Historical Importance of Mawanella Brick Bridge (මාවනැල්ල ගඩොල් පාලමේ ඉතිහාසය)

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Mawanella Brick Arc Bridge, built in 1932-33
Photo By : Siraj Zubair

Mawanella boasts the oldest operational Brick Bridge in Sri Lanka. Though examples of bridges built thousands of years ago still exist, the recent history of building bridges in Sri Lanka started during the British Period. The British developed tea and coffee as the primary plantation industries in the hill country of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) the need for a road network to transport goods arose. As a result, the British commissioned the Colombo – Kandy road in the early 1800’s.

The Construction of the road began in 1820 under the orders of the British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton. Construction was carried out by Captain William Francis Dawson—who didn’t live to see the completion of the road. Five bridges had to be constructed with the road, one being the Arch Brick Bridge over the Maha Oya in Mawanella. The other four were the Ferry Bridge over Kelani Ganga, the Arch Brick Bridge over Hingula Oya in Hingula, the Pilimathalawa Bridge across Nanu Oya and the Satin Bridge over Mahaweli Ganga in Peradeniya.

The satinwood bridge at Peradeniya, which is now no more, was a spectacular and unique one. Built entirely of satin wood except for two stone columns, it spanned a distance of 215 ft across the Peradeniya gorge, over the Mahaweli river. Designed and constructed by Lt. Colonel John Fraser (1790-1863), with technical assistance from Captain Brown, it was not only spectacular but had an innovative, sophisticated structure. The bridge’s ribs were also of 4ft long satinwood. The wood was neatly wedged and jointed. Surprisingly no metal nails or screws had been used for this purpose, only wood.

It was a tall bridge and everyone going from Colombo to Kandy or vice versa had to pay a toll. Thus it was a source of revenue to the colonial government. There is now no trace of this bridge as it was dismantled in 1904.

Of the five bridges, the Mawanella Brick Bridge was completed between 1832 and 1833 and is the only bridge still being used for vehicular traffic. This 70-meter-long bridge was constructed with bricks consisting of 4 arches and has not been repaired since construction.

Sources

Abhayavardhana, E., 2002. Heritage Of Sabaragamuwa : major natural, cultural, and historic sites. [Ratnapura]: Sabaragamuwa Development Bank, in association with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Also See

History of Bridges of Sri Lanka

Map of Mawanella Brick Bridge

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Travel Directions to Mawanella Brick Bridge

Route from Colombo to Mawanella Brick Bridge

Though : Kandy Road
Distance : 92 km
Travel time : 2.5 hours
Driving directions : see on Google map

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Sources

Also See

Map of Mawanella Brick Bridge

Travel Directions to Mawanella Brick Bridge

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