Ruwanwella Archives

Dawson’s Tower – accolade for exemplary service By Arundathie Abeysinghe Anyone traveling from Colombo to Kandy on Colombo-Kandy Road has to travel through many bends, some of them hairpin bends and sharp gradients when traveling up the Kadugannawa Pass to reach Kandy. At the last and sharpest bend, the road forks and one road goes through a rock tunnel and the other road goes above the tunnel. Before approaching Kadugannawa town, there is a tall while column to the right of the cliff which many consider as a war memorial. This enormous obelisk is a tribute to Captain William Francis Dawson, an imminent engineer of the Royal Engineers during the British Colonial Era who planned the construction of Colombo-Kandy Road under the direction of British Governor Edward Barnes (1824 – 1831). This huge white color obelisk similar to a lighthouse is 38 meters above the road and is a ...

Kadugannawa Pass and Rock Tunnel – gateway to hill country By Arundathie Abeysinghe Kadugannawa Pass and Rock Tunnel are important landmarks on Colombo – Kandy Road. Kadugannawa is considered as the gateway to UNESCO World Heritage Site Kandy as well as Central Highlands. Highest point of the climb of Colombo – Kandy Road is known as Kadugannawa Pass, a lookout point of the Kandyan Kingdom to monitor invading foreign forces in the 16th and 17th centuries from the lowlands of Sri Lanka. Kadugannawa had been an outpost of the Kandyan Kingdom and many battles have taken place in this historic town in the past. Known as Gala Vidapu Thena by locals (meaning the rock that was pierced in Sinhala), the Rock Tunnel had been a symbol of Colombo – Kandy road from time immemorial. Kadugannawa Pass is situated between Kandy Valley and *Kegalle Valley and for centuries this pass ...