Fort Hammenhiel ( ta, அம்மன்னீல் கோட்டை, translit=Am'maṉṉīl Kōṭṭai; si, හැමන්හිල් බලකොටුව, translit=Hæminanhil Balakotuwa) is a fort built around a small island between the islands of Kayts and Karaitivu of Jaffna Peninsula in Northern

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 ...

History

The Portuguese built the fort, to guard the entrance to the Jaffna peninsula, in the mid 17th century of quarried

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

naming it Fortaleza do Caes (Fort Royal). The Dutch, under the command of Captains Cornelies Reb, Piester Waset and N. van der Reede, captured the fort in March 1658 and subsequently renamed it Hammenhiel (Heel of the Ham), as they considered that shape of Ceylon resembled a smoked ham and the fort was located at the point where the shank bone projects. The Dutch rebuilt the fort in 1680, constructing a stone breakwater, filling in the hollow ramparts, replacing the upper floor with a stone vault and building a brick lined reservoir to the north of the fort. The prison has nine large dungeons to store

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

. The Dutch maintained a garrison of about thirty soldiers under the charge of a Lieutenant or Ensign. The British used the fort firstly as a maximum security prison and then as an infectious diseases hospital. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, on orders from

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

, Camp Hammenhiel was established in late 1944 to start a “Special Operations Group" under the command of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Humphry Tollemache. Mountbatten himself visited the camp in November 1944 with Tollemache.

Notable inmates

In 1971 Rohana Wijeweera, founder leader of the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...

, was detained in the fort after his arrest. It was later used to house other prisoners of the abortive 1971 JVP insurrection. Those detained included

Upatissa Gamanayake Don Upatissa Gamanayake ( si, උපතිස්ස ගමනායක; 17 October 1948 – 13 November 1989), also known by his alias Dias Mudalali, was a Sri Lankan politician and the deputy leader of the Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during ...

, Lionel Bopage, Podi Athula (Victor Ivan), Loku Athula (N. Jayasinghe), Prof.

Jayadeva Uyangoda Jayadeva Uyangoda is a political scientist and constitutional expert in Sri Lanka. Uyangoda Maha Radage Jamis as his name appeared in the birth certificate, Uyangoda was a leftist student leader and a member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JV ...

and

Mahinda Wijesekara Mahinda Wijesekera is a Sri Lankan politician, former Fisheries cabinet minister and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. In 2001, Wijesekara left the President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and joined Uni ...

(who was to later to become a minister).

Later use

Having plenty of space and the proper location to detain prisoners, it was used thereafter by the Sri Lanka Navy to detain sailors accused of wrongdoings. Now it has been transformed into a tourist hotel run by the Sri Lanka Navy.

References

Hammenhiel Hammenhiel Military installations in Northern Province, Sri Lanka Hammenhiel Sri Lanka Navy Archaeological protected monuments in Jaffna District Buildings and structures associated with the Dutch East India Company {{SriLanka-struct-stub

History

Notable inmates

Later use

See also

References