for so many years as =Cardiff Hall=. The first Blagrove to settle in
Jamaica was a regicide. Land in St. Ann was early taken up—about 1665;
and before the middle of the eighteenth century Cardiff Hall was a place
of note. The earliest patent of land to a Blagrove of which a record has
been discovered is to John Blagrove of 700 acres in St. James in 1689.
On Orange Valley, near to Cardiff Hall, in the possession of the same
owner, are the remains of a so-called Spanish residence; and, going
further back, on “big pasture” is a series of Arawâk kitchen-middens of
the usual type, from which a small modelled human head of greater
naturalistic treatment than is usually met with was excavated in April
1914. Other middens are near this series, indicating a thick population
in aboriginal times. It is conceivable that the residents were amongst
the first to welcome Columbus on his landing at Dry Harbour, a few miles
off. The present building of Cardiff Hall, which possesses more
architectural features than most houses in the colony, of which the fine
old mahogany staircase is not the least noticeable, probably dates from
the middle of the eighteenth century. It displays details of a
Renaissance character, such as a line of columns in the entrance hall, a
three-light window in what was evidently the drawing room upstairs, and
an ornamentation over the doorways dating from about the closing years
of the century. The hospital and other buildings are also of a character
superior to those usually met with. The first named has Corinthian
pilasters of considerable beauty. Guns, too, that formerly protected the
property from buccaneers, are still _in situ_. In front of the house is
a vaulted chamber, half dug out of the rock, which is said to have been
designed as a place of refuge in case of hurricane. It measures some 7
feet by 20 feet, and is 10 feet high, with walls some 2 feet thick. The
house attracted the attention of Hakewill, who included it in his
“Picturesque Tour” (1825), the drawings of which were made in 1820–1.
John Blagrove, who was proprietor shortly before Hakewill visited the
island, was born at Cardiff Hall, but was sent, like the majority of
planters’ sons in those days, at an early age to England. He received
his education at Eton, and afterwards passed a considerable time in
travelling. On his return to Jamaica he occasionally took an active part
in the discussions which occurred in the House of Assembly, to which he
was returned by his native parish, St. Ann, in 1787. The only member of
the family to sit in the Assembly before him was his father, Thomas
Blagrove, who had represented Hanover in 1755. He (Thomas Blagrove) died
in that year, when only 21 years of age, leaving a widow and one son. He
was buried at Maggotty.
During the Maroon war John Blagrove was most actively engaged, and
shared in its privations and dangers. He, Hakewill tells us, bestowed
the greatest attention to improvement of the breed of cattle on his
several pens. He imported into the island some of the best-bred horses
England ever produced, and his liberality and public spirit were
rewarded by the high price which his stock, particularly his horses,
always commanded. He was a successful competitor on many occasions for
the cup given at the races held in the parish of St. Ann; in fact, his
horses for the most part beat the whole field. The Blagrove stables were
successful in other races as well. On the flat land by Runaway Bay the
memory of the old private racecourses on which the horses were trained
is still preserved in the names of three pastures. In Palache’s “Jamaica
Stud Book” John Blagrove is recorded as having imported for racing
purposes Lurcher, a bay colt, bred in 1789, and Buzzard, imported in
1809. For many years previous to his decease John Blagrove was resident
in England. He died at Great Abshot, near Titchfield, in Hampshire, in
1824.
At this period, when the whole system of colonial slavery was being
severely criticized, Blagrove was always considered by his slaves as a
most kind and humane master. His will states:
And, lastly, to my loving people, denominated and recognized by Law
as, and being in fact my slaves in Jamaica, but more estimated and
considered by me and my family as tenants for life attached to the
soil, I bequeath a dollar for every man, woman and child, as a small
token of my regard for their faithful and affectionate service and
willing labours to myself and family, being reciprocally bound in one
general tie of master and servant in the prosperity of the land, from
which we draw our mutual comforts and subsistence in our several
relations (a tie and interest not practised on by the hired labourer
of the day in the United Kingdom), the contrary of which doctrine is
held only by the visionists of the puritanical order against the
common feeling of mankind.
Henry John Blagrove sat for St. Ann for a short time in the middle of
the nineteenth century. In the library of the Institute of Jamaica,
which inherited the library of the House of Assembly, is a series of
twenty-five bound volumes of the “St. Jago de la Vega Gazette,” ranging
from 1791 to 1840, “presented to the Library of the Hon. House of
Assembly of Jamaica by Henry John Blagrove, Esq. Representative in
Assembly for the Parish of St. Ann. 1851.” He soon afterwards left the
colony, never to return.
[Illustration:
CARDIFF HALL
]
The view by Hakewill is “taken from the great interior road, and
represents, seen through the pimento grove, the south or entrance front
of the house. On the right is the barbecue or plaister floor, on which
the pimento is spread out to dry. The excellence of the house, the
delightful variety of the grounds and the contiguity of the sea, render
Cardiff Hall one of the most desirable residences in the island of
Jamaica.”
A sketch of a photograph taken recently from the same point of view is
shown on this page.
Near the house is a private burial-ground with five tombs. Three are
unnamed; of the other two one is inscribed as follows:
Here lyeth the body of Thomas Williams, Esqr., who departed this life
the 7th of June, 1746, aged 66 years.
Here lyeth the body of Mary Williams, who departed this life on April
14, 1753, aged....
The arms are those of the Williams of Herringstone, county Dorset.
Argent a greyhound courant in fess between three Cornish choughs proper,
a border engrailed gules charged with crosses pattée or and bezants
alternately. Crest, a man’s arm couped at the elbow, habited sable
charged with a cross pattée or the hand proper holding an oak branch
vert, fructified gold. Neither the motto, _Nil Solidum_, nor the
tinctures are given. The second tomb is inscribed:
In the memory of Peter Blagrove, Esq., son of John Blagrove, Esquire,
and Ann, his wife. Born at Cardiff Hall in this parish, 21st May,
1789, and died there 10th August, 1812.
The wife’s name was Shakespeare.
The following account of this Peter Blagrove is taken from the “Jamaica
Magazine” for 1812.
At Orange-Valley Pen, in St. Arm’s, on the 9th inst., aged 24 years,
Peter Blagrove, Esq., third son of John Blagrove, of Cardiff Hall. In
spite of the best medical skill and experience, he fell on the eighth
day a victim to one of those insidious fevers so fatal to many young
men from Europe. Detained with an elder brother in France, which he
visited after the peace of 1802, for the purpose of gaining a
knowledge of mankind, he endured, for seven years, an exile from his
family and friends—which as it was inflicted on himself, and his
unoffending countrymen, during a profound peace, will continue to
stamp with infamy the despot and government that sanctioned it as long
as the laws of nature and nations shall be understood. Impelled by his
attachment to liberty and his country, he adopted the disguise of one
of the meanest of the French peasants to effect his escape; and with a
perseverance the most extraordinary, he encountered scenes and
hardships to which his earlier years were not accustomed. Unappalled
by the danger of the attempt such were the vigour of his mind and his
resources, amidst the hazard of hourly detection, that for many months
he eluded the vigilance of the most active police, employed by any
barbarian; and, having traversed the greater parts of France,
Switzerland and Germany he reached Trieste in safety, and soon after
repaired to his native country.
Amongst evil-doers mentioned in Jamaica history, Lewis Hutchinson of
=Edinburgh Castle= holds a high place. Some of the accounts of him are
based on that given by Bridges in his “Annals of Jamaica”; others, more
fantastical, on the imagination of their writers. But the following
account taken down in 1897 by Miss A. E. Cork, from her great-aunt Miss
Potenger, kindly contributed by the late Miss Robinson, of Trafalgar,
St. Ann, is based on better tradition, and is more likely to be correct.
Miss Cork is great-great-granddaughter of Dr. Hutton, mentioned in the
narrative.
“About the year 1768 there lived at Edinburgh Castle, in the Pedro
district of St. Ann, Jamaica, a desperado called Lewis Hutchinson. He
owned the property on which he lived, and was said to have been a man of
some education, but he was the terror of the neighbourhood, and it was
not infrequent for a white man to disappear mysteriously, and it would
then be said that Hutchinson had made away with him by shooting him as
he passed the ‘Castle,’ which was furnished with loopholes and
overlooked the road. But these stories were hard to verify, and such was
the unsettled and lawless state of the Island in those days that people
preferred to leave Hutchinson alone, rather than attempt to have him
arrested.
“A few miles from Edinburgh Castle was Hutton Bonvil, or Bonneville Pen,
as it is now called, which, with Lebanon Pen, adjoining, belonged to Dr.
Jonathan Hutton, an Englishman. Dr. Hutton was a retired naval doctor,
and also owned property in Lincolnshire, his native county. He spent his
time between England and Jamaica, sometimes remaining in the latter
place a year or two at a time.
