Sunbury Plantation House  Sunbury Plantation House in St. Philip, is now a restaurant and museum and is completely open to the public. The
house was built in the 1600s by the Chapman family. Almost at the end
of the 16th century, it was sold to Nathaniel Branker who shared the
plantation with his wife Ann. The Branker Plantation appears on a 1736
Barbados map. In 1763, Elizabeth, the grand-daughter of the
original owners, purchased the property with her husband, James Butler
Harris. There is a Bell House on the property today that was erected
by James Butler Harris in 1766. John & George Barrow became
the new owners after the death of James Butler Harris. The Barrows also
owned Edgecumbe, Hampton and Upton plantations. The Barrows renamed the
plantation Sunbury after their home in England. The Barrows
planted the first teak tree and hundreds of mahogany trees on the
Sunbury plantation. You can still see several of the mahogany trees on
the property today. The Barrows' Edgecumbe plantation received damage during the 1816 Bussa Uprising, which began at Bayleys plantation. In
1835 Sunbury plantation was owned by the Daniel family, John and Thomas
Daniel. It is believed they purchased the property from the Barbados
Chancery Court. We also believe that the Daniel family owned
plantations and slaves on other islands, so after the abolition of
slavery, they received compensation from the British, for the loss of
their slaves. The Daniels were shipping merchants from England.
They owned ships that traveled from the West Indies taking the sugar
from their plantations to England. In 1896, Alistair Cameron, a
Scotsman, came to the island to work with Mr. Daniel. Alistair
purchased Sunbury Plantation and married Daniel's niece, Laura Sussanah
Roope. Alistair and Laura had five children - four daughters and one
son. Their son died at an early age in the 1930's. There were no
offspring of the Cameron girls, two of them remaining spinsters until
their deaths in 1980 and 1981. The main Sunbury House was
separated from the estate and sold to Keith & Angela Melville with
the rest sold to Mr. Geoffrey Armstrong. The Melvilles both
keen horse lovers, had started their horse drawn collection many years
ago. What began as a hobby grew into a most comprehensive collection of
antiques and artifacts of a bygone era. The main building
features a water catchment situated on the west side of the house,
dated to 1788 suggesting that this was the date that the roof was
replaced following damage in the 1780 hurricanes. The Barbados National Trust has designated the building a Heritage House. It has been open for tours since 1984. The
house suffered a disastrous fire on July 24th 1995. The furniture that
was destroyed by the fire was replaced by part of the Harold Bowen
collection as well as with many items made available for purchase by
numerous Barbadian families. Visit Sunbury Plantation House | 
