The crumbling seaside ruin of a British colonial governor's residence at Arippu, built to oversee the Gulf of Mannar pearl fisheries.

Overview

The Doric, or Doric Bungalow, is a dramatic colonial ruin standing on an eroding bluff above the sea at Arippu, south of Mannar town. Named for its Greek Doric-style columns, the once-grand mansion is now a roofless shell battered by wind and waves, but its lonely setting on the empty coast makes it one of the most evocative heritage sites in the north. It sits near the historic pearl-fishery grounds that once made this stretch of coast famous.

History

The Doric was built between about 1801 and 1804 as the seaside residence of Frederick North, the first British Governor of Ceylon, who designed it himself to supervise and revive the celebrated pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar. Abandoned as the pearl trade declined, it fell into ruin and has been steadily undermined by coastal erosion, leaving the striking fragment that survives today.