To the lighthouse

Near Batticaloa on the eastern coastline of Sri Lanka is an old lighthouse on the Bar Road, about 15 minutes from the town.

The lighthouse was built in 1913 by the British for sea farers in the Bay of Bengal. It is located at the Batticaloa lagoon. Active until a cyclone in 1978, it provided light for local fishermen. The cyclone damaged the light, and the fisheries department used regular light bulbs to keep the lamp working.

Damaged in the 2004 tsunami, the lamp ceased to function until USAID Sri Lanka Transitions Initiatives repaired it under their tsunami relief funds. In 2011 USAID provided funds to the Government Agent for Batticaloa District to install a lightning arrester and re-wire the external electrification system. The lamp that was replaced in 2004 stopped functioning and USAID provided a new lighthouse lamp in February 2013.

The cylindrical structure stands 28 metres high with small windows.The apex has five windows, a lantern, and a gallery. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).