2012). To build this fort 47 acres of surrounding land were acquired from native holders at a cost of Rds. 2,851, stretching from the Danatigaha-ela on the north and east, to the Gurugoda Oya and Kelani Ganga on the west and south-west (Bell, 1904). In 1818, the fort garri…