The great irony is that Mr. Barrow founded the Democratic Labour Party. He didn’t choose his birthplace – the home of his maternal grandparents, the O’Neals, the residence of a small 14-acre sugar property in St. Lucy – but he often spoke of it. And he chose Culloden Farm himself – it was a classic house in the Barbadian vernacular, more than 200 years old and then in pristine condition, with acres of beautiful gardens – as the official PM’s residence. He occupied it for most of his tenure, from the early sixties until 1976. There he enjoyed his passion for cooking, and there I even enjoyed one of his rum punches, in the company of the Barrows and my French teacher and schoolboy hero, the Honourable Val McComie, as a young hospital intern back in 1969.
And yet government has been happy (or unconcerned) to see the tragic decay and dereliction of both of these properties that would so beautifully celebrate Mr. Barrow, his birth, his family and his achievements. After the 1976 election Culloden Farm served as offices, and a proposal from the National Trust to develop it along the lines of Devon House in Jamaica as a house museum was rejected. Just before 2008 the last government had proposed restoring it as a protocol house, a popular arrangement with many administrations, universities and major corporations, and the Barbados National Trust commissioned a study by a famous British architectural historian of the house and its provenance (reported in the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society). But the government soon changed and nothing happened.
But this inaction, associated with lack of maintenance, is neither new nor unusual. While the abandonment and lack of maintenance of Culloden Farm is particularly sad, dramatic and truly tragic, it repeats a pattern all over Bridgetown – from the Old Eye Hospital (restored 30 years ago with Canadian funds), the Empire Theatre, the Old Supreme Court, the Carnegie Public Library, the St. Mary’s Boys’ School, the Marshall Hall, Dalmeny in Pine Hill and the old Chief Justice’s House on Philip Drive, Pine Plantation House, Erdiston House and the old Tercentenary Ward – what I call the Derelict Dirty Dozen of Historic Bridgetown. And, of course, Glendairy Prison. The Old Eye Hospital is particularly distressing
to older Bajans, who visited their parents there before the Queen Elizabeth Hospital opened in 1964.
ABOVE REPRODUCED FROM ” THINGS THAT MATTER – CULLODEN FARM, THE GARDEN, AND OTHER NATIONAL TRAGEDIES” BY SIR HENRY FRASER DURING 2018.
Now just over 2 years since the above was written by SIR HENRY FRASER a proposal was passed without much opposition in Parliament for Culloden Farm, the official residence of first Prime Minister of Barbados Errol Barrow in Culloden Road, St Michael as Government moved to lease the property to the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Barbados charity moving to the first official residence of the Prime Minister of Barbados. for $1,200 monthly for a period of 25 years is now having numerous objectors at the time now that ” the horse got out of the stable “.
Sir Henry earlier blamed the current state of the house, squarely on the shoulders of both the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party.
Quoting Sir Henry Fraser “We were met by a promise by Mr Owen Arthur as Prime Minister that the house would be restored as a protocol house . . . and we had hoped that in this administration (DLP) which Mr Barrow founded, it would be given priority attention by the Government, but the Government appears to be leaving it to the philanthropists,” the heritage historian said.
Barbadians have fussed for many years to get the Statue of Lord Nelson removed from in Heroes Square in Bridgetown and now a few months short of being free from a Monarchial existence with the Queen of England as our head we are now causing the deceased Father of our Nation Errol Barrow ashes to be swirling around in the Caribbean Sea where it was sprinkled after his death because what is no doubt a disgraceful SHAME to his legacy.
CARIBPIX photographer DAVID CRICHLOW visited Culloden Farm today 16 January 2021 and is brining you a few images
CMPI objects to local charity leasing Culloden Farm
Article by Anesta Henry Published on
January 15, 2021 by Barbados Today..
The Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) has come out strongly against the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Barbados charity moving to the first official residence of the Prime Minister of Barbados.
General Secretary of CMPI David Denny who said he is supporting Member of Parliament Trevor Prescod’s opposition to his Government’s move to lease the property to the charity at $1,200 monthly for a period of 25 years, is calling on members of the Pan Africanist movement and social activists to also stand in solidarity with Prescod objecting to the move out of respect for Father of Independence Right Excellent Errol Barrow, also a National Hero.
Denny said: “We object to the Government of Barbados giving the Duke of Edinburgh [International Award Barbados] charity that space that housed our former Prime Minister. For us, this space must be considered a sacred ground. Our action is not against the Duke of Edinburgh International organization in Barbados because we know that that group has been doing some very good work.
“But we would like to recommend to the Government of Barbados, that if you want to give that group an official residence in Barbados, the best place for that group would be in one of the buildings next to the Garrison Savannah.”
On Tuesday, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, Dr William Duguid laid the resolution which was passed in the House of Assembly, regarding the lease of the residence to the local charity which will also spend an estimated $4 million to restore it.
The Georgian-era mansion, later home to multiple government departments, has fallen into disrepair for several years, prompting calls for Government to rescue the historic home which dates back at least to 1789.
But Prescod clearly indicated that he was against the Government’s decision to lease the building to a charity bearing the title of the United Kingdom’s Prince Phillip whose past he questioned. The outspoken MP suggested that British royalty is another symbol of colonialism, against which the island’s founding Father of Independence spent his life fighting, from right at his residence at Culloden Farm.
And Denny has assured Prescod that CMPI shares the same opinion on the matter.
He said: “The Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration will continue to protest, to struggle and to make the call for our former Prime Minister’s residence to remain sacred grounds and if we want to do something there we feel the Government of Barbados should set up a museum that will recognize our Independence struggle, a museum that will recognize the struggles of the 1937 period, a museum that will recognize the struggle of the Bussa Rebellion, and a museum that will recognize our struggle from 1966 until now to highlight the work and the contribution of Barbados developing as a nation.” (AH)
