Museum for Barrow’s birthplace

Restoration efforts may now be out of the question, but Government is still hoping to create a place of national significance where only ruins remain of Nessfield, the birthplace of Father of Independence Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, at The Garden, St Lucy, said area MP Peter Phillips.

Speaking at yesterday’s unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the centennial of one of the revered national hero, Phillips contended that this was too important a piece of Barbadian heritage not to be immortalized.

He said: “In the near future we need to turn our attention to this place and have it take its rightful place as part of our built heritage.

“I am sure that for our We Gatherin 2020, locals and visitors will like the opportunity to see Barbados’ history through new lens.”

Prime Minister Mia Mottley, along with the St Lucy MP Peter Phillips and members of the Barrow family, unveiled a plaque in honour of The Right Excellent Errol W. Barrow.

Phillips suggested that a museum at Nessfield would be an added attraction to Barbados’s tourism product with large cross-cultural appeal.

He added: “Such a project could have significant economic and social spinoff for St Lucy, as it would not only showcase Barrow’s legacy but also what is iconic about St. Lucy.”

Last week, Democratic Labour Party president Verla De Peiza acknowledged that while restoration is the ideal outcome for the house, it was certainly a complicated process as it is privately owned.

Noting that during the DLP’s decade in office, Government tried and fail to restore the building, De Peiza called for a private-public partnership to preserve a cornerstone of Barbadian history.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY De Peiza said: “This is a perennial query that is raised regardless of who is in Government.

“There is a difference of opinion as to who ought to be responsible, whether it is family or the country.

“I personally hold the view that this responsibility can be shared. While we already have monuments in his honour, it is standard form that the birth home ought to be recognized.”

This was a sentiment that found support from Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who said that her administration was more than willing to play its part in a public private partnership to develop a museum in Barrow’s honour.

Mottley said: “I have every confidence that this site will be a museum and I have every confidence that people of Barbados and the Government which I lead would play its part.

“Sometimes the easiest road is not the best one. I believe that by the people of St Lucy, civil society, the private sector  and the Government working together, this project will become a magnificent point of reference for St Lucy.” colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb