Mapping Collections Histories: Barbados

Codrington College was built on the estates of Sir Christopher Codrington, a White sugar planter. Artefacts made by Indigenous peoples on Barbados were found there. Some were put on display in the College.

During the 19th century, White Barbadian Thomas Graham Briggs collected artefacts in Barbados. Many unrecorded Black Barbadians who discovered shell artefacts sold them on to him for a penny each. Briggs displayed the artefacts at Farley Hill, his mansion.

Bridgetown is the capital of Barbados, and its main port. Many British visitors to Barbados in the 19th century would have passed through Bridgetown. One early historian noted the name was inspired by the remains of a bridge built by Indigenous peoples who inhabited Barbados before English colonists arrived in the 1620s.

White British antiquarian Rev. Greville Chester spent a year in Barbados in 1868. He travelled across the island exploring, excavating and collecting. He wrote that he discovered ancient tools made of shell at Conset Point.

In 1868 the White Colonial Governor of Barbados made some unrecorded Black Barbadian prisoners dig into so-called “Indian caves” at Mount Ararat Estate to find artefacts. A White British collector named Rev. Greville Chester took artefacts from this excavation back to England.