Rifle Barracks was a former military barracks

Barracks

Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...

 situated in Slave Island

Slave Island

Slave Island is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka located directly south of the Fort area of Colombo. The name Slave Island was given during the period of British occupation and administration, and refers to the situation under Portuguese and Dutch administration when slaves were held there, most of...

, Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

. Build during the late nineteenth century as the regimental headquarters and barracks] of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment

Ceylon Rifle Regiment

Ceylon Rifle Regiment was a regular native regiment formed by the British in Ceylon. Its history goes back to 1795 when five independent companies of Malays where transferred from Dutch to HEIC service...

. Following the disbandment of Ceylon Rifle Regiment it was occupied by British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 garrison troops

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 in Ceylon, following independence it was occupied by the newly formed Ceylon Army.

It was made up of a two-storey barrack block, with wide verandas. In the 1980s and 1990s it was abandoned due to its exposed nature and fell into a state of disrepair.

In 2006 it underwent have restoration and became home to the Defence Services School

Defence Services School, Colombo

The Defence Services School is a National School established in January 2007 for the children of military and police personal. Established in the refurbished old Rifle Barracks building built in 1860 as part of the regimental headquarters of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment regiment at Rifle Green, Slave...

. A national School

National school

In education in the Republic of Ireland, a national school is a type of primary school that is financed directly by the State, but administered jointly by the State, a patron body, and local representatives...

established in January 2007 for the children of military and police personal.