Richmond Hill is a hill in

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

, the capital of southern

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The hill is located in the village of Kumbalwella. Situated on the hill is Richmond College, a primary and secondary school for boys, which is the first Methodist school in Asia.

History

The original land parcel was purchased in 1839 by Dr. Robert Seymour Croxton Sillery, M.D., who established a farm and a coconut estate on the property. At the time the land was known as Mount Seymour or Sillery's Hill. In 1857 Rev.

Joseph Rippon Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, the head of the Methodist missionaries in Galle persuaded the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Trust Association in England to purchase the land, for Rs. 937/50, with a view to establishing an industrial school, a school for boys and girls and a theological institution on the site. Rippon had his theological training at Richmond College in Surrey and either out of love for his former college or because of the scenic splendour of the local counterpart, renamed the location Richmond Hill. Rippon's successor, Rev. George Baugh, renamed the Richmond Hill Girls' Boarding school as Whitefield Road Girls' School, in 1871 (which was renamed the Girls' high School in 1876) and upgraded the Galle School to a collegiate school in 1876, and named it the Galle High School, in 1876 (which was renamed Richmond College in 1882 on a suggestion made by Rev Samuel Hill who was the Principal). Since the original purchase a number of other surrounding lots have been acquired and in 1906 the total estate was approximately in size. In 2013 the Methodist Church at Richmond Hill was declared was formally recognised by the Government as an Archaeological Protected Monument.

Richmond Hill Railway Station

The Richmond Hill

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

is the first railway station in Sri Lanka built and named after a school. The Richmond Hill Station is located on the Coastal line between the Piyadigama railway station and

Galle Railway Station Galle railway station is a railway station in the southern city of Galle in Sri Lanka. Owned by Sri Lanka Railways, the state-run railway operator, the station is part of the Coast Line, which links Sri Lanka's south coast with the Colombo. ...

. It was constructed during the early 1900s for the benefit of children who attend the many schools around the area. The station is located at the base of the hill approximately from the Richmond Hill Road.

References

Galle Hills of Sri Lanka Landforms of Galle District {{SouthernLK-geo-stub