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his fort stood on rising ground at the kandyan
foothills forty kilometers inland from Matara, near the northern limits of the
company’s territory. During the Matara rebellion, Katuwana fort was captured by
the Kandyan forces in 1761 & partly destroyed.
Brohier writes in 1978 “ After a scramble through a
barrier of prickly undergrowth we came upon a crumbling rampart wall,
proceeding along its base we came to a gaping breach. It was the gate way of
old. On all sides there rose the picture of crumbling ruins, of desolation. The
space within the walls was occupied by a thick growth of jungle. Giant tress
arose from tops of the ramparts. Their mighty roots had penetrated the crevices
between the built up rocks & held the poised in iron grip but in fantastic
disorder. Trace of the foundation & flooring of the buildings with the fort
were all that remained & the well.
The remains of the fortress are still there behind
the government hospital, writes van Diessen in 1986. The remains of two bastion,
a well, and the location of the gate are recognizable, mortar in the wall has
disappeared for the greater part; brick work is dislocated by roots of trees.
Heydt visited Katuwana in 1734 and describes the
fort as having a rampart 5 meters high, with a walk way 4 meters wide; since it
had only two bastions, he compared it to a redoubt rather than a fort. “The
fort has only one gate way” facing which this view made over the gate one sees
the magazine which is highly building and the guardroom to the left which
occupied almost the whole of the angle. The other building cannot be seen
because of their lowness.
The whole fort is built to mount twelve cannon
only. It is not provided with too large a garrison, yet if this were of forty men only, it should be
able to resists a considerable number of blacks.
Heydt gives the longest diagonal length as 90
meters. Close to the gate way on the right is a dwelling of the commandant, who
is always a sergeant and beside this along the curtain wall is an important warehouse.
At the end of this is the powder magazine which one can enter from the
ammunition store next to it. This last two storey’s high.. Next is the loading
of the gunner & next to this the guardroom of the garrison.. At the end of
this guardroom is the surgeon’s loading and the whole construction of the fort
is so arranged, that the buildings occupy three sides of the curtain wall &
leave open in the centre a fine quadrangle. To the left of the entry in to the
fort is a well and on both sides stairs, leading up on to the ramparts.
About 100 meters from the fort following from north
to south, is shown the “ Urabokka Oya” (River) about 10 meters wide. Not far
from it there is a house, “built after the local manner” in which the “Dissawa”
of Matara stayed during his visits.