“During one of these visits he got into a dispute with the redoubtable
Hutchinson about a boundary-line between their properties, Hutchinson
claiming some portion of land which Dr. Hutton asserted was his own.
This caused great bitterness of feeling on Hutchinson’s part towards Dr.
Hutton; and one evening as the doctor, who was colonel of militia for
the parish of St. Ann, was riding home from muster at Moneague with his
black servant man following on foot, carrying his sabre and other
accoutrements, Hutchinson overtook the man and took away the sabre from
him, saying, ‘You can give my compliments to Dr. Hutton and tell him I
have got his sabre.’ Dr. Hutton appeared to have taken no notice of
this. Some months later Dr. Hutton made arrangements to go to England.
His wife and one of his children—a little girl of about eight years of
age—were in Jamaica with him, and Mrs. Hutton went to the adjoining
parish of Clarendon on a visit, intending to meet her husband in
Kingston, and return with him to England. The little girl, Mary Hutton,
was left with her father at Bonneville; and Dr. Hutton set out one
morning on horseback on his journey to Kingston, little Mary being
carried by one of his servants in attendance before him on horseback.
“Dr. Hutton intended to pursue the route now usually taken from Pedro
through Moneague and St. Thomas-ye-Vale to Spanish Town, and on to
Kingston; with this exception that the public road from Pedro to
Moneague in those days lay across the hill from Grier Park, where they
were met by Hutchinson and a following of his slaves. He rode up to Dr.
Hutton, who was unarmed, and attacked him fiercely, the weapon he used
being Dr. Hutton’s own sabre which he had stolen. He struck the doctor
such a severe blow on the head with this sabre that the latter fell
senseless from his horse. Hutchinson made off with his servants, and Dr.
Hutton’s terrified servants carried him back to Bonneville, where he
stayed for a few days until he partially recovered, when, without
venturing to travel by the same road he had at first intended to take,
his servants took him across the hills to join his wife in Clarendon and
they and their little girl went on to Kingston together. Dr. Hutton laid
information there about Hutchinson; but as he was unable through the
cruel blow he had received to remain in the Island to prosecute the
matter, no steps appeared to have been taken. Dr. Hutton proceeded to
England still suffering much from the wound in his head, and when he got
there had to undergo the operation of trepanning, and wore a silver
plate in his head until the day of his death. Dr. Hutton remained in
England for about a year or more, and on his return to Jamaica tried to
get Hutchinson arrested; but such was the terror he inspired, that the
doctor found it hard to get anyone to take the warrant. At last a white
soldier named Callender agreed to go, and with some others proceeded to
Edinburgh Castle. As soon as Hutchinson found what was their errand, he
fired at Callender and shot him dead on the spot. The others fled, and
Hutchinson was again left unmolested for a short while. But this crime
committed before white witnesses could never be passed over, and a
strong body was sent to arrest him for the murder of Callender. He was
overpowered and taken to Spanish Town jail. The castle was searched and
forty-three watches were said to have been found there, besides
quantities of clothing and many other articles, showing that Hutchinson
had committed most, if not all, of the murders with which he was
popularly credited. His unfortunate slaves, to whom, as may be supposed,
he had been friendly, came now gladly and told all that they knew about
his proceedings, and showed what he used to do with the bodies of his
victims, which had hitherto been a puzzle.
“Not far from Edinburgh Castle House, in a small wood, was a sink-hole
with a large mouth and supposed to be bottomless. To this sink-hole the
bodies of Hutchinson’s victims were carried by the slaves on a plank in
the dead of night, and one edge being placed at the edge of the hole,
the other was raised and the body shot down never to be seen again by
human eyes. Many of his victims were persons against whom he had no
grudge, and murder was evidently a mania with the wretched man.
Edinburgh Castle overlooked the road, and it was Hutchinson’s playful
little practice to stand at one of the loopholes and fire at any
solitary white traveller who might be passing. As he was a dead shot
they never lived to tell the tale. His negroes would then bring the body
to the house, where after being rifled of whatever valuables might be on
it, it was kept until night and then disposed of in the manner already
stated. It was said by these slaves that once a young man—a stranger to
his reputation—being ill in the road, called up and asked for
hospitality, which was at once accorded to him; Hutchinson showing him
every kindness and administering remedies kept him for some time until
the young man was able to proceed on his journey. Hutchinson then took
his station at his loophole, and as the young man turned into the road,
shot him dead and disposed of his body as usual. Many such tales were
related by the slaves, but a coloured person’s evidence was not admitted
in those days; and so Hutchinson was tried, convicted and hanged for the
murder of Callender only.
