Halpanu Ela Stone Bridge (Sinhala: හාල්පානු ඇල පැරණි ගල් පාළම) is an ancient bridge built over a small stream called Halpanu Ela in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka.
History
This is believed to be one of the bridges in the ancient road network that connected Anuradhapura city to other suburbs since the beginning of the Anuradhapura Period.
The bridge
The bridge has been made by placing smoothened rock slabs longitudinally over the cross beams that are balanced on stone columns planted across the river. It is 114 ft. in length and consisted originally of nine spans 6 ft. apart (Bell, 1904). Each span was formed of uprights united transversely by stone beams 15 ft. in length, upon which six or seven shorter beams were laid side by side lengthways (Bell, 1904).
See also
#) Mahakanadarawa Stone Bridge#) Malwathu Oya Stone Bridge
Attribution
#) LankaPradeepa.com would like to thank Lalith Kekulthotuwage for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
References
1) Bell, H. C. P., 1904. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon; North-Central Province, Annual Report 1890. p.2.
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This page was last updated on 17 October 2023