A PRELIMINARY RECONNAISSANCE OF PLANTATION SITES ON ANGUILLA

UN RECONOCIMIENTO PRELIMINAR DE LOS SITIOS DE PLANTACIÓN EN ANGUILA

RECONNAISSANCE PRÉLIMINAIRE DES SITES DE PLANTATION SUR ANGUILLA

Paul Farnsworth

Paul Farnsworth Department of Anthropology, Temple University, United States dr.paul@temple.edu

From June 19 to 26, 2016, the author undertook a preliminary reconnaissance of plantation sites on Anguilla to assess their potential for future historical archaeological research. The reconnaissance was purely an effort to assess the archaeological potential of sites known to Anguillan historians, members of the Anguilla National Trust, and members of the Anguilla Archaeology and Historical Society. It was not a systematic survey to identify previously unknown sites. In total, seven sites were visited, and a brief pedestrian reconnaissance undertaken, with surface artifacts, ruins and evidence of foundations noted and photographed. All of the sites visited appeared to have some archaeological potential, and six had significant potential for future archaeological research. This paper will briefly summarize the history of the various plantation sites, review their current condition, and potential for archaeological research.

Keywords: Anguilla, Plantations, Reconnaissance, History, Research Potential.

Del 19 al 26 de junio de 2016, el autor realizó un reconocimiento preliminar de los sitios de plantación en Anguila para evaluar su potencial para futuras investigaciones arqueológicas históricas. El reconocimiento fue puramente un esfuerzo para evaluar el potencial arqueológico de sitios conocidos por los historiadores anguillanos, miembros del Fideicomiso Nacional de Anguila y miembros de la Arqueología y Sociedad Histórica de Anguila. No fue una encuesta sistemática para identificar sitios previamente desconocidos. En total, se visitaron siete sitios, y se realizó un breve reconocimiento de peatones, con artefactos de superficie, ruinas y pruebas de fundaciones anotadas y fotografiadas. Todos los sitios visitados parecían tener cierto potencial arqueológico, y seis tenían un potencial significativo para futuras investigaciones arqueológicas. Este trabajo resumirá brevemente la historia de los diferentes sitios de plantación, revisará su estado actual, y el potencial para la investigación arqueológica.

Palabras claves: Anguila, Plantaciónes, Reconocimiento, La Historia, Potencial De Investigación.

Du 19 au 26 juin 2016, l'auteur a entrepris une reconnaissance préliminaire des sites de plantation sur Anguilla afin d'évaluer leur potentiel de recherches archéologiques historiques futures. La reconnaissance était simplement un

466

effort pour évaluer le potentiel archéologique des sites connus des historiens anguillaques, des membres de l'Anguilla National Trust et des membres de la Société d'archéologie et d'histoire d'Anguilla. Ce n'était pas une enquête systématique pour identifier les sites précédemment inconnus. Au total, sept sites ont été visités, et une brève reconnaissance des piétons a été entreprise, avec des objets de surface, des ruines et des preuves de fondations notées et photographiées. Tous les sites visités semblaient avoir un certain potentiel archéologique et six avaient un potentiel important pour la recherche archéologique future. Cet article résumera brièvement l'histoire des différents sites de plantation, examinera leur état actuel et le potentiel de recherche archéologique.

Mots clés : Anguilla, Plantations, Reconnaissance, L'histoire, Potentiel De Recherche.

Introduction

From June 19th to 26th, 2016, I undertook a preliminary reconnaissance of former plantation sites on Anguilla to assess their potential for historical archaeological research. This was a reconnaissance of sites that I had learned of from various sources. I visited 7 sites (Figure 1), and artifacts, ruins and evidence of foundations were noted and photographed. I will briefly review the various sites, their current condition, and their potential for archaeological research.

