Looking for Lorretts

Edward was so keen to go ashore in Galle that he didn't wait for the Madras to dock.Instead he hitched a ride on the canoe that brought the pilot out. His ride in was at night through vigorous surf and rain but Edward found something charmingly novel and wild in the whole adventure. Better him than me!

On land, just as today accommodation touts gather at bus and rail stations, Edward found a local guide. "Lorrett's" appeared to be my conductor's beau ideal of an hotel-so for Lorrett's we started. Edward describes the interior of Galle Fort as a perfect fairyland with magnificent trees, gorgeous flowers, old archways and gates and the whole lit by lamps in the trees. In many ways that is Galle Fort today. Because access to the Fort area is only via two low arches, large vehicles cannot enter and hence major redevelopment has been negligible. Today the Fort area is deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage Area little changed over the last few hundred years.

Some of the massive Galle Fort ramparts.

However, search as we might I was unable to find any reference to Lorrett's Hotel. We visited the Fort Heritage Office and two helpful young ladies (who were clearly receptionists rather than historians) did their best to find some reference to it in their limited documents but without success. I did find a reference to a Mr Eugine Lore's hotel in the British period, and I suspect this was it. Edward appears to have written up his diary from memory &/or notes, sometime after he travelled and as a result I've noticed the odd mistake and I suspect this to be one. Unfortunately though, I was unable to ascertain where Lore's Hotel was. His description of it fits many existing buildings and while it may well still be standing, I couldn't  find it.

Edward describes Lorrett's Hotel as a long low building, of which there are many in Galle Fort.

Edward was non-plussed on being shown his room and finding a bedstead furnished with mattress and pillows, but without bedclothes of any sort. Thinking this a mistake, I called my dusky attendants, who were puzzled to comprehend what I wanted. Eventually they brought a sheet to throw over me, but seemed much amused at my foreign eccentricities. Being a hot country, bedding still remains irrelevant today, leaving Trish equally non-plussed in several of our accommodations. Today most places do at least provide a bottom sheet, often of doubtful cleanliness, but it pays to have your own sarong to use as a top-sheet.

Galle Fort is perhaps the place least changed since Edward's time due to the limitations on redevelopment so it was easy to get a sense of what Edward must have experience. Galle outside the Fort, like everywhere else has spread and sprawled and now the entire area is just typical Sri Lankan congested sprawl.

Edward mentions visiting the Galle  lighthouse which stood here. In the background is the  current lighthouse which replaced the original when it burnt down.

We spent our time there wandering the narrow streets, walked the extensive ramparts and visited the Maritime Museum in the old Fort warehouse. Most of the buildings are now tourist accommodation, restaurants or shops, capitalising on the charm of the place.