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Feuding Chase brothers vault – Christ Church Parish church, Barbados
Below are photographs of the famous Chase Vault, located in the south-west corner of Christ Church Parish churchyard. Sixty meters from the Church Government school. Two Chase brothers, who hated each other and had many furious fights during their life-time, were buried with their coffins placed side by side in the vault; and they continued…
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John Frederick Bridgetower
John Frederick Bridgetower was born a slave in Barbados but was not content to end his life as one. There is no record of how he escaped from Barbados and made his way to Poland. There he worked in the family home of Austro-Hungarian Prince Esterhazy (Joseph Haydn’s patron) and learnt to speak English, French, German,…
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The loss of The Kent – a letter in a bottle story
The Kent was an East Indiaman sailing for the East India Company. She was 40.5 Meters long, and had a beam of 13.2 Meters. She made two successful trips from England to India with Henry Cobb as Captain. On the 19th February 1825 she left the Downs with 20 officers, 344 Soldiers, 43 women, and 66…
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Arthur Hutchinson’s abandoned Lime Kiln at Ragged Point, Barbados
To extract sugar from sugar cane Calcium Oxide (CaO) known as lime has to be added to the cane juice. This allows the impurities to precipitate and be removed from the juice. This is done in large settling tanks after the cane juice is heated. The residue, called mud, is filtered out and used to fertilise…
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The Wreck of the SV Nordenskjold
The SV Nordenskjold was a 3 masted, wooden barque built in 1880 for Brunchorst & Dekke, Bergen, Norway. She was 167.8 feet long and had a beam of 34.5 feet. During the next 30 years she changed ownership 5 times and in 1910 was owned by Joh F. Juell. On the 18th of October 1891…
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The Wreck of the SV Countess of Ripon
The SV Countess of Ripon was a steel hulled, fully rigged sailing vessel. She was built by Martin Samuelson & Co. in Hull, England and was one of four ships launched on the 29th October 1863. The first vessel launched was christened, by Miss A. A.Croome, the Countess of Ripon. She is a splendid ship, of above 200 tons…
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Oistins Fish Fry – Barbados. Annies BBQ where locals go for lunch, dinner and a drink
Richard Ligon wrote in his A True and Exact History of Barbadoes (first published in 1657) ….which they called Auftins Bay, not in commemoration of any Saint, but of a wild mad drunken fellow, whofe lewd and extravagant carriage made him infamous in the island; and his Plantation standing near this Bay, it was called…
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Keeping fish fresh before refrigeration
Before the introduction of refrigeration, keeping meat fresh was a problem. One option was to dry and and salt the meat and stored in a cool and dry place. For those who lived on the coast, salt water fish pools / fish ponds were often used. When a lot of fish was caught the excess…
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2nd Lt Walter Tull – first black infantry officer in British Army (1888 – 1918)
Walter Daniel John Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, on 28 April 1888 to Barbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer. In 1895, when Walter was seven, his mother died of cancer. A year later his father married Alice’s cousin, Clara Palmer. She gave birth to a daughter Miriam, on 11 September 1897.…
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Sid Graham. A forgotten Bajan WWII hero (1920 – 2017)
Sid Graham was born in Tidal Basin, Custom House in the London’s East End in 1920, the son of Sidney “Siddy” Graham a seaman from Barbados and his English wife Emma an East Ender. Sid made it to his 97th birthday on 28th January 2017 and sadly passed away on 30th April 2017. Until then…
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BajanThings
Bajan history. Interesting Bajan people. Hiking in Barbados and Overseas. International Travel…
Category: Bajan History
Bajan (Barbadian) history.