Warden’s Place

Warden’s Place is located in the Lower Valley. The house was constructed in the 1700s and was the focus of a large sugar estate that stretched to Crocus Bay to the west (Anguilla Heritage Trail Committee 2010; Carty and Petty 2000:92). The ground floor of the house is limestone and the upper floor is wood-frame construction (Figure 2). The house sits on a relatively small parcel that has been extensively built and landscaped. To the rear is an outbuilding and a large water cistern. The tightly packed structures and landscaping leave little original surface visible and no artifacts were observed. Behind the house and immediate yard is an area that has been bladed for parking and no artifacts were observed on the surface. Further behind to the west and southwest, up slope from the parking area, is densely vegetated and was not investigated. There are some older houses in this vicinity, as well as a brick and stone oven, and that would be worth further investigation, but the area immediately surrounding the house seems to have limited archaeological potential.

Hodge Family Compound

The Hodge Family Compound is located on the opposite side of the road from the Warden’s Place. Thomas Hodge’s plantation in The Valley was exporting rum and sugar in 1765 (Hodge 1765; Mitchell 2017:40-41). There is a stone-built house with a hipped roof which, according to some sources was built in the second half of the nineteenth-century by a Dutch family, but others suggest it was built in the 18th century and was part of the Warden’s Place estate (Anguilla Heritage Trail Committee 2010). A cistern and outbuilding are located beside the house (Figure 3), and behind is an oven that has been restored. About five meters upslope from the oven and outbuilding is an artifact scatter that includes later eighteenth-century

467

ceramics such as creamware and pearlware, as well as nineteenth-century whiteware and other artifacts. It is possible that this site was part of the eighteenth-century plantation centered on the Warden’s Place, although the road that separates them may be an old property boundary. The artifact scatter warrants further investigation to see if the deposit has any depth and to accurately assess its age and integrity of the deposit, while the area around the stone house and oven should be examined for subsurface deposits.

William Richardson’s Plantation

William Richardson’s Plantation is located in Sandy Hill. The plantation was owned in the 1730s by deputy governor John Richardson, and in his 1739 will he left the house, mill, stills, boiling house and still house first to his wife, Joan, and then to his son, William, and his grandsons, John and William, as long as they planted cane to make rum and sugar (Mitchell 2017:9-15). The grandson, William Richardson was Deputy Governor from 1805 to 1825 (Mitchell 2017b:5). The main house was originally located where St. Augustine’s Church now stands (Mitchell 2017:9-15). I found the remains of stone walls and a gateway nearby and sherds of pearlware that date to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. Approximately 50 meters north of the modern church are the remains of a “mill round” or animal-powered mill for grinding sugar cane. Inside the rough-stone exterior, the ground has been built up but erosion has revealed several different layers of construction. In the center, cut-stone blocks with a tree growing out of them mark the former location of the rollers. Animal mills are characteristic of the sugar plantations on Anguilla, as they were the cheapest method for processing cane.

Near the animal round is an old well that is still in use watering livestock. It is said to be the original plantation well. A few meters away is a sizeable sugar processing house measuring approximately 20 by 5 meters. The building has a rectangular structure at one end with 2 meter high walls, rising to 3 meters on one side (Figure 4). There is a small opening to the exterior with small exterior wing walls and opposite, there is another small opening through the wall into the first room of the structure. There are three rooms each measuring approximately 5 x 5 meters, with walls up to 1.5 meters in height. The rubble and tree-filled interior provided no evidence of internal features, other than the remains of the two partition walls. The only artifact observed inside the structure was a sherd of pearlware, although some whiteware sherds and a number of fragments of sugar molds were seen outside the structure. There are also stone walls continuing into the bush. The limited ceramic evidence suggests a late eighteenth – nineteenth century date for the sugar house.

Overall, the site has considerable archaeological potential. The ruined structures and walls should be recorded and mapped, and a systematic survey conducted. Construction of the church and modern housing nearby has destroyed the main house and immediately surrounding structures, but with the sugar works intact, there is the possibility that housing for enslaved people may survive nearby.

468

Mill Round House

Mill Round House is also located in Sandy Hill approximately 1.5 kilometers away, and it was also owned by Deputy Governor William Richardson. There is an animal round and a sugar processing house next to it. The animal round is extremely well preserved, and larger than that at Richardson’s other plantation. On the down-slope side, the wall stands over two-meters high (Figure 5). In the center, although overgrown, the foundations for the mill equipment are well preserved and stand as much as one meter high.

