Funday Times

A series by Gaveshaka in association with Studio Times
The clock tower – a landmark in Fort
Here is the best known landmark in Colombo Fort – the clock tower. It stands out to be seen from a distance from whichever road you come in to Fort. Located at the cross-roads of Chatham Street and Janadhipathi Mawatha (formerly known as Queen’s Street), the clock tower remains a symbol of the British colonial era.

For nearly a century, it served a dual function of warning ships and indicating time. It warned ships by being a lighthouse. You might wonder how a lighthouse could be erected in the middle of a busy town. Obviously Fort was not so crowded in the early days as it is today.

In fact, the clock tower had been built in three phases. The first was when it was erected as a tower during the time of British Governor Sir Henry Ward (1855-1860). It has been designed by Lady Ward, the governor’s wife and built in 1857. Ten years later, it was put to use as a lighthouse.

Incidentally, the concept of lighthouses as an aid to navigation originated in Ireland and spread to England. During the days of the British Empire, the Lighthouse Authority of Trinity House which had been established by the Board of Trade (similar to a Ministry) was responsible for the management of 138 lighthouses, lightships and beacons.Even the lighthouses in Sri Lanka (Ceylon at that time) were managed by this Authority until April 1976, four years after the country became a republic, when they were handed over to the Sri Lanka Navy. Presently it is the Sri Lanka Ports Authority that is responsible for their maintenance after taking over from the Navy in August 1985.

Getting back to the clock tower, the lighthouse is no longer in operation. A new lighthouse was built near the seashore in the 1950s. The old one then remained purely to tell the time. In fact, from 1861 it was used only as a lighthouse until 1914 when the clock was installed.

There is an interesting story behind the clock. It had been brought into the country in 1872 but was stored in a warehouse for 42 years to avoid the cost of putting it up. By the time the four sets of six-foot dials, enabling the time to be read from all four sides were raised, the cost was said to be 1,200 pounds sterling which was 100 pounds more than the amount spent to erect the tower!

Governor Ward, who succeeded Sir John Anderson (1850-1855) was known as an outdoor man. He traveled widely and got to know the country. Malaria was a killer disease at the time but he was not scared. He embarked on a programme of development and concentrated on developing irrigation works and a network of roads.

By the time he finished his five year term he had a continuous road 769 miles in length encircling the whole country with every important town connected with Colombo and Kandy, by roads either wholly or partially macadamized. This network of roads was considered far superior to what was in British India.

He also initiated the construction of a railway line from Colombo to Kandy, which he told the British Government, was “an absolute necessity” to save the coffee industry which was being threatened by Brazil and Java. He cut the first sod for the Colombo terminal on 3 August 1858.

Teacher/historian L. E. Blaze records Ward’s contribution: “With an energy and spirit that stirred every one to admiration, Sir Henry Ward studied the needs of the country and supplied its most urgent wants. The suspension bridge at Gampola and the iron lattice bridge at Katugastota; repairs to the Kirime and Urubokke dams in the Southern Province; the useful irrigation works at Batticaloa, by which rice crops were saved from destruction, and deserted regions were re-peopled; telegraph communication was opened between Galle and Colombo and soon extended through Kandy and Mannar to India; penny postage established within the island: the Kandyan marriage law amended and polyandry (one wife being shared by a number of husbands) declared illegal with the full consent of the Kandyans.”

The popular Galle Face walk by the sea-front was the work of Governor Ward. He built it in 1859 and dedicated it to “his successors in the interest of the ladies and children of Colombo.” He constructed two breakwaters to protect the walk from heavy onslaughts from the sea during the south west monsoon.

Ward was remembered for his good work by the erection of a statue in Kandy. In Colombo, Ward Place was named after him. He left Ceylon in June 1860 to accept a more responsible job as governor of Madras but two months later he died there of cholera, a deadly disease at the time.

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