Bajan History

Bajan (Barbadian) history.

Barbados Island life photographs and stories by Craig Burleigh

Barbados Island Life

Craig Burleigh is an American born, Bajan bred, San Francisco Bay Area based professional photographer. He grew up on Rockley Beach with sand between his toes from 1955 to 1965 and at Lamming’s St. Joseph and Edgecliff, St. John later on. Craig has been scanning his back-catalogue of Barbados photographs from the 1970s and is …

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Barbados Trailway Demo Stretch

The Barbados Trailways Project Part 2 – the beginning of the refurbishment

The Barbados Trailway will convert a portion of the disused trainline (which operated from 1881 to 1937) into a 16km paved multi-use trail from Valley Plantation to Consett Bay. It is a fiscally and socially responsible heritage tourism development project that can help to diversify and enhance our tourism product while also providing recreational spaces …

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The Medici Lion at Gun Hill Barbados

The Man Who Carved a Lion. The story of Henry John Wilkinson 1829 – 1911

For over 150 years a seven-foot-tall white Medici lion, carved from coral stone, has drawn locals and visitors to a hillside in St. George, Barbados.  Situated southeast and below the Gun Hill Signal Station, over-looking the beautiful St. George Valley, the lion has stood proudly since it was completed in 1868.  Since that time, it …

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Removal of Lord Nelson's Statue Bridgetown Barbados 2020

Barbados transitions to a Republic – the Republic of Barbados

On 30th November 2021, fifty-five years after independence from Britain, Barbados will transition from a Constitutional Monarchy to being a Parliamentary Republic – the Republic of Barbados. The Queen’s representative Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason, GCMG, DA, QC will become the first President of Barbados. Her role will be mostly ceremonial, much like her current role …

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Andromeda House location of a covert submarine tracking facility in Barbados

Andromeda Gardens – the location of a covert US Navy cold-war submarine tracking station in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87

The US Navy NAVFAC Barbados at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy was operational from 1957 to 1979. Did you know there was another, hush – hush and “covert” NAVFAC cold-war submarine tracking facility located in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87. It was located within the workshop of Dr. Harry Bayley’s bay-house at Andromeda in St. Joseph. …

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Black Bajan footballer Walter Tull

Black Bajan footballers who were English Football League Club pioneers

Thanks to a select group of pioneering black Bajan footballers, no country in the world has had a greater impact on the history of English football than Barbados. That statement might come as a shock to some. After all, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have reached the World Cup Finals whereas Barbados has never come …

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NAVFAC Barbados - © Stanley Peck October 1958

Barbados Oceanographic Research Facility 1957 – 1979: a top secret US cold war submarine listening post

The old US Navy Facility – Barbados at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy on the North West coast of Barbados is back in the news.  In the 1950 and 1960s this US Naval Facility in Barbados was a very important shore based soviet submarine listening station.  It had many names: US Navy Facility – Barbados, NAVFAC …

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