Long-form heritage travel writing from across colonial Sri Lanka — researched on foot, written slowly, illustrated with the buildings and landscapes that still stand.
When Galle Face Green Was a Ceremonial Ground There was a time when Galle Face Green was more than a place for evening walks, kite flying and watching the…
An Old Bungalow in the Hills of Talawakelle Holyrood Estate Talawakelle | There is something about the old estate bungalows of Ceylon that makes them diff…
An Old Stone Church in the Tea Country All Saints’ Church Maskeliya | There is something about the old churches of Sri Lanka’s hill country that makes you…
A Tower Built to Watch Narapadu Watchtower | There is something strangely moving about old watchtowers. They were built to look outward, to watch the hori…
Somewhere in Ratnapura, more than a century ago, someone stood back far enough from this bungalow to fit the whole house into a photograph. Perhaps the ph…
An Old Register and a City Remembered There is something about an old register that photographs can never quite reproduce. Perhaps it is the handwriting. …
When the Road Had a Price The Toll Gate at the Bridge | There was a time when travelling across Ceylon did not only mean distance, dust and waiting for th…
A Church Among the Estates St Margaret’s church of Kotagala | There is something slightly unexpected about finding an English-looking stone church among t…
A House Beside the Tracks station master’s house Ceylon | There were houses in old Ceylon where the railway was not something you travelled on, but someth…
When Tea Needed Something Beside It There was a time when tea was rarely served on its own. A pot would arrive at the table, usually strong and dark, …
A Road Without a Signboard Helboda Cart Road There are places in the hill country that are easy to miss because nobody has put up a board telling you to…
A House Built Around the Weather Old Ceylon bungalows | There was a time when a house in Ceylon was built around the weather rather than against it. Befor…
Forgotten tea estate bungalows | Beyond the railway stations, viewpoints and neatly clipped tea fields of Sri Lanka’s hill country, another landscape survive…
A Machine That Changed the Road motorcycles in Old Ceylon | There was a time in Ceylon when a motorcycle was not just a vehicle. It was a statement, a sou…
Ceylon planter life| The old photograph shows the sort of house we still associate with Ceylon’s planting districts: a long bungalow, tiled roof, several chi…
Fairlawn Falls and Dunsinane Falls | There are parts of Sri Lanka’s central highlands where the road still seems to belong more to the plantations than to th…
There are old houses in Sri Lanka where the people have long gone, yet traces of their lives seem to remain.Mount Franion at Muruthalawa is one of them. M…
High above the plains beyond Bandarawela, among the tea estates and steep hills of Poonagala, stands an old plantation bungalow carrying the name of a man wh…
Ceylon planter ancestor| a faded photograph of a bungalow. A name written on the back of an old envelope. A silver tea caddy brought home from Ceylon. A gran…
St. Paul’s Girls’ School Milagiriya| Among the many old photographs of schools in Ceylon, a caption as simple as “St. Paul’s School” can be surprisingly dif…
A Forgotten Civic Building in the Heart of Pettah Old Town Hall Colombo: Pettah’s Civic Memory | There are buildings in Colombo that disappear without act…
A Newspaper Advertisement That Opens a Shop Door A newspaper advertisement can sometimes tell us more about everyday life than an official history. Thi…
Sri Lanka railway history| Some of Sri Lanka’s railway history is easy to find. It is there in the great stone stations, the tunnels through the hills, th…
Ceylon tea estate machinery | There are plenty of things from the old tea estates that have disappeared without much notice. This rather ungainly machine …
Before the World Became Instantly Connected Amateur Radio Ceylon | Before overseas telephone calls became commonplace, there was another way to reach the …
Queen Elizabeth II in Nuwara Eliya| There are photographs from old Ceylon that do more than record history. They seem to hold a moment still. One such pho…
Johnsons Note Book for Tea Planters| Long before estate managers carried smartphones, opened spreadsheets or received weather reports by email, much of the k…
There are certain names from old Colombo that immediately bring back a particular kind of memory. They recall glass showcases filled with cakes and pastries,…
Old Colombo Lighthouse| There are landmarks in Colombo that we notice without really seeing. We pass them in traffic, glimpse them between office building…
More Than an Old Biography Some journeys into old Ceylon begin not with a railway station, a colonial hotel or a forgotten road, but with the opening of a…
An Old Photograph with Many Unanswered Questions Old photographs are often most interesting for what nobody thought to write down. This one is believed…
A Road That Feels Like Old Ceylon Ballaketuwa Sri Lanka| There are still roads in Sri Lanka where it is quite easy to imagine travelling through Ceylon se…
A Forgotten Name on an Old Ceylon Map Oonankande Estate Ceylon| There are names on old maps of Ceylon that have almost disappeared from memory. Oonanka…