“This story of Hutchinson and his crimes and connections has been
variously told. In Mr. Bridges’ ‘Annals of Jamaica,’ another version
will be found. This was owing to Mr. Bridges having sent for an old
Bonneville slave and obtaining from him the story as it was current
among slaves. But as I have told it, I think it is fairly correct,
allowing for the lapse of years. The little Mary Hutton—who was an
eye-witness of Hutchinson’s attack on her father, married in England,
and was Mrs. Potenger—lived afterwards at Bonneville for many years. One
of her daughters was my grandmother, and from my late great-aunt, Miss
Elizabeth Potenger, another of her daughters, I have often heard the
story related to her by her mother.
“ANNIE E. CORK.
“Great-great-grand-daughter of Dr. Hutton.
“_December 1897._”
George Wilson Bridges was rector of St. Ann from 1823 till 1837, when,
on losing four daughters by a boating accident in St. Ann’s Bay, he left
Jamaica never to return. In his story he appears to have confused
Callender with Dr. Hutton, and makes him manager of a neighbouring
property. The statement in the account given above, that Hutchinson was
“overpowered and taken to Spanish Town jail” is incorrect. Hutchinson,
when he saw that the authorities were determined to arrest him, escaped
south to Old Harbour and put out to sea in an open boat, where he was
captured by one of Rodney’s officers, acting under his directions. He
was hanged in Spanish Town on March 16, 1773.
Bridges states that Hutchinson left a hundred pounds to erect a monument
to his memory, and that he (Bridges) saw the following autograph
writing:
Lewis Hutchinson—hanged in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on the sixteenth
morning of March, in the year of _his_ Lord one thousand seven hundred
and seventy-three.—Aged forty years.
Their sentence, pride, and malice, I defy;
Despise their power, and, like a Roman, die.
Of his life little is known. In the St. Ann Vestry Records (February 5,
1768) his name appears on the jury list for the parish. In 1771 he was
called upon to supply slave labour for mending the road passing
Edinburgh Castle to Pedro River. In 1773 the “Estate of Lewis
Hutchinson” was returned at twenty-four slaves and ninety-three head of
stock; but it does not appear whether he had heirs or whether it went to
the Government.
On December 2, 1773, the House of Assembly resolved: “That the thanks of
the House be given to Sir George Brydges Rodney, baronet, rear-admiral
of Great Britain, vice-admiral of the red, and commander-in-chief of His
Majesty’s squadron on this station, for the essential service rendered
to this Island by his ready and effectual assistance of the civil power,
at the instance of his Majesty’s Attorney-General, in apprehending Lewis
Hutchinson, since executed for murder, and that Mr. Speaker do transmit
the same to the Admiral, in the most acceptable manner.”
And it was further resolved: “That as a testimony of the approbation of
the House, respecting the behaviour of Mr. George Turnbull (an officer
in his Majesty’s Navy, employed by the Admiral to take and secure the
said Lewis Hutchinson), and of the spirit and address with which he
executed that charge, the Receiver-General to pay to the said Mr. George
Turnbull, or his order, the sum of £50 sterling, to be laid out in the
purchase of a gold-hilted sword; and this or any future assembly will
make the same good; and that the admiral be desired to signify, to the
proper department of state, the sense the House entertains of Mr.
Turnbull’s merit on that occasion.” An account—basing his undoing on a
quarrel with a neighbour named Callender over a jackass—is given in the
“Columbian Magazine” for June 1797, published in Kingston.
The ruins of Edinburgh Castle still stand on a rising piece of ground
near the main road, which it commands, running from St. Ann’s Bay to the
south side of the island. It was a small two-storeyed rectangular
building with two loopholed towers, circular in plan, at diagonally
opposite corners. A doorway was at one side of the front angle, and
another at the side to the east near the front tower. There are
evidences of there having been a fireplace on each story of the front
tower, and of a series of spiral steps in the back tower. The adjacent
ruins to the west are said to mark the site of the slave quarters.
Mr. R. F. Perkins, who went down the sink-hole some years ago, wrote as
follows:
“Sir Henry Blake with two or three others, I among the number, went down
it. It is 265 feet deep from its edge to the point where a stone dropped
down would first strike, and it slopes down for another ten feet or so,
where it stops. The ground around the top of the hole slopes rapidly
down to its edge, and the bottom is wider than the top; the sides of the
hole are of nearly vertical rock.
