Kandy Garrison Cemetery
Central Province
About Kandy Garrison Cemetery
The Kandy Garrison Cemetery is the British hill capital resting in one steep, frangipani-shaded acre behind the Temple of the Tooth: 195 graves, opened in 1817 within two years of the kingdom's fall and telling - headstone by headstone - what the tropics did to the empire's young. Here lies John Spottiswood Robertson, killed by wild elephants (the cemetery's most-quoted stone); Lady Elizabeth Gregory and the seven-months' governor she outlived; planters felled at twenty-three by fevers, falls, and 'jungle apoplexy'; and David Findlay, whose stone notes he died when a house fell on him. The last full burial was in 1951. Restoration rescued the site from jungle in the 1990s, and its caretaker-guides - reciting the residents' biographies with proprietary affection - turn a browse into the best half-hour of storytelling in Kandy. Slip in after the Tooth Temple crowds; the dead keep quieter court.
Top Activities
- ✓The caretaker's storytelling tour
- ✓Colonial epitaph browsing
- ✓The elephant-death headstone
- ✓Combine with the Tooth Temple
- ✓Quiet hillside photography
Nearby Attractions
Travel Tips
Tip the caretaker properly - the stories are the visit.
It's two minutes from the Tooth Temple yet missed by nearly everyone.
The upper terrace has the best view back over the golden roof.
Quick Info
Best Time
Year-round
Weather
Mild; the hillside catches a pleasant breeze.
Estimated Daily Budget
7.2947°N, 80.6414°E
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