What a betrayal of a benefactor, and the children of Barbados! This is top priority for the Task Force for the Preservation of Barbadosâ Built Heritage, which I chair, and the Preservation (Barbados) Foundation Trust - a charity - is seeking funds of 1.75 million Barbados dollars to restore it and bring it back into use as the Free Public Library for the people of Barbados. I can be contacted at henrysfraser@ gmail.com as Chairman of the Trust. Opposite the library is the Montefiore Fountain, donated to the city by John Montefiore in memory of his father, who died in the cholera epidemic of 1853⌠a suitable tribute, as dehydration is the cause of death from cholera. It was originally in Lower Broad Street. On James Street is a splendid row of 8 craftsmenâs workshops ⌠there used to be tailors, shoemakers and, Iâm told, a basket maker there ⌠the shoe maker on the corner made me sandals and repaired my shoes as a youngster.
Nidhe Synagogue and Museum On Synagogue Lane, around the corner, is the splendidly restored Jewish Synagogue â built about 1654, badly damaged by the hurricane of 1831 and rebuilt on the same footprint, sold in 1929 and restored by the new Jewish community 20 years ago. The Nidhe Israel Museum in the corner of the cemetery and the amazing Mikvah, the ritual bath filled by fresh, pure spring water, are a moving, almost living museum accompanying a visit to the Synagogue â open every day except Sundays. The last leg of my most popular tour takes us through Roebuck Street and Palmetto Square, past the old Olympic theatre and the old city bar, in sight of the magnificent Neo-Gothic Parliament buildings (1872 and 1874) and the Museum of Parliament and National Heroes Gallery, and turning left by the grey abomination of a market building that replaced the historic Trafalgar Hotel, demolished in 1978; and on through Mollâs Alley to Spry Street. Mollâs Alley is graced by three splendid sisters â three storey, balconied buildings with gable windows⌠two badly altered. We emerge under the monumental Central Bank, and next to the Top > The Carnegie Library Photo: Henry Walter Parkinson with the kind permission of the Parkinson family
Inset > The Old City Bar in Palmetto Square Right > Nidhe Israel Synagogue Museum Photos: Andrew Hulsmeier
116â Bridgetown