Dondra Head

Dondra Head Lighthouse was designed by Sir James Nicholas Douglass, with construction, by William Douglass of the Imperial Lighthouse Service, commencing in November 1887. All the building materials including the bricks and steel were imported from England. The granite rock was supplied from quarries at Dalbeattie in Scotland and Penryn in Cornwall. The lighthouse was completed and commissioned in March 1890. The combined cost of erection of the lighthouse and the Barberyn Lighthouse was £30,000 and was paid for by dues collected at the Basses lighthouses. It is the tallest lighthouse in Sri Lanka.

Dondra Head was one of a limited number of lighthouses that were designed to house the large Hyperradiant Fresnel lenses that became available at the end of the 19th century. Four of these lenses were used in Sri Lankan lights, all made by Chance Brothers in England.

The rotating lens however was removed in 2020 and replaced by a static flashing LED light which has reduced the visibility range of the lighthouse considerably and the introduction of a Differential Global Positioning System which is computer linked to the other major lighthouses around the coast.. Dondra Head is also one of four international lighthouses in Sri Lanka.