The Ins & Outs of Barbados 2022

72 Sightseeing Did You Know? Speightstown Did you know that Speightstown - the second biggest town in Barbados - was named after a 17th century merchant called William Speight? He owned the land on which the town grew; his name was spelt S-p-e-i-g-h-t - Speight, rhyming with straight … But by the time of Swan’s map of 1640, published in Richard Ligon’s book of 1657, it’s shown as Spyke’s Bay, and it’s been pronounced Spikestown ever since! Or as Bajans prefer – Spikes Tung, rhyming with rung! And did you know it used to be known as Little Bristol? Because it was the first port ships reached coming from England, and there was a really busy trade with Bristol. And did you know Speightstown was the site of Barbados’ only invasion? Not by a foreign force, but by the English! You see, after the English civil war, when Cromwell defeated King Charles the first, cut off his head and declared himself Lord Protector, many of the King’s supporters fled to Barbados, so they wouldn’t lose their heads … and they weren’t kow-towing to Cromwell… So the civil war came here. Cromwell despatched a Parliamentary force, to bring these rebels to heel. His forces, led by Colonel Ayscue and a local planter who supported Cromwell, Colonel Alleyne, landed on the beach at Speightstown in December 1651, and a pitched battle was fought. Alleyne was killed, but the invaders won the day. Speightstown was a whaling centre for a long time. And it supplied the people of the North with almost everything they needed, with six jetties along the Bay to handle the ships. Only one is there now, a relatively new jetty which lay badly damaged for several years but has recently been restored. St. Lucy and St. Peter were almost a different country from the rest of Barbados. A trip to town on horseback or foot took hours. Modern motor transport caused a decline in business, as people could get to Bridgetown quickly. Speightstown almost went to sleep. Many ancient houses remain, and although many are threatened, there’s still much worth saving, as well as the splendid parish church of St. Peter. Several long abandoned 18th century buildings have recently been restored. These include Galene (Greek for Empress of the Sea), once the telephone exchange and residence of the post mistress when my mother was postmistress in the 1930s. It is now Local & Co, a wonderful restaurant. Of special importance is Arlington House, the best example of an old Single House, restored by the Barbados National Trust as a popular interactive Museum – it tells the best story of Speightstown. An excerpt from "Did You Know? - People, Places &Untold Stories of Historic Barbados" by Sir Henry Fraser.