Bridgetown, at one time the largest city in the English speaking world outside of Britain, and now our nation's capital city, is a city full of history and a must see for any visitors to the island.
Streets, Bars and Churches
Despite the "noisome" swamp, the town did develop very quickly. So much so that on 4th of April 1660, an Act was passed to define the boundaries of Bridgetown. The hotchpotch of alleys and narrow streets soon became cluttered with debris, forcing the Legislature to pass an Act in 1656:
"For the making good and clearing ye streets and lands in and about ye Indian Bridge Towne."
Some of Bridgetown's first streets not only survive today but still bear their original names, notably High Street, Palmetto Street, Swan Street, James Street, Reed Street, Tudor Street and White's Alley. In a Statute of 1657, one of the town's main streets was declared reserved, "for a market place and other publique uses of the Island", and was given the name Cheapside. By 1703, that thoroughfare was renamed Broad Street. Today, Broad Street is still Bridgetown's main street and it still bears that same name even though it has since become a definite misnomer. The western extension of Broad Street, near St. Mary's Church, is still known as Cheapside.
Early Bridgetown also boasted a profusion of taverns and alehouses. With a population numbering some 2,000 at this time, it appears that there was one drinking house for every 20 citizens. To counterbalance the potential social dangers of excessive alcoholic consumption, the Bridgetown settlers erected the island's first church in 1630, to serve the Parish of St.Michael. That site is today occupied by St.Mary's Anglican Church, consecrated on July 25th 1827. By 1654 Bridgetown also had a Jewish Synagogue, three years earlier than London. St. Michael's Cathedral was consecrated in 1665.
The Careenage and Waterfront
The word 'Careenage' is derived from the word 'careen', which means to turn a ship on its side by attaching weights to the mast and pulling the ship over. Once on her side, men could clear the hull of the accumulated moss and barnacles.
In 1770, Barbados initiated a tonnage duty on all shipping to raise funds to build a wharf at the mouth of the Careenage. This original pier was washed away by the 1831 hurricane and replaced with one built by the Royal Engineers and opened in 1846. Formerly known as the Molehead, this wharf still exists today and is now called the Pierhead.
In addition to careening facilities, Bridgetown possessed an excellent dry dock and offered first-class workmanship in all areas of marine repairs, a tradition that dates back to the very early days of settlement. The Bridgetown Dry Dock was built between 1889-93 and its Screw Lifting Dock was a masterful piece of engineering. Measuring 240 feet long by 46 feet wide, it was capable of lifting 1,200 tons deadweight. Only ceasing to function in relatively recent times, the Bridgetown Screw Lifting Dock is apparently the last of its kind still in existence anywhere in the world today. There are plans to develop it as a national heritage site.
A statute of Admiral Horatio Nelson, the English naval hero, was erected in Bridgetown's Trafalgar Square, close to the Careenage, on 22nd March 1813, some 30 years earlier than the English created their own landmark monument to Nelson in London's Trafalgar Square. |
