Heritage

Homing Pigeons Nest (Dovecote) on Delft Island

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ඩෙල්ෆ් දුපතේ පරෙවි කූඩුව Pigeons Nest on Delft Island

This island was called by the Portuguese ilha das Vacas, had a fort built by them. The Dutch called it Delft Island. The Tamils call it the Neduntheevu or Neduntivu. This is the largest island in the Palk Strait, northern Sri Lanka. The Delft Island covers 11,500 acres and is a low and arid island. Delft Island is a mostly bare island with little shade. Delft Island is a mostly bare island with little shade. The most common tree here is the Palmyra tree. The Palmyra Toddy is one of the chief articles of food in Delft.

This unique Pigeons Nest (Dovecote) is found on the adjoining land to Delft Divisional Secretariat among the other ruins. According to historical sources, the Dutch who lived in Delft and other surrounding islands, used to communicate between other islands using homing pigeons. This nest has been built by the Dutch to for these homing pigeons in the Delft Island. The pigeon nest is built using limestone commonly found in the island. Built on a square base with a side 1.65 meters long this nest has holes on all four sides with 15 per side. The four corners too have 5 cavities each making the total cavities in the nest to 80. The full height of this nest is about 4 meters.

The building with the dove cage and the associated building ruins situated in the Grama Niladhari Wasama No. fma/4 Delft Central in the Delft Divisional Secretary’s Division, Jaffna was declared as a protected monument on 30 December 2011 though a government gazette.

References

Lewis, J., 1909. NOTES ON DELFT. The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 21(62), pp.341-360.
Bassett, R., 1929. Romantic Ceylon: Its History, Legend and Story. 1st ed. London: Cecil Palmer.
2011. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 2011.12.30. Colombo: Department of Govt. Printing. p 1093.
කෝරළගේ, එස්. බී. and කල්ප අසංක, එම්. වී. ජී. , 2017. යාපනය දිස්ත්‍රික්කය. 1st ed. කොළඹ: පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව, p.91.

Also See

Map of Homing Pigeons Nest on Delft Island

Please click on the button below to load the Dynamic Google Map (ගූගල් සිතියම් පහලින්)

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Traveling Directions to Jaffna (Homing Pigeons Nest on Delft Island)

Jaffna can be reached through 2 directions. The first one is over the Elephant Pass which is the normal route to Jaffna. The other entrance is from Pooneryn over the newly built Sangupiddi Bridge. This road connects to Mannar.

Route 01 from Colombo to Jaffna (Through Kurunegala)	Route 02 from Colombo to Jaffna (Through Puttalam)
Through : Kurunegala – Dambulla – Anuradhapura – Vavuniya Distance : 400 km Travel Time : 7-8 hours Driving Directions : see on Google map	Through : Puttalam – Anuradhapura – Vavuniya Distance : 400 km Travel Time : 7-8 hours Driving Directions : see on Google maps

From Jaffna to Homing Pigeons Nest on Delft Island

Total distance: 32 km
Duration: With boat trip (between 2-3 hours)
Driving directions: See Google Map (Kurikadduwan Jetty)

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References

Also See

Map of Homing Pigeons Nest on Delft Island

Traveling Directions to Jaffna (Homing Pigeons Nest on Delft Island)

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