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London Unattached - London Lifestyle Blog

Luxury London Lifestyle Blog for the over 40s with food, travel, diet and restaurant reviews - London Unattached

Antigua – British Heritage in the Caribbean

May 26, 2014 by Fiona Maclean 16 Comments

Hurricanes and Heritage – British Colonialism in Antigua:

One of the best ways to escape the monotony of a long haul flight is to find a good film to watch. Flicking restlessly through the available movies on the Virgin Atlantic flight to Antigua I found ’Twelve Years a Slave’. On my bucket list since release, it should have been the perfect choice. But, I hesitated and in the end passed it by. Knowing I was heading to somewhere where society was at one time dominated by slavery, it seemed a disturbing option, even though the film is not, of course, set in Antigua but in the deep south of the USA. There are parts of our own cultural heritage that make me squirm. That includes the pink map – the version of the World Map that my Grandma still had in her Atlas which showed the British Empire in its full glory. And, legal slavery.

Boathouse and Sail loft - Nelsons Dockyard Antigua

Nevertheless I wanted to learn more about colonial Antigua. My Disneyland perception was probably not helped by my friends who had spent the preceding weeks teasing me mercilessly about the Pirates of the Caribbean. Stopping at Nelson’s Dockyard I might not have blinked if Johnny Depp had walked past in full Pirate regalia. Though I might just have swooned like any wig and corset wearing lady;) . But, Antigua wasn’t the setting for the Pirates of the Caribbean, though it could so easily have been, as Nelson’s Dockyard is the only remaining Georgian dockyard in the world with many of the original buildings still standing.

Boathouse and joiners loft

When Columbus first visited Antigua in 1493, the island was populated by Ciboney, Arawak and Carib Indians, great seafarers in their own right who had made their way to the island in search of new territories. But, like much of the Caribbean, Columbus renamed it, picking a religious name for the Island – “Antigua” in 1493 in honour of the “Virgin of the Old Cathedral”, an Icon from the Cathedral in Seville. It was over a hundred years later in 1632 that British colonists settled on the island. The island quickly became Britain’s ‘Gateway to the Caribbean’ – located on the major sailing routes, with the English Harbour providing a haven from Caribbean storms.

Copper and Lumber Hotel

Nelson’s Dockyard (originally ‘His Majesty’s Antigua Naval Yard’) was started in 1725 to provide a base of a squadron of British ships to patrol the Caribbean and protect the colonies from Pirates as well as from the warships of other Empire nations of the time.

Nelsons Dockyard boathouse and Sail loft

Hurricanes and earthquakes are relatively rare in this part of the Caribbean, but nevertheless, seventeen cement topped pillars are all that remain of the 1797 sail loft, where the sailing boats would have docked for repairs and maintenance. The curious cement domes were added after an earthquake in 1871 destroyed much of the building. Originally the pillars would have been topped by a workshop into which the sails of the boats could be hauled up for repair once they’d docked underneath.

Naval Officers House Nelsons Dockyard

Other buildings have survived rather better, the Naval Officers’ house is now the site of the dockyard museum and there are restaurants and bars and even a hotel housed in the Copper and Lumber Store called by the same name.

Nelsons Dockyard Copper and Lumber Hotel inside

While the perfect marine setting of Antigua led to its importance as a Naval base, inland was home to sugar plantations. There was, of course a link, in that the rum made from sugar cane formed part of the sailor’s wages – a pint a day, along with a substantial quantity of ale.

Sugar plantations in the Caribbean date back to before the Codrington family were given the estate in 1674, but it was Codrington who developed the first large-scale plantation on Antigua. After a short period of French occupation in 1666 the British reclaimed the island and the lands that form Betty’s Hope were granted to Sir Christopher Codrington who was residing in Barbados at the time.

The Codrington Family History Antigua

The family introduced African slaves and new technology innovations which made Betty’s Hope the ‘flagship’ estate of Antigua. Eventually they owned a total of 150 sugar mills in Antigua and even after the emancipation of the slaves in 1834, continued to operate the plantations and mills. Only in 1944, long after the family had left Antigua was the plantation was sold by the Codringtons to the Antigua Sugar Estates Ltd. Betty’s Hope is partially restored so that visitors can see the twin windmills, the cistern complex, the Great House, the boiling house, for the production of crystalline sugar from cane juice and the still house for the manufacture of rum.

