Rifle Barracks was a former military

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

situated in

Slave Island Slave Island, officially known as Kompagngna Veediya (; ), also known as Kampong Kertel and Kompanna Veediya and formerly known as Javanam Quarters (Javanese Quarter) during Dutch rule, is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located directly south of ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. It was built during the late nineteenth century as the regimental headquarters and barracks of the

Ceylon Rifle Regiment The Ceylon Rifle Regiment (CRR) was a regular native regiment formed by the United Kingdom, British in Ceylon. Its history goes back to 1795. The nucleus of the Regiment was two companies of Malays recruited from among prisoners at St Helena. In ...

. Following the disbandment of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, it was occupied by

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

garrison troops in Ceylon and following independence it was occupied by the newly formed

Ceylon Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; t ...

. It was made up of a two storey barrack block, with wide verandas. It was used as the Army Headquarters, until in the 1980s and 1990s it was abandoned due to its exposed nature and fell into a state of ruin. In 2006 it underwent heavy restoration and became home to the Defence Services School, a national school was established in January 2007 for the children of military and police personnel.

References & External links

www.defence.lkRifle Barracks, Colombo, C.1865
{{coord missing, Sri Lanka Barracks in Sri Lanka British colonial architecture in Sri Lanka Installations of the British Army Government buildings in Colombo Military of British Ceylon Residential buildings in Colombo Sri Lankan Army bases

See also

References & External links