Due to its impregnable geographical position nestled among the jungle-covered hills of central Sri Lanka, the kingdom of Kandy had established itself before the Portuguese arrived (1505 AD), and held out during the Colonial Period against Portuguese, Dutch, and British alike, until the last king of Kandy abandoned his kingdom to a British expedition in 1815. St. Paul's Church was begun in 1843, completed in 1848, and enlarged in 1878 and 1928. It originally served as a garrison church for British troops stationed in the surrounding hills, and has retained its essential simplicity ever since.