The ruins of the sugar processing house stand immediately to the northwest of the animal round. This is a large, two-room structure with walls two-meters high in places. There is a scatter of historic materials around the sugar house, animal round, and up the slope to the top of the ridge where a modern house looks south over Sandy Hill Bay. A short distance towards the bay is a prehistoric site, and Amerindian pottery was observed around the modern house. Historic period pottery includes creamware, pearlware, porcelain, stoneware, and a fragment of a sugar mold. A mid-to-late-eighteenth-century date for the site is suggested by these ceramics.

The area of the sugar house and animal round clearly warrant further archaeological research and recording. Unfortunately, the area up the slope has been graded for the modern house and landscaping. A controlled surface collection and shovel testing would determine the extent of modern disturbance and the possibility for surviving sub-surface features.

Junk’s Hole

Junk’s Hole is located in a large, undeveloped area at the east end of the island. It was a small provisioning plantation (Mitchell, personal communication). There is a well-preserved cistern (Figure 6) and the ruins of a medium-sized house with walls standing to approximately two meters. There is a large scatter of historic artifacts extending 30 to 40 meters around the house, which includes delftware, Rouen faience, white salt-glazed stoneware, brown and gray stoneware, creamware, pearlware, Chinese porcelain, whiteware and various redwares. The ceramics suggest an earlier date than the other sites I visited, the mid-late eighteenth-century, and probably earlier. There were several flat areas in the vicinity that could be house locations, though no foundations were visible. Approximately 300 meters to the north is a well surrounded by a complex of stone walls. There is a modern well-house and it is still in use, but the stone walls and scatter of historic bottle glass suggest that it has been used for many years. Although the least impressive in terms of the size of the house and cistern, the large quantities of historic materials at Junk’s Hole and the earlier date of the ceramics, suggest that this is an important site. The location is one of the largest undeveloped areas on Anguilla, and although a dirt road runs between the cistern and the house, the rest of the area does not appear to have been impacted by modern activities. Given the well and possible house platforms, there is potential for other plantation-related features in the surrounding landscape. The site has sufficient potential to

469

warrant a detailed survey of the area, as well as systematic surface collections and shovel testing in the vicinity of the surviving structures.

Hughes’ Estate

The Hughes’ Estate is located in Lower South Hill towards the west end of the island. It was owned by Edward Hughes in 1752 and was one of the major plantations on Anguilla (Mitchell 2017:38-40). There is a large, standing smokehouse which has several ship drawings on its walls (Figure 7). Unfortunately there is a large hole in the roof, and it is unlikely that it will last much longer. There is a large cistern, though it has no roof, and a complex of walls, some of which appear to be the foundations for other structures. There is also the stone-built cellar of a large house on top of the ridge looking north over the bay. The walls stand to approximately two meters and on the bay side, the limestone rubble core of the wall is exposed up one meter from the ground, with the limestone façade starting at that point. This suggests that there was a platform or verandah on that side of the house. Surface artifacts include creamware, pearlware, porcelain, stoneware, and whitewares. An occupation date from the last quarter of the eighteenth century into the nineteenth is suggested by the ceramics, which accords with the results of Nicholson’s 1985 reconnaissance of the property (Nicholson 1985:68).

Time did not allow for a more thorough exploration of the site, but the preservation of the buildings, the range of artifacts observed at the main house, and the extensive complex of walls suggest that the site has significant potential and survey and mapping of the plantation is required. There has been no development on the parcel, no obvious modern impacts, so archaeological preservation should be very good, although nearby lots have been developed, and how long the site will remain untouched is questionable.

