James Taylor’s Loolkandura. The First Tea Plantation in Sri Lanka

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Visiting Taylor’s Seat, Taylor’s Log Cabin, Well and the Very First Tea Patch.

        Loolkandura Estate in the Kandy district is the very first patch of tea was planted as a test after the failure of coffee plantation in Sri Lanka. With the wild success of this plantation, then 21 year old planter James Taylor who was in charge of this plantation has been forever immortalized and has become a part of post colonization history of Sri Lanka.

Taylor had signed on for three years as an assistant supervisor on a coffee plantation in Ceylon in 1852. The sixteen–year–old Scot, son of a modest wheelwright, would never see his native land again. Five years after he took up his post, his employers, Harrison and Leake, impressed by the quality of his work, put Taylor in charge of the Loolkandura Estate (then Loolecondera Estate) and instructed him to experiment with tea plants. The Peradeniya nursery supplied him with his first seeds around 1860. He cleared 19 acres of forest in Hewaheta Lower, and planted the first seedlings which became a such a success which finally caused his downfall as well.

The Ceylon Tea became so popular, large tea companies flocked in to the “Ceylon Tea” market and  started consolidating small estates. The small Loolkandura (Loolecondera) estate too was caught in this consolidation and Taylor was eventually dismissed by the estate management.
 

In 2nd May, 1892, aged 57 years, one year after being dismissed, Taylor passed away due to severe gastroenteritis and dysentery. His body was buried in the Mahaiyawa Cemetery in Kandy.
 

As a tribute to man who brought little known Ceylon to the world recognition with the  ‘Ceylon Tea” brand,  Loolkandura Estate has now restored several locations used by James Taylor including the very first tea patch open to the general public.

Here you can see the Taylor’s Seat, a rock seat used by James Taylor which gives a fantastic view of the surrounding mountain ranges, The chimney of the log cabin which was used by Taylor ( only remaining part of the cabin), The well used by Taylor and the very first patch of tea which was planted by Taylor now known as the No.7 field of the Loolkandura (Loolecondera) Estate.
 

One unique decision of James Taylor is the naming of the estate. When all other planters who setup estates named them with English names close to their hearts Taylor named his estate “Loolecondera”, by the local name of the area Loolkandura as he spelled it.

Traveling from Kandy, take the Galaha Road ( B364) and continue on the road for 34 kilometers passing Hindagala, Mahakanda, Galaha and Deltota to reach the entrance to the Loolkandura (Loolecondera) Estate. To reach these the above landmarks you need to travel a further 4 km inside the estate on winding roads.

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