Farley Hill National Park  AllPosters First, there was the Grenade Hall Plantation in the sugar business in the 1600s. Sometime in 1800, 30 acres of land was used by the Briggs Family to build the Farley Hill great house of Grenade Hall. Sir Graham Briggs built the mansion in order to entertain, which he did in grand style - his royal visitors visited Barbados in the 1800s. The original Georgian mansion, Grenade Hall was built in the 1800s by Joseph Lyder Briggs, who gave it to his son Thomas Graham Briggs in 1856. After his marriage, Graham Briggs added the south wing, the library, dining room along with a billiard room and bedrooms to the house and then named it "Farley Hill". The building was said to have 99 windows. The Barbados Farley Hill mansion was named after an English school, where Graham Briggs had spent many happy times. After Graham Briggs died, the mansion continued to be occupied until the early 1900s, when it became a rental property. By 1940, the property had deteriorated and was in desperate need of repairs - then Hollywood came calling in 1956...they needed Farley Hill for some of the sequences of the film Island in the Sun, so the mansion was given a Hollywood face lift. In 1965, a fire destroyed the mansion, leaving just walls. It is not clear how the fire started, but it was partly fueled by the combustible material left by Hollywood. The ruins at Farley Hill became a National Park and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966. The park contains large specimen trees, fruit trees, ferns and palms. There is seating scattered throughout the park. The Farley Hill National Park in St. Peter, is maintained by the Barbados National Conservation Commission. Contact: 422-3555 | 