Wallblake House

Wallblake House is located in The Valley and is the best-known and best-preserved plantation house on Anguilla (Azevado 2012:20). The documented history of Wallblake Estate begins with a deed from 1708. In this document Deputy Governor Abraham Howell states that in 1696 he had patented the land that had previously been Valentine Blake’s plantation (Azevado 2012:20; Carty and Petty 2000:93; Mitchell 2010:4). Howell appears to have still owned the property in 1724, but he died sometime after 1727. Howell’s Valley Plantation was divided into four parts, one of which was the parcel previously owned by Valentine Blake. By 1750 the plantation was owned by John Ruan as he sued Richard Richardson for encroachment “on a parcel of land known by the name of Valentine Blake’s” (Mitchell 2017b:13-14). However, there is no indication that his parcel of land was developed at this time. The next documented owner of Wallblake was Thomas Hodge Jr. who owned the property by October 1797 when his son, Jonathan Harvey Hodge, was born at Wallblake Estate (Spencer 2008). The estate must have been developed by then, if not before, as also indicated by a legend from the French invasion of 1796 (Azevado 2012:20; Carty 1985:62).

470

The complex consists of a wood-frame house built on a large stone cellar (Figure 8). The house was restored a number of years ago, and is currently undergoing additional restoration. There is an ancillary stone structure attached to the left rear of the house. Close examination suggests that it was built prior to the main house and may be the oldest standing building on the site. It was probably used as a storage building, though it may not have started out that way. A short distance further south is a smaller storage building. To the center of the plantation house compound is a large cistern surrounded by a raised water catchment that drains into the cistern.

At the very rear of the compound is the kitchen. The kitchen building has a large fireplace and chimney at the north end (Figure 9). On the exterior is the ruin of a large oven. There does not appear to have been a structure covering this feature. An inscription on the kitchen building reads 1787, but whether that applies to construction of the kitchen, or the plantation house complex, or is later graffiti, is much debated. The water catchment takes up most of the rear courtyard of the house compound, and the rest of the area has been landscaped. No artifacts were observed in this area, but sherds of creamware and pearlware were found directly in front of the house.

The area to the east of the main complex has been bladed and used for parking, but there is a scatter of artifacts. Again creamware, pearlware and whiteware were observed. To the north, the modern Catholic Church and Conference Center have been built, and there is little archaeological evidence in that area. To the south is a stone wall running east to west. Behind the kitchen, on the south side of this wall is a scatter of late eighteenth and nineteenth-century artifacts. Further to the east was a concentration of late nineteenth and early twentieth century artifacts, primarily bottles. As the house was occupied until the 1950s this is not surprising.

Approximately 50 meters west of the main house is a large animal round. The walls stand approximately 2 meters high, and are well preserved on the north and west sides (Figure 10). The top is overgrown, but in the center there is evidence of the support for machinery of the mill, and a sherd of pearlware was found on the surface. Approximately 30 meters south of the animal round is a modern cemetery. The southern part of the cemetery includes a complex of older wall foundations that may be animal pens, but one looks like the foundation of a structure that now contains three modern graves. The cemetery is bounded on the south and east by old stone walls that extend into the bush, while other walls come off these to the east and south respectively. The south wall of the cemetery is the same east-to-west wall that runs behind the kitchen building and extends east to the modern road, and west into the bush.

To the south of the wall, along a low, flat-topped, limestone ridge that runs east to west, late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century artifacts were visible. These included bottle glass, creamware, pearlware, stoneware, Chinese porcelain, whiteware, as well as various redwares. The artifacts cover approximately 60 meters east to west and 20 meters north to south and might be the location of houses occupied by enslaved laborers.

471

Reconnaissance further west and north from the cemetery area found little in the way of historic materials or evidence of structures, however, a stone structure was located approximately 15 meters north of the animal round. Heavily overgrown, and partially destroyed by a bulldozer that left a large pile of earth and rubble over part of it, the structure has walls standing over two meters high in places, and there were at least two rooms. The only artifact seen was a sherd of whiteware that dates from the mid-nineteenth century. How much more of the structure is buried under the dirt pile, or once existed, remains to be determined. The location would be consistent with a sugar processing house.

Overall, the artifacts observed suggest a late eighteenth and nineteenth century occupation, continuing into the twentieth century. The 1787 date on the kitchen building is consistent with the surface artifacts. Although the area to the east of the main house complex has been bladed, and the modern church complex has impacted the area to the north, the areas south and west of the main house and the industrial complex have significant archaeological potential, as does the ruin just north of the animal round.