“All this refers to the hole known as ‘Hutchinson’s Hole,’ which local
tradition connects with the murderer. Hundreds of people have visited
the place and rolled down stones, so it is possible that any remains
might well have been covered. We did not find a vestige of anything
connected with the atrocities. From more recent investigations I believe
that ‘Hutchinson’s Hole’ is not the hole at all. It is about a quarter
of a mile away from the castle, to the south; and there is another far
less formidable one quite close, that, I should not be surprised to
find, has some hidden entrance from the castle.”
Sir Henry Blake wrote as follows:
I had, of course, heard the accounts of the various murders committed
by the notorious Hutchinson, and I determined to ascertain the depth
and details of the cave, which is in limestone formation, and to see
if any remains of bones, arms, &c., could be found.... On July 22,
1895, I was lowered to the bottom and examined the cave, or “Swallow
Hole,” carefully. The opening at the surface was 15 feet by 8 feet.
The cave was, in shape, somewhat like a champagne bottle, 270 feet
deep, and 70 feet by 50 feet at the bottom, which was formed by a
level mass of stones of all sizes. There were no bones to be seen; but
remembering the time that has elapsed since the notorious Hutchinson
held the country in terror, bones, if any, may well have been covered
to a considerable depth by the stones flung down by curious visitors,
and the stones and rubbish from the adjacent fields flung into the pit
by the inhabitants.
The old tavern at =Moneague=, which was represented by Duperly in 1844,
has been succeeded by the Moneague hotel. A reference to the early
taverns of Jamaica will be found in the Introduction.
As we have seen in the Introduction, in the eighteenth century there
were many forts around the coast of Jamaica, as protection against
privateers. St. Ann had her fair share of such forts, of which remains
still exist. There was one at =Mammee Bay=, two miles east of St. Ann’s
Bay, where the St. Ann volunteers repelled an attack by pirates in 1795;
another between Roaring River bridge and =Ocho Rios=, close to the main
road, dating from the eighteenth century; two at =St. Ann’s Bay=—one,
erected in 1777, now used as a slaughter-house; =Windsor Fort=, erected
in 1803; and Dry Harbour, existing in 1777. In 1737 an Act was passed to
enable the inhabitants of the parish of St. Ann to build a barrack at or
near the head of the Rio Bueno, which divides the parish of St. Ann from
the parish of St. James. Other places of historic interest in the parish
are: =Priory=, nine miles west of St. Ann’s Bay, where are the ruins of
an old church, the oldest tomb being dated 1750; best known during the
incumbency of Bridges the historian, who resided at one time at
=Tydenham=, which was purchased by the vestry as a rectory in 1817. At
=Dixon Pen=, in the Pedro district, there are remains of a very old
building said to have been the residence of a Spanish governor of the
island. At =Green Park=, near Claremont, is said to be the house
mentioned in Scott’s “Cruise of the Midge.”
At =Geddes=, about five miles from Claremont, there is a curious slave
punishment cell, with holes in one wall, through which it is possible
the hands of the prisoner were fastened.
[Illustration:
MONEAGUE TAVERN IN 1844
From a daguerreotype by Adolphe Duperley
]
At =Rio Hoe=, properly Rio Hoja, two miles south-east from Moneague, was
the last settlement of the Spaniards prior to their departure from the
Island. At =York Castle=, in the Pedro district, was held from 1576 to
1900 the Wesleyan High School for boys, which during that period
contributed eight of the Jamaica scholars. The =Dry Harbour Caves=, on
Hopewell and Cardiff Hall, are about a mile and a half from the village
of Dry Harbour. They inspired a poem entitled, “The Grotto of
Melancholy,” in “A Short Journey in the West Indies,” published in 1790.
=Moseley Hall Cave=, on Guy’s Hill, on the border of St. Mary and St.
Ann, has fine stalactites, which were much visited in former times.
=Llandovery Falls= are natural waterfalls on the Llandovery; a view of
them is reproduced on one issue of the Jamaica penny postage stamps.
[Illustration:
PUNISHMENT CELL, GEDDES
]
=Metcalfe Ville= is named after Sir Charles Metcalfe, mention of whom
has been made in the chapter on Kingston.
=Walton=, near Moneague—where a lake appears at intervals after very
heavy rains, is the site of an old military barracks, also the original
site of the Jamaica High School, now the Jamaica College at Hope, in St.
Andrew. Here also is a lake which appears at intervals after very heavy
rains.
Charles Drax, by will dated 1721, directed