Windmill at Betty's Hope

It was backbreaking work – the estate used the labour of some 400 workers and it has been suggested that slavery and poor diet contributed to the demise of the indigenous population and resulted in the importation of slaves from Africa, better able to tolerate the extreme working conditions. The walls of the museum are lined with slave lists. Women were assigned to distilling rum – and there was little compassion for ill health. The lists record one woman who has cancer of the breast but is still working in the first gang. Young and old were used for weeding and picking feed. And, the inventory concludes by listing the animals of the estate.

Slave Lists - Betty's Hope

Perhaps it was not surprising that, leaving the plantation on a lightening tour of the Island, our next stop would be Devil’s Bridge – a rocky outcrop on the coast. Here escaping slaves might leap into the sea, hoping to swim to India. But the current is treacherous and the needle-sharp rocks make return impossible. To leap was certainly to death.

Devils Bridge Antigua

Asking if there were any sugar plantations left I was told that sugar cane is only grown for personal consumption now. Instead the Island relies on tourism, including of course the heritage site of Betty’s Hope. Perhaps a fitting full circle to the colonialism and slave labour which has shaped Antigua’s history.

I watched ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ on the flight home with a fresh perspective.

Many thanks to Elite Island Resorts for hosting this trip
To Francine and Charmaine from the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority
I travelled with Virgin Atlantic and stayed in the Royal Suites at the St James’s Club Antigua

Cannon - Nelsons dockyard

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Filed Under: Caribbean, Travel Tagged With: Antigua, Heritage, Rum

About Fiona Maclean

London based freelance writer and marketing consultant. I edit London-Unattached.com and write for a number of other publications

Comments

  1. Jen says

    May 26, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    Not the type of post I would normally read but an enjoyable read. Did you do the photography yourself? Love the selected images xx
    Jen x

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 26, 2014 at 7:51 pm

      Yes I did – but the weather made things very easy!

      Reply
  2. Helen G says

    May 26, 2014 at 7:46 pm

    What a fantastic post, really engaging I really enjoyed reading it. I have recently watched 12 years a slave and thought it was fantastic but incredibly moving and thought provoking.

    Helen X

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 26, 2014 at 7:51 pm

      I’m glad I left it until the flight home. I found it quite reflective, given what I’d seen in this most joyful of Islands…

      Reply
  3. Franglais kitchen, Nazima says

    May 26, 2014 at 9:50 pm

    What a a great read about the colonial heritage. You must have had a lovely trip. The pictures are great.

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 26, 2014 at 9:54 pm

      I did have a lovely trip. The place lends itself to photography though because the sun shines the whole time. And – the only georgian boat yard in the world? That’s special!

      Reply
  4. Pamela Morse says

    May 26, 2014 at 11:17 pm

    Sort of reminds me of Bermuda, another glimpse into the British glory days that survived beautifully. It was my first foreign country to visit, when I was about 8. The slavery thing is creepy, and my ancestors fully traded slaves, so I know what you mean.

    Reply
  5. Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says

    May 27, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    Really enjoyed this post. It is nice to read a travel round-up and get to know a bit of history too.

    Reply
  6. Jacqueline Meldrum says

    May 27, 2014 at 1:58 pm

    I love all the architecture. I always find it fascinating when I go anywhere.

    Reply
  7. Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says

    May 27, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    Coming from Sierra Leone this spot is full of such important history – the slaves lists mus have been a powerful experience. And so pretty too. Another place on my I really want to visit list.

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 27, 2014 at 4:34 pm

      It was chilling Bintu – it seemed like another world.

      Reply
  8. Jess @UsedYorkCity says

    May 27, 2014 at 7:50 pm

    What fascinating history, and I can surely understand you saving the film for the trip home. To understand a place’s past helps us to appreciate and enjoy its present even more so.

    Reply
  9. Choclette says

    May 29, 2014 at 11:08 am

    As a nation, we have much to be ashamed of. I found Twelve Years a Slave really disturbing and it really hardly bears thinking about all the evils that were penetrated in our quest for expansion, wealth and influence.

    Antigua sounds rather fascinating and the architecture you’ve shown is lovely.

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 29, 2014 at 12:29 pm

      I hope that it helps people to realise there’s more to the Caribbean than lovely beaches (though that part is pretty special of course)

      Reply
  10. Shana Manuel says

    May 29, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    Great post! I love the way you tied in the cultural and historical aspects of Antingua. You didn’t solely focus on the beach, nightlife etc.

    Reply
  11. Stevie Wilson says

    May 30, 2014 at 1:07 am

    what an amazing trip you had. I am so jealous but glad I got to see photos of your trip. it’s amazing. Wow– such history.

    Reply

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