Conclusions

With the exception of the Warden’s Place, the other six sites examined have considerable archaeological potential. The Hodge Family Compound, Junk’s Hole, the Hughes Estate, and Wallblake plantation will provide useful information on activities at a main house complex. The plantations owned by William Richardson, along with Wallblake plantation, can contribute a comparative study of sugar processing. William Richardson’s Plantation, Junk’s Hole, the Hughes estate, and Wallblake Plantation can contribute to studies of Anguillan plantation landscapes and hopefully the development of African-Anguillan identity, if enslaved worker houses can be located. In late June and July, 2017, the author, with students from Temple University, and senior high-school students from Anguilla, began exploration of Wallblake plantation. The results of the project will be presented at a subsequent IACA conference.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following who told me about, directed me to, or took me to, the sites discussed in this paper and who made the research possible: The Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society, especially Tim Hodge and Kenn Banks; The Anguilla National Trust especially Farah Mukhida; Fr. Paul Czoch and the Catholic Diocese of Saint John's – Basseterre; Don Mitchell, CBE, QC; and Dr. John Crock, University of Vermont. Financial support for this preliminary research was provided by The College of Liberal Arts, Temple University.

472

References Cited

Anguilla Heritage Trail Committee 2010 Anguilla Heritage Trail Brochure. Anguilla Heritage Trail Committee, The Valley,

Anguilla.

Azevado, Lillian 2012 Anguilla beyond the Beach: 3000 Years of Island Heritage. Self-published.

Carty, Brenda and Colville Petty 2000 Anguilla: Tranquil Isle of the Caribbean. Macmillan Education, London and Oxford,

UK.

Carty, David 1985 Wallblake House: An Historic Past. In Anguilla Archaeological & Historical Society

Review 1981-1985., pp. 61-64. Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society, The Valley, Anguilla.

Hodge, Thomas 1765 Shipping Affidavit in Anguilla Record of Deeds 1600s-1700s. Transcribed in 2006 by D.

Mitchell, M. Burrows, and H. Nielsen. Film No. 3893. Folio No. 164. Anguilla Court House.

Mitchell, Don, CBE QC 2010 Place-names of Anguilla. The Anguilla Archeological and Historical Society, The

Valley, Anguilla. Electronic document, http://www.aahsanguilla.com/Selected%20Readings/PLACE_NAMES.pdf, accessed April 29, 2018.

2017a Sugar Arrives. Anguilla From the Archives, 1650-1776. The Anguilla Archeological and Historical Society, The Valley, Anguilla. Electronic document, http://www.aahsanguilla.com/Selected%20Readings/18.%20Sugar%20Arrives.pdf, accessed April 29, 2018

2017b The Council. Anguilla From the Archives, 1650-1776. The Anguilla Archeological and Historical Society, The Valley, Anguilla. Electronic document, http://www.aahsanguilla.com/Selected%20Readings/17.%20The%20Council.pdf, accessed April 29, 2018.

473

Nicholson, Desmond 1985 A Study of Ceramic Sherds from Hughes Estate. In Anguilla Archaeological & Historical

Society Review 1981-1985., pp. 68. Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society, The Valley, Anguilla.

Spencer, John Earl 2008 Re: Hodge/ Anguilla and St. Maarten.

https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.caribbean.domrep.general/1026.5.3.2.1/mb.ashx, Forum Archives. Accessed April 29, 2018.

474

Hughes’ Estate

Warden’s Place

Wallblake Estate

Hodge Family Compound

Mill Round House

William Richardson’s

Plantation

Junk’s Hole

Seven Plantation Sites on Anguilla

N

1 mile

Figure 1. Locations of the seven plantation sites discussed in the text.

475

Figure 2. The main house at Warden’s Place.

476

Figure 3. House, cistern and outbuilding at the Hodge Family Compound.

477

Figure 4. Sugar processing house interior at William Richardson’s Plantation.

478

Figure 5. Animal mill at Mill Round House.

479

Figure 6. Cistern at Junk’s Hole.

480

Figure 7. Smokehouse at the Hughes’ Estate.

481

Figure 8. Wallblake House.

482

Figure 9. Kitchen and ruin of exterior oven at Wallblake Estate.

483

Figure 10. Animal mill at Wallblake Estate.

484