A Factory You Hear Before You Understand The first impression of Glenloch is not its age. It is its sound. Inside the factory, machinery turns, belt…
John Maitland in Old Colombo| Every now and then, a name surfaces from old Ceylon that sends you looking in several directions at once. John Maitland is o…
A Fort City Where the Past Still Feels Close Galle Fort Sri Lanka| There are few places in Sri Lanka where the past feels as close as it does in Galle. …
Travelling Old Ceylon: When a Road Map Was Enough| There was a time when setting out on a journey across Ceylon began with something wonderfully simple. Y…
A Town That Feels Like Travelling Back in Time Nuwara Eliya Old Ceylon| There is something about arriving in Nuwara Eliya that feels like travelling back …
A Landscape Where History Lives Quietly Maberiyatenna Estate| There are places in Sri Lanka where history survives in buildings, monuments and carefully p…
A Time When Flying Felt Extraordinary Air Ceylon in the 1960s| There was a time when hearing an aircraft overhead was enough to make people stop and look …
Andiramada Walawwa come home to a villa where Old Ceylon lingers.. Tucked away in the green countryside of Rambukkana, near Pinnawala of the elephant ba…
A World Hidden in the Tea Hills old Ceylon plantations| There is something about the old tea country that still feels different from anywhere else in Sri …
A Remarkable Story from Old Ceylon There are some stories from Old Ceylon that sound almost too good to be true. Frank Hadow’s story is one of them. …
A World Remembered Through Small Details Old Ceylon seems to live most clearly in the small details. A wide verandah shaded from the afternoon sun. Shu…
A Quiet Postcard from Old Colombo An old Ceylon postcard titled “Wellawatte Canal and Bridge – Colombo – Old Ceylon Vintage Postcard” captures a calm scen…
A Forgotten Class of Old Ceylon Mudaliyars in Ceylon| In the story of colonial Ceylon, power did not belong only to governors, planters, merchants and mil…
A Hill-Country Scene from Another Time Long before motorcars, buses and paved highways transformed travel across Sri Lanka, horses were an important part …
1931 Bandaranaike Seneviratne wedding| On 29 July 1931, a seemingly ordinary wedding became a remarkable gathering of the people who would go on to shape Sri…
Lipton tea warehouse| In the faded colours of an old postcard, a vast room in Ceylon appears frozen in time. Beneath heavy timber beams and rows of tall w…
Kandy in 1952: A City Moving at a Gentler Pace A bullock cart moves slowly across a broad street. Men in light-coloured clothing walk beneath the shade of…
A Forgotten Landmark of Old Colombo British India Hotel Colombo | Long before Colombo became a skyline of modern office towers, luxury apartments and comm…
The Morning That Changed Ceylon Tea First Colombo tea auction| On the morning of 30 July 1883, Colombo witnessed an event that would help shape the commer…
A Hill-Country Image from Another Time An old postcard of the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya shows a quiet scene from Ceylon’s hill-country past. The building …
A Life Remembered Through Sri Lanka’s Wild Places Sir Christopher Ondaatje’s name belongs to many worlds. He was a businessman, philanthropist, adventu…
A Historic Plantation Church in Old Ceylon Along St Leonard’s Road in the mist-covered hill country stands a modest stone church whose history is insepara…
The Filter in the Corner Ceylon Doulton water filter| In many old buildings of Ceylon, history did not always stand at the centre of the room. Sometime…
A Moment on an Estate Road Alma Estate Kandapola| A vintage photograph shows a smartly dressed estate superintendent standing beside a Land Rover on a qui…
The Disease That Changed Old Ceylon Forever Ceylon Coffee| Before Sri Lanka became famous for tea, the central highlands of Ceylon were covered with coffe…
A Hidden Club in the Tea Country Nestled among the rolling tea estates of Dickoya, where mist drifts across emerald hills and colonial-era bungalows still…
A Paper Message from the Age Before Instant Communication 1899 Ceylon Telegraph Form| More than a century ago, long before mobile phones, emails or instan…
A Roadside Moment from Old Ceylon A vintage motorcar stands beside a winding mountain road with its bonnet raised. Two travellers wait near the vehicle wh…
A Vanished Transport System of the Tea Country tea ropeways Sri Lanka| Long before estate lorries began climbing the narrow roads of Sri Lanka’s hill coun…
A Hidden Powerhouse in Sri Lanka’s Plantation Hills Hidden among the forested hills and flowing waterways of Sri Lanka’s Central Province is a remarkable …
The Road That Opened the Mountains Few places capture the drama of Old Ceylon’s mountain roads like the Kadugannawa Pass. Located on the historic road …
A Hill-Country Residence from Old Ceylon In the cool highlands of Nuwara Eliya, along Queen Elizabeth Drive, stands one of the most atmospheric colonial r…
A Hidden Palace Near the Temple of the Tooth Governor’s Pavilion Kandy | In the heart of Kandy, close to the sacred Temple of the Tooth, stands one of the…
A Misty Railway Stop Above the Clouds High in Sri Lanka’s central highlands, between Ambewela and Ohiya, lies one of the most atmospheric stops on the isl…
