In tracing our family tree in
Ceylon, my sister and I visited Yakwila Estate, near Pannala in the North Western Province, where
my English grandfather Charles Stanley Braine served as manager in the early
1900s. There, I was told about a fascinating bungalow at nearby Andigama
Estate.
The Yakwila managers did not
have the vocabulary (in Sinhalese) to describe the bungalow, nor did they have
any photos to show us, even on a website. So, we did not know what to expect.
At Andigama, up a winding drive,
we came upon a sight that blew us away. Here, in all its splendor, was an
English manor house, in a mix of Georgian and half-timber style, the latter seen
all over Europe. The year of completion, carved over the front entrance, was
1922.
Upon entering, we were amazed
to see a huge fireplace, in English style. Carved on it was a Latin sentence,
“Dominiva Aedificaverit Domvm Labor in Vanum Fvit”, which Google translated as "Unless
the Lord has built the house, those building it have worked in vain" From
Psalms 127:1.
The bungalow, large and two storied, was endowed with a narrow
tower, with a winding staircase, a shingled roof, and climbing ivy. A yellowed
newspaper page, source unknown, had been framed and hung near the entrance. The
print was not clear, but it stated that the bungalow was completed by D.F.C. Dyson, who had arrived in 1922, and stayed
on for 26 years. Apparently, the Ceylon Tea Plantations Company, which owned
Andigama Estate, ran out of patience with the cost of construction, and Mr.
Dyson had to complete the bungalow at his own expense.
English planters, nostalgic for home, built English style bungalows,
picturesque chapels, and clubhouses, in the cool upcountry areas, where tea is
grown. But, Andigama is stretching this nostalgia to the extreme, because it’s
a coconut estate not far from the coast. On the day my sister and I visited,
the outside temperature at Andigama was 36 centigrade.
Shingled roof
 |
| Winding staircase |
No comments:
Post a Comment