Echelon Barracks was a former military barracks situated in

Colombo Fort Fort (Colombo) (; ) is the central business district of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is the financial district of Colombo and the location of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the World Trade Centre of Colombo from which the CSE operates. It is ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. It was occupied by the newly formed

Ceylon Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

following independence.

History

Built during the late nineteenth century as headquarters of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Garrison of Ceylon, the camp was made up of a two-storey barrack blocks, with wide verandahs, formed a square around a

parade ground A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

large enough for several football and hockey pitches. This parade ground gained the name Echelon Square and adjoined the then old Parliament (now the Presidential Secretariat). Until 1963 it was the regimental headquarters of the

Ceylon Artillery The Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) is the artillery arm of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of ten regular regiments and two volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda. The emblem of the SLA is modeled after tha ...

and housed the Ministry of Defence. In the early 1970s the barracks were demolished to make way for commercial development. Since 1997 the World Trade Centre, Colombo has stood in Echelon Square.

References

{{reflist

External links

1941-1945 Eastern Travels Part 4 by cjcallis, BBC
Barracks in Sri Lanka Installations of the British Army British colonial architecture in Sri Lanka Government buildings in Colombo Military of British Ceylon Residential buildings in Colombo Sri Lankan Army bases World War II sites in Sri Lanka