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Pettah Burial Ground

Colombo, Colombo District, Western, Sri Lanka – *No GPS coordinates

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Originally the "kerkhof" of the Dutch Church in the Colombo Fort, located just outside the fort in the Pettah. It was the site of burial of the Dutch who preceded the British and during the first few years of the British occupation, of members of the British community who died within that period. It had two gates, one leading into Main Street and the other into Keyzer Street. In 1902 "a few of the monuments [were] crumbling to pieces; some of the slabs of granite of the remains of British officers...partially sunk out of position and almost covered with weeds and grass. A few of the tombstones, principally of the Dutch, have apparently been removed, for there are gaps...and impressions where some of the smaller stones have been [removed]. ... To the west there is a fairly extensive portion, almost level, and probably at one time covered with graves. Not a single memorial is there to be found to indicate the resting place of the British soldier. Perhaps the wooden crosses and slabs set up at the heads of the graves by loving comrades have long since perished."

- See J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G.: List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon of Historical or Local Interest with an Obituary of Persons Uncommemorated, Colombo: H. C. Cottle, Government Printer, 1913, pp. 72-73 for a detailed description.
Originally the "kerkhof" of the Dutch Church in the Colombo Fort, located just outside the fort in the Pettah. It was the site of burial of the Dutch who preceded the British and during the first few years of the British occupation, of members of the British community who died within that period. It had two gates, one leading into Main Street and the other into Keyzer Street. In 1902 "a few of the monuments [were] crumbling to pieces; some of the slabs of granite of the remains of British officers...partially sunk out of position and almost covered with weeds and grass. A few of the tombstones, principally of the Dutch, have apparently been removed, for there are gaps...and impressions where some of the smaller stones have been [removed]. ... To the west there is a fairly extensive portion, almost level, and probably at one time covered with graves. Not a single memorial is there to be found to indicate the resting place of the British soldier. Perhaps the wooden crosses and slabs set up at the heads of the graves by loving comrades have long since perished."

- See J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G.: List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon of Historical or Local Interest with an Obituary of Persons Uncommemorated, Colombo: H. C. Cottle, Government Printer, 1913, pp. 72-73 for a detailed description.

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  • Added: 9 Jun 2020
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2707964