Warren Alleyne’s book Historic Bridgetown. The most famous of these “madames”, of course, was Rachel Polgreen Pringle, but Warren tells delightful stories about them all – so his book is essential reading.
St. Mary’s Church To the North is the elegant St. Mary’s Church, built in 1825 in the Olde Churchyard of the first Church of St. Michael … the wooden church built soon after the settlement of Bridgetown in 1628. The first stone church here was abandoned after the much larger “new” St. Michael’s church, now the Cathedral of St. Michael and all Angels, was built in the late 17th century but the graveyard was always in use. The most important tomb, I would suggest, is the splendid little tomb and gravestone of our National Hero, the Right Excellent Samuel Jackman Prescod, close to the chancel, on its South side. Samuel Jackman Prescod was perhaps my favourite National Hero, because he fought passionately for rights of the common man, and he used his mighty pen, editing and publishing the Liberal newspaper. He was one of the two first MPs for the new constituency of the City of Bridgetown, elected in 1843 and for the next 20 years continuously. St. Mary’s Church is a handsome Georgian church, designed when this style – symmetry, harmony, simplicity, with Roman arches for windows and doors – was at its height. The corner stone was laid by Bishop Coleridge, just a few months after his arrival to lead the country through the period of Emancipation and bring Christianity to the slaves. And perhaps he decided there must be a tower with castellations, unusual in a Georgian church, but he loved the neo-Gothic style! This was the second of over 25 beautiful chapels of ease that were constructed during his tenure. Also in the churchyard are the graves of Mr. E.D. Mottley, Mayor of Bridgetown, and Amaryllis Collymore, famous ancestor of Frank Collymore, our great literary hero, immortalised in the Frank Collymore Hall and the Barclay family, famous for their role in the founding of Liberia. If you like public markets, Cheapside is nearby. It is particularly colourful on Saturday but open every day.
Milk Market & James Street My tour then goes behind the Plantations building into Milkmarket, past the site of the old John Bull Bar, the first shop of the famous “rags-to-riches” Joseph Nathaniel Goddard, founder of the J.N. Goddard’s empire. From there we turn into James Street, and pause to view the old Wesley Hall of the Methodist Church, and their James Street Church opposite. The church is built on the land of National Heroine the Right Excellent Sarah Anne Gill – Methodist convert who bravely defied the mobs. Her grave is in a small plot behind the Top > The Chamberlain Bridge a hundred years ago Photo: Beachgate Images Page 112 Inset > The Chamberlain Bridge today Photos: Andrew Huslmeier Page 113 Inset > The entrance to St. Mary’s Church and graveyard Photo: Mike Toy Left > The interior of St. Mary’s before the stained glass was mysteriously removed Photo: Henry Walter Parkinson with the kind permission of the Parkinson family
Ins & Outs of Barbados 113