Wennappuwa is a town in

Puttalam District Puttalam is a district situated near to the west coast of Sri Lanka. It has an area of . Along with the Kurunegala District, it formulates the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The district capital is Puttalam, which borders the Kala Oya and ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It is north of

Negombo Negombo (, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province, from Colombo via Colombo - Katunayake Expressway. Negombo is one of the major commercial hubs in the country and ...

. The village of Wennappuwa is mentioned in the Culavamsa as a small farming hamlet.

History

A church made of

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

, consecrated to

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

, was put up in Gangoda in 1850. Very Rev. Fr. Contentious Chounavel (OMI) a French Missionary and the founder of the church arrived at Wennappuwa between 1861 and 1863 A.D. 300 families lived there at the time. His intention was to gather those families whose faith was strong and visible, under one roof. The roads were coming up and he realized that a new church should be built by the main road in order to accommodate the growth. The brother of

Utuwankande Sura Saradiel Deekirikevage Saradiel called Utuwankande Sura Saradiel, translation:''Saradiel the Hero of Mountain Utuwan'' ( si, උතුවන්කන්දේ සුර සරදියෙල්; 25 March 1832 – 7 May 1864) was a Ceylonese gang leader a ...

Mawanella Mawanella is a town which belongs to the Kegalle district in the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It lies between Kegalle and Kadugannawa along the Colombo-Kandy road. The area consists of four administrative areas, namely Mawanella, Aranayak ...

lived with his family at Haldanduwana and learnt sculpture under Rev. Fr. Chounavel, the Parish Priest of Haldanduwana and a master of sculpture. The historical statue of St. Joseph on the front facade of the St. Joseph's Church Wennappuwa was sculpted by him. The church (1880 AD), which is a symbol of unity and co-existence, stands by the

Chilaw Chilaw ( si, හලාවත, translit=Halāvata, ta, சிலாபம், translit=Cilāpam) is a large town in Puttalam District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is governed by an urban council. The town is located 80 kilometres away f ...

main road.

Education

Wennapuwa is home to the

Joseph Vaz College The Joseph Vaz College of Wennappuwa is a public school in Wennappuwa, Sri Lanka. It was established in 1934 and consecrated in honour of St. Joseph Vaz. It opened with 28 children with Bro. Lewis as its first director. It is a National School, m ...

and the Holy Family Girls' School. and a few schools.

Economy

Wennappuwa town has more than 500 businesses. The Wennappuwa Business association is the largest business association there. It represents almost all businesses. Recently they developed the nearby lake. Wennappuwa became known as Little Italy because of the number of people who migrated to Italy and earn

Euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

. All the state banks and many private banks operate there.

References

{{reflist * The historical facts on Wennappuwa and the church were extracted from the magazine 'Siyawas Jubilee Samaruwa' published at the centenary celebrations in 1981

Towns in Puttalam District