Rising above a deep, forested valley between Ella and Demodara, the Nine Arch Bridge is one of the most recognisable landmarks of Sri Lanka’s hill country. I…
Hidden among the mist-covered hills and tea estates of Sri Lanka’s Uva Province is one of the most ingenious surviving structures from the railway age of Old…
Exploring a Forgotten Corner of Old Ceylon When people think of colonial-era Colombo, places such as Fort, Cinnamon Gardens, Galle Face, and the old Parli…
A Forgotten Window Into Sri Lanka Before the Great Kingdoms When most travellers think of Sri Lanka’s ancient past, they usually imagine the great cities …
When Hollywood Found Ceylon In 1954, the film Elephant Walk brought the landscapes of old Ceylon to international cinema audiences. Starring Elizabeth Tay…
A Hidden Monastery in the Ancient Forest Deep within Sri Lanka’s dry-zone wilderness, far from the usual tourist crowds, lies one of the island’s most mys…
A Forgotten Mansion in Sri Lanka’s Deep South Hidden in the quiet landscapes of Kolonna in the Ratnapura District, Maduwanwela Walawwa is one of Sri Lanka…
Bridge on the River Kwai Sri Lanka| Many people know The Bridge on the River Kwai as one of the greatest war films ever made. But not everyone knows that thi…
Sri Lanka’s history does not end at its shores. Some of its most emotional chapters lie beyond the island, hidden in quiet places that many travellers pass w…
The Man Who Helped Bring Old Ceylon Back Into View When travellers visit Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa or Sigiriya today, they see grand ruins, restored monum…
A Forgotten Chapter in Sri Lanka’s Written Heritage Sri Lanka is a country with a written heritage that goes back thousands of years. Long before printed …
A Rare Film Moment in Ceylon The image shows Gregory Peck at Gadaladeniya Temple, during the shooting of the 1954 film The Purple Plain. The caption ident…
Kurunegala Sri Lanka| Kurunegala is one of Sri Lanka’s most familiar inland towns, yet it is rarely treated as a heritage destination. Many travellers pass t…
A Royal Journey Through Old Ceylon Queen Elizabeth II in Ceylon| In April 1954, Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Ceylon, the island now known as Sri Lanka, d…
Matara is often treated as a quick stop on the way to Mirissa, Dondra, Weligama or the deep south. But for travellers interested in colonial Sri Lanka, the c…
Matale Sri Lanka| is one of the most rewarding inland towns to explore between Kandy and Sri Lanka’s northern cultural routes. Many travellers pass through i…
Hammenhiel Fort is one of the most unusual colonial landmarks in northern Sri Lanka. Set on a small rocky island between Kayts and Karainagar, near the entra…
A Lost Railway Through Sri Lanka’s Tea Country Today, travellers heading to Nuwara Eliya usually arrive by road from Nanu Oya, winding through cool mounta…
Exploring the Story of One of Colombo’s Historic Colonial Buildings Bristol Building Colombo Fort| In the heart of Colombo Fort, where old streets still c…
A Quiet Heritage Corner Inside Galle Fort Historical Mansion Museum Galle Fort| Inside the historic streets of Galle Fort, one of Sri Lanka’s most atmosph…
A Striking Image from Colonial Ceylon This remarkable old photograph is titled “Local Council Members in Ceylon circa 1880 | Colombo, Western Province.” T…
A Photograph from the Early Days of Ceylon Tea Some old photographs do more than show a place. They open a doorway into a vanished world. This remarkab…
Exploring One of the Earliest Tea Estates in Sri Lanka Hapugastenne Estate Racecourse| For many visitors to Sri Lanka, a cup of Ceylon Tea is simply part …
Dutch churches in Sri Lanka|For travellers who enjoy stepping beyond beaches and wildlife to discover the layers of history that shaped a destination, Sri La…
Among Colombo’s modern skyline, busy streets, and bustling commercial districts stands a historic building that quietly preserves generations of stories. St …
Some journeys to Sri Lanka begin with a flight ticket. Others begin with a small piece of card, faded at the edges, carrying a view of Colombo Harbour, a mis…
English ancestors in Ceylon|For many English families, Sri Lanka is not only a tropical island of beaches, tea estates and ancient kingdoms. It is also Ceylo…
Nuwara Eliya paintings| has always looked like a place made for painting. Mist sits low over the hills. Water reflects the sky. Tall trees frame quiet roads.…
Hidden within the misty folds of Sri Lanka’s eastern hill country, Maha Uva Estate in Halgranoya is one of those scenic plantation landscapes that seems to h…
Tangalle sri lanka| is usually introduced as a beach destination. Travellers know it for long sandy bays, coconut palms, quiet resorts, turtle beaches, blue …
Gampola sri lanka| is one of those Sri Lankan towns many travellers pass through without fully noticing. It sits between Kandy and the deeper hill country, c…
High above the everyday rush of Sri Lanka, where mist moves slowly across tea-covered hills, Goatfell Bungalow in Kandapola offers one of the most atmospheri…
Mannar Fort Sri Lanka is one of the most atmospheric colonial ruins on the island’s northern coast. Standing on Mannar Island, close to the causeway that con…
