By Paul Topping

I’m sure most of us living in Sri Lanka have visited locations on the island that include a Fort. The most likely example is Galle Fort,  our biggest Fort and a UNESCO location dating back to the sixteenth hundred.  It’s my favourite Fort on the island, just walk the ramparts at sunset, mind-blowing. I had the opportunity at the last Galle Lit. Festival to visit the normally no-go area behind the police station, likely the oldest area of the fort. Years back, Jezzabel and I, in love with Galle, tried to buy a property facing the Galle ramparts, we were guzumpt by the local ’property mafia’ .   There are said to have been thirty-six Colonial Forts on the island, but this excludes some in ruins , some knocked down or lost, and some built on pre Colonial sites.

I’ve tracked  down and visited over twenty so far .

Most forts were  built by the Portuguese and located on sea facing strategic locations . Then the Dutch arrived,  extended and vastly improved most Forts , some circling a town . My second  favourite Fort is likely one of the smallest , Hammenhiel, off Kayts island.  It sits on a rock  just off the coast , such a picturesque site . You can stay in one of the four air conditioned  bedrooms with  great service from the Navy staff .

In the same northern location of Delft island are the remains of a Fort , along with the island,  it is a magical place to visit.  Trincomalee Fort was locally built and extended by the Portuguese. There are other pre colonization Forts extended by the Portuguese and upgraded and extended by the Dutch.  More  towers in Sri Lanka can be seen, mostly on the waterfront . One is  opposite the Scottish church in Galle Rd in Colombo.   The Colombo Fort  was the first colonial  Fort on the island , built in 1518 . Still to be investigated, I hear it covers in part the Temple Trees , Delft gateway on Bristol Street, and the Battenburg Battery . Little to see and not too exciting. I’ve been to the Colombo Maritime Museum which was also in the Colombo Fort .

There is good news and bad news about many of the Forts in Sri Lanka . Most  are open to the  public , many are  currently under renovation , but in most of them progress is immensely slow, like in  Jaffna, stunningly set by the sea with impressive ramparts but internally lacking in refurbishment. 

In Kalpitiya we found it a bit difficult to get into the Fort  as the Navy were operating there . The  British passport helped with the Navy team on duty,  though getting my Indian buddy , Shanawaz was difficul. We had to tour with a Navy junior escort who spoke no English . We see the whale skeletons roasting on the ramparts.

A couple of Forts are still used as prisons like,  Negombo , but are  still worth visiting if you are in the area . You can’t go in !

So there are many Forts still to visit . I hope to cover them in another Sri Lanka Fort story .  So , see you in some obscure Fort on the road  less travelled.