Fort Fredrick Fort Fredrick ( " Fort of Triquillimale " ) is a fort built by Portuguese colonials at Trincomalee , Eastern Province , Sri Lanka , completed in 1624 CE , built on Swami Rock - Konamamalai from the debris of the world famous ancient Hindu Koneswaram temple ( " Temple of a Thousand Pillars " ) . The temple was destroyed by the Portuguese colonial Constantino de Sá de Noronha under Phillip III , occupier of the Jaffna kingdom and Malabar country on the island . On the Konamalai cape was also built a new village of Portuguese and Tamil people , 50 Portuguese soldiers and inside the fort , a church named after " Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe " . The " Fort of Triquillimale " was dismantled and rebuilt by the Dutch in 1665 , renamed Fort Fredrick . Background . Several Hindu shrines in the Tamil country were destroyed during the occupation , particularly under Philip II , when Trincomalee became the scene of naval battles during Europe ' s Thirty Years ' War . King Ethirimana Cinkam of the Jaffna kingdom had resisted a call by D . Jerónimo de Azevedo in 1612 to aid the latter in building a fortress in Trincomalee . The enterprise was abandoned . With the defeat of King Cankili II , all of the territory of the kingdom of Jaffna , comprising Trincomalee and Batticaloa , was assigned to the " spiritual cures of the Franciscans . " This decision was taken by the bishop of Cochin , fray Dom Sebastião de S . Pedro . By the end of 1619 , a small Danish fleet had arrived at Trincomalee ; in May 1620 , the Danes occupied Koneswaram temple and began works for the fortification of the peninsula before being defeated . 1622 destruction of Koneswaram temple . The shrine was attacked and destroyed on April 14 , 1622 CE , the Tamil New Years Day , by the Portuguese general Constantino de Sá de Noronha ( who called it the " Temple of a Thousand Pillars " ) . The main statue was taken out to town during the Ther chariot procession in the festive period , during which time Portuguese soldiers entered the temple dressed as Iyer priests and began robbing it . In an act of religious zeal , the temple was then levered over the edge into the sea . Fleeing priests buried some of the temple ' s statues in the surrounding area . Temple stones and its carved pillars were used to construct Fort Fredrick to strengthen the colonists ' influence over the eastern seaboard of the island against other invading European armies , including the Dutch navy during the Dutch – Portuguese War s . An extensive campaign of destruction of five hundred Hindu shrines , the " Saraswathi Mahal Library " and forced conversion in the Tamil country was conducted by the Portuguese upon their arrival to the island and conquest of the Jaffna kingdom ; the temple had been paying protection fees of 1280 " fanams " a year to the Portuguese . Trincomalee witnessed several naval battles of Europe ' s Thirty Years ' War under Phillip II ' s man Phillippe de Oliveira . Between 1639 – 1689 CE , the Ati Konanayakar temple was built in nearby Thampalakamam to house the idols on procession that survived . The destruction of the Konesar temple is historically viewed as the biggest loot of one of the richest temples of Asia . Gold , pearls , precious stones and silks collected for more than 1000 years were robbed within a few hours . A site plan by De Queiroz states : " On the first rise to the summit of the rock was a Pagoda , another at mid - ascent , and the principal one of them all at the highest eminence , visited by a concourse of Hindus from the whole of India . " In his dispatch to Philip III , King of Portugal , Constantino described : " The land of the Pagoda is 600 fathoms long and 80 feet at its broadest , narrowing to 30 feet . " The final monument of the temple complex was destroyed two years later . Regarding a prophetic Tamil inscription de Noronha found at the site , he added " When I went there to make this Fort , I found engraved on the Pagoda , among many other inscriptions , one that ran thus : Kulakottan has built this pagoda . . . " 1624 - 1639 . The fort that was built by the Portuguese was initially a triangular fort named the " Fort of Triquillimale " by the Portuguese equipped with guns captured from a Danish fleet ship . Of triangular shape it was " . . . of stone and mortar . . . " with three bastions to the three angles , the more important bastion , was called ‘ Santa Cruz ’ , it was the key for the defence of the bay and it was situated on the south side of the isthmus to directed contact with the waters of the bay , on this bastion were mounted six pieces of artillery . To the north extremity of the isthmus was situated the bastion of ‘ Santo António ’ , it was equipped of five pieces of artillery . The two main bastions were connect by a wall 100 " paços " long , three and half " braças " high and six " palmos " thick , this wall closed the isthmus in its more narrow part . A third bastion , the smallest of the three , was situated on the north side up on the peninsula , on this bastion were mounted three pieces of artillery . All the artillery had been recovered by a relict of a Danish ship . Another wall of the same dimension of the previous one , connected on the south side this third bastion with the main bastion of ‘ Santa Cruz ’ . While on the north side the third bastion was connected with that of Sancto Antonio only by a parapet of " pedra and cal " situated on the top of the rock cliff to the sea , the Portuguese had modified the escarpment below this wall so as to render it steeper . On the higher extremity of the peninsula a small settlement of Portuguese ‘ casados ’ and indigenous was situated , in total ‘ vinte brancos e vinte e cinco pretos ’ . The casados together with 50 Portuguese soldiers guaranteed the garrisoning of the fortress . The soldiers resided inside of the fortress together with their captain , while the captain of the fort that was named by the King or by the Viceroy , resided in a house in the settlement of the casados . 18 In accordance with a map in the " Livro das plantas das fortalezas cidades e povoaçois do Estado da India Oriental " another isolated bastion was present on the south side of the rocky promontory . In front of the two main bastions a ditch seems to have been present . A small native village was situated between the Portuguese fort and the bay . In the Bocarro ’ s map are showed also three temples on the extreme point of the peninsula , these temples instead are not present in the map of the " Livro das plantas das fortalezas cidades and povoaçois do Estado da India Oriental " of the library of the Paço Ducal de Vila Viçosa . The entrance of the fort seems to have been situated along the southern wall on the side of the village of ‘ casados ’ . A map of the Portuguese age , compiled by the same Costantino de Sá governor of Ceylon , shows the fort of Trincomalee situated on the isthmus of the peninsula , clearly indicated in it is the village of the casados situated on the peninsula beyond the fort , the same fort has triangular shape with three bastions . It makes part of the same collection , a greater map of the fort , entitled " Planta da fortalesa de Trinquilimale " with indicates the names of the three bastions : S . Cruz ( the larger bastion ) , S . António and the small S . Tiago , with the indication " este baluarte se acomodou ao sitio " . On the inner inside of the fort it is the name of N . S . de Guadalupe , indicating the name of the church of Trincomalee . Costantino de Sá informs us that on the three bastions were mounts 16 pieces of artillery , the garrison comprised 40 soldiers and 30 casados . The place was judged by de Sá impregnable for being placed on high cliffs and , according with his opinion , also the Portuguese city with a few works of fortification could be rendered one of the more strong places of the entire east . 19 This is the description that captain João Ribeiro makes to us of the fort of Trincomalee : the fort was a triangular fortress with three bastions , one on each angle , armed with 10 iron guns , it was constructed on a hill near the ‘ Bay dos Arcos ’ , inside the fort was a church20 and a warehouse for the goods and ammunitions . A captain and 50 soldiers were of garrison , in the fortress then resided a constable , Casados and a chaplain . The dimensions of smaller sides of the fortress were of 75 meters , the greater side measured 150 meters . 1639 - present . This fort was captured by a Dutch fleet under Admiral Westerwold in 1639 and in 1665 a new fort was built here by the Dutch to defend against the advancements of the British and the French . The fort was renamed Fort Fredrick . In 1672 , the year when the Dutch Republic was attacked by France , Britain , and two German states , the French captured Trincomalee and later they occupied Batticaloa . However soon the French were forced to leave . Trincomalee was important for its large all - season secure harbor . In late 18th century Trincomalee traded hands once more with the French capturing it again and later handing back to the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) at the Peace of Paris in 1784 . In 1795 it was taken over by the British , and remained a British garrison till 1948 . Duri Coastal artillery guns were added during the two World Wars . Today it remains garrisoned by a detachment of the Gajaba Regiment , Sri Lanka Army , but accessible to visitors . Arthur Wellesley , later 1st Duke of Wellington visited whilst a Colonel in the British East India Company , the bungalow he resided in is known as " Wellesley Lodge " which is inside Fort Fredrick and now is the officer ' s mess of the 2nd ( Volunteer ) battalion of the Gajaba Regiment of the Sri Lankan Army .