Richmond Castle

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Richmond Castle is situated in Kalutara, Western Province. It was owned by a local landowner and philanthropist named Padikara Mudali Nanayakkara Rajawasala Appuhamilage Don Arthur de Silva Wijesinghe Siriwardena. He was born on 12th November 1889 & died on 8th July 1947. 

Don Arthur de Silva Wijesinghe Siriwardena

Siriwardena studied in Britain. After completing his studies, he was bestowed the position of Mudaliyar by the King. Then, he returned to Ceylon to take up the position. 

This mansion, Richmond Castle was built based on a similar plan of a castle in India. That was owned by one of Siriwardena's schoolmates called Raja Rajeswara Sethupathi. He was the Raja of Ramnad, India. After he saw this Indian castle, Sriwardena had requested a copy of the building plans from Sethupathi. But, the request was rejected by the Raja as he thought the Ceylonese were not capable enough of undertaking such a huge construction project. 

Siriwardena was inspired by this rejection. Then, he visited the castle of the Raja with two local architects. Those architects drew the plan of the castle secretly. After returning to Sri Lanka, he built the castle. 

Richmond Castle is a two-storey building. It has 16 rooms, 99 doors and 34 windows. All the essential supplies for the castle were brought from abroad.  Floor tiles were brought from Italy, teak that was used to construct the main staircase were supplied from Burma, window panes which were decorated with glass depicting grapevines were taken from Scotland, and iron stair and bathroom fittings were from England. 




Siriwardena moved into Richmond Castle after he got married to Clarice Matilda Maude Suriya Bandara in 1910. Siriwardena couple spent 32 years together in this huge castle.  However, as they were unable to have children Siriwardena bequeathed his properties to the Public Trustee. He requested that the castle should be converted to a children's home. After his death, the Richmond Castle has been taken care by the Public Trustee Department of Sri Lanka since 1956.





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