Post Office, Nuwara Eliya, The "Little England" of Sri Lanka

The first recent written account on Nuwara Eliya is by Dr.John Davy. In 1819 he had visited Nuwara Eliya during a trekking expedition. The direction he has accessed Nuwara Eliya was from Uva. During that time Nuwara Eliya was uninhabited . The Nuwara Eliya valley was covered with thick forest on slopes and grass patnas in valleys. It only had been a passing visit by him and his party. There had been ruins of earlier irrigation systems and an inscription stone dated back to 900 and 1000 AD stating offerings to a Buddhist vihara had been found. This was later shifted to the premises of Kachcheri of the Nuwara Eliya town. The name Nuwara Eliya has the meaning “ City of Light”. Through out the island’s history, “ Nuwara ” is having a meaning of a Royal Township. Meaning of “Eliya” is not very clear but could have been Patana areas that is found among the highland’s thick forests, that gets full sun shine, thus getting ample “light” or “Eliya”. Few more such names crop up in the vicinity of Nuwara Eliya , that of Sita Eliya , Maha Eliya (Horton Plains) and Handa Eliya, the areas that can be attributed to plains. In 1826, an Elephant hunting party had visited this Nuwara Eliya plains . During those days Nuwara Eliya valley and the hill sides had been frequented by elephants since the undisturbed forest regions were covering much of the highland land area. This episode of the hunting party who had experienced the 36 F° climate and the geological features the area possessed was heard by the then Governor Edward Barnes. He later initiated the roadway to reach Nuwara Eliya passing Ramboda, making Nuwara Eliya accessible to entrepreneurs who gradually converted Nuwara Eliya to a model British village area.