P1595

Lithograph by Jonathan Needham (fl.1850-1874) after Charles D.C. O'Brien, of Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka, dated 1st January 1864. This print forms plate 12 of 'A series of fifteen Views of Ceylon illustrative of Sir J.E. Tennent's work, from sketches made on the spot by Capt C. O'Brien, late Assistant Surveyor General, Ceylon', London 1864. The text accompanying this image reads, "Our view is taken from the road round the plain, that part of it leading to Badulla. We face the pass which leads into it from Rangbodde and Kandy. On the extreme left are the small but neat cottages occupied by visitors from Colombo, during the fine months from January to May. Next is a large and commodious house, built by Sir Edward Barnes on the first establishment of the Sanitorium...Over the bazaar, in the centre, is the Club House, and other accomodation for visitors and public officers...[further on is] 'Rosebank', the residence of our late lamented Governor, Sir Henry Ward; passing which the road winds up to 'Barrack Plains', and on the extreme right is the Parsonage." Nuwara Eliya, a hill-station, whose name means 'above the clouds', was later surrounded by tea plantations which became the most important crop on the island after the failure of coffee in the 1880s.