“…a palace with which Aladdin himself might have been satisfied.” JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE (1818-1894), British historian and editor, Fraser’s Magazine, on Farley Hill in its heyday. Today, Farley Hill is a charred ruin and a national park of Barbados, but for 100 years it was a breathtaking wonder of a great house where Sir Graham Briggs, a rich British planter and legislator, entertained the crème de la crème of Barbadian society and even British royalty, including Prince Alfred, Prince Albert and Prince George (who later became King George V). The original building, Grenade Hall