About Elpitiya Walauwa
Set amid calming greenery, Bed and breakfast Elpitiya Walauwa offers charming and comfortable accommodations with free WiFi access throughout the property. It features a common terrace and provides complimentary parking on site.
Simply furnished, rooms come with wooden flooring, a fan and clothes rack. The private bathroom includes a bathtub or shower, towels and free toiletries.
At Bed and breakfast Elpitiya Walauwa, luggage storage can be arranged. A common dining area is available for guests to sample a tasty selection of local dishes upon request.
The property is about 2.5 mi from Gampola Railway Station and Gampola Bus Stand. Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya is 4.3 mi away, while the renowned Temple of the Tooth Relic can be reached within a 11 mi drive.
We speak your language!
The history of the Panabokke Family:
the saga of a family which served a nation.
Hon. Tikiri Banda Panabokke (1846-1902)
Elpitiya Walauwa was built in 1875. Tikiri Banda Panabokke married Miss Dambawinna and had two daughters. After her early death he married Miss Halangoda who had three sons and four daughters.
He was the first Kandyan to be nominated to the Legislative Council of Ceylon to represent the Kandyans. Tikiri Banda Panabokke was also appointed Police Magistrate for Kandy and acted for the 'Diyawadana Nilame' the chief lay custodian of the Buddha’s tooth relic housed at the Sri Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. He represented the Kandyans in the delegation that went to London in 1876 for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of H.M. Queen Victoria. He was also an eminent scholar in the Oriental Languages of Pali and Sanskrit and edited the 'Neethiniganduwa', the treatise on Kandyan Law.
Adigar Sir Tikiri Banda Panabokke (1883-1963)
The eldest son of Tikiri Banda Panabokke inherited Elpitiya Walauwa after his father’s death in 1902. He married Miss Mantri Keppetipola, a granddaughter of Monaruwila Keppetipola, the leader of the first rebellion against the British rulers in 1817 / 1818. Sir Tikiri had five sons and five daughters.
He entered the legal profession as a Proctor in 1906 and practised at the Gampola Magistrate’s Courts where he was appointed a Crown Proctor and acted frequently for the Magistrate. In 1921 he was nominated to the Legislative Council to represent the Kandyans. In 1931 he was elected to the State Council as the Member for Gampola in the first election conducted under the British administration. He was appointed The First Minister of Health in the State Council of Ceylon from 1931-1935, and was also appointed to the Kandyan Law commision in 1935.
In 1933 he inaugurated an educational society registered as the Vidyartha Society Limited and was the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Vidyartha College which is now a renowned Buddhist boys’ school in Kandy was founded by this society.
Sir Tikiri was appointed First Adigar (an honorary title) in 1940. He was also the first ceylonese Chairman of the Tea Research Institute. In 1944 he was knighted by H.M King George The VI of England . In 1945 he was appointed High Commissioner for Ceylon in India. In 1954 in his capacity as First Adigar he was privileged to receive H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on her first visit to Ceylon at the historic Audience Hall in Kandy. He retired from public service in 1956 and devoted his time to agriculture until his death in 1963.
Family photograph of Hon. T.B. Panabokke
Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke (1909-1989)
The eldest son of HON. Sir Tikiri Banda Panabokke inherited Elpitiya Walauwa in 1963. He married Miss. Somawathie Nugapitiya, daughter of Kuda Banda Nugapitiya in 1939 and had two daughters.
Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke followed in the footsteps of his father and qualified as a Proctor and practised in Gampola. In 1947 he successfully contested the General Elections to the First Parliament of Ceylon after Independence as a representative of the Galaha Electorate. He was elected a Member of Parliament from 1947-1956 and held the post of Deputy Minister of Justice and Agriculture. Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke was a member of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission from 1947- 1951. He was appointed as Chairman of the People’s Bank in 1965 and laid the foundation stone for its present Head office in Colombo in 1969. From 1976-1977 he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sri Lanka Freedom from Hunger Campaign. In 1979 he was appointed High Commissioner to India and served in this capacity until 1982. From 1984 – 1986 he was Chairman of the Nation Builders’ Association. Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke was appointed Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya in 1986 and held office until his death in 1989.
Mrs.Padmini Panabokke Molagoda Elder Daughter of Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke is the current owner of Elpitiya Walauwa and maintains the link to four generations of the Panabokke family. She was married to the late Hugh Molagoda, son of Mr. and Mrs. M.B.K. Molagoda of Kurunegala and has four children; three daughters and a son.
Copyright ® 2019 Flexsoftserver. All Rights Reserved.
