chattel-house-st-kitts.jpeg
discover us for yourself

Our People

Thomas Manchester

 

Thomas Manchester Thomas Manchester was born on the 16th August 1880. He was the sixth child and second son of James Thomas Allan Manchester and his wife Ann Catherine Atherton. A pillar of the St. Ann’s Anglican Church in Sandy Point, James was the owner of Lynch’s and New Guinea estates, the attorney for the Blake’s plantation and a member of the St. Kitts Executive Council. Together he and his wife had produced seven children, three...

Read more
Edgar Bridgewater

Edgar Bridgewater

 

Edgar Samuel Bridgewater Edgar Samuel Bridgewater was born at Westbury, Nevis on 3rd October 1900. He was one of eight children born to George Bridgewater and his wife Amanda. As the father was a policeman, the family moved around a great deal. Edgar first emigrated with the family to Antigua, where he attended the Buxton Grove Primary School. At twelve years of age, young Edgar was taught by his father to play the organ. He came...

Read more

Sir Joseph Nathaniel France

 

Joseph Nathaniel France Joseph Nathaniel France was born on the 16th September 1907 to Thomas and Mary France at Mt. Lily, Nevis. Thomas who was a road driver and a small plot-holder sent his son regularly to Combermere School. At age thirteen, young France went to St. Kitts to spend his school holidays with relatives in New Town. But before the vacation was over he was offered a job as office boy with the St. Kitts-Nevis Universal...

Read more

Our Places

Youth and Community Centre

 

The Youth and Community Centre on Victoria Road stands on a foundation that survives from the first Government House of St. Kitts. For a long time St. Kitts did not have a Government house as many of the Governors and Lieutenant Governors were natives who had their own private residences on the island. John Nugent was an exception. He owned property in Montserrat and resided in the Leewards for several years. Soon after his arrival, both...

Read more

St. George’s Anglican Church

 

ST. GEORGE’S ANGLICAN CHURCH is the largest church in Basseterre. It stands at the head of Church Street and resembles an English parish church in style. The outer walls are of heavy andesite rock and the roof is covered in slate. Like many of the buildings in Basseterre this church has had its ups and downs, often rising from ashes like the mythical Phoenix. In 1635, at the request of the directors of the Company of...

Read more

Bank Street

 

Bank Street The Road heading east from the Circus is Bank Street. A bank has been at its southern corner where it meets Fort Street for almost 200 years. The first one was probably Colonial Bank which was set up by Royal Charter in 1836 to trade in the West Indies. The former enslavers had been given £20 million as compensation for the loss of their unpaid labour. This meant that there was a significant increase in...

Read more

Our Events

Emancipation - 1 August 1834

 

British Enslavement existed mostly in the colonies but the Abolition movement was strongest in Britain. It was there that the laws that limited the trade and introduced the registry of slaves were first passed. The trade in slaves with Africa had been abolished in 1807 and the trade with other slave trading nations ended in 1812 but this had not produced the changes that the Abolitionist had hoped would follow. They continued to press for...

Read more

An Account of the Damage to St. George's Church from the Earthquake of 1974

 

An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale occurred at about 5:55 a.m. on October 8th 1974, and did considerable damage to the St George’s Parish Church. The epicentre of this quake was some 40 miles east of Antigua, and 60 miles below the surface of the earth. The nave of the church consists of two rows of stone columns on either side. The first of these columns was separated from the east dome of...

Read more

Treaty of Basseterre 18 June 1981

 

Treaty of Basseterre Historical BackgroundThe idea of unification within the Caribbean region gained the interest of the British Colonial Office in the late nineteenth Century mostly as a colonial administrative device designed to cut the cost of managing the colonies with failing economies and a growing reliance on Britain. The 20th century however saw a growing discontent with regards to the unrepresentative nature of the island governments. In 1914, T. Albert Marryshow of Grenada, founded the Representative...

Read more

"In this  bright future, you can't forget your past"

Interactive Map

Move your mouse over the red map markers to view information about each particular location. To read more, click the marker for further information. Locations may also be selected using the adjacent listbox.