Anyone traveling to Kandy on the Colombo-Kandy road can see a tall white lighthouse-like tower on the right hand side of the road before entering Kadugannawa town, passing Lower Kadugannawa.
This is the highest point on the Colombo – Kandy road. The tower built to commemorate Captain Dawson, who built the Colombo – Kandy road, is the Dawson Tower.
Governor Edward Barnes built a new road to Kandy. It followed the old road along the Kelani Valley through Ruwanwella to the Ma Oya Valley, up from Gampola to Kandy.
After the Udarata Rebellion of 1818, the Governor wanted to firmly control the Udarata Kingdom (the old Sinhalese Kingdom). For that purpose arrangements were immediately made to move the army and government officials to Kandy very quickly and by a more direct route.
For this, Governor Barnes appointed Captain William Francis Dawson of the Royal Engineers to carry out this task. Captain Dawson surveyed the land, marked the road and planned the building of the road The work was started in 1820 and was carried out under his supervision. Working in a hot and humid climate and being exposed to constant changes in weather and exposed to turbulent terrains, etc., was being built amidst various obstacles. On March 29, 1829, the road to Kandy was not yet complete. But the road engineer Captain Dawson died after being bitten by a snake and was taken to Colombo.
Captain Dawson was a popular and respected man. His friends and well-wishers decided to build a tower to commemorate his immense service and they chose a place on top of Kadugannawa mountain and built it in 1832.When you pass through Kadugannawa, don’t forget to see the Captain Dawson Tower, where the Colombo – Kandy road was built… and don’t forget to protect this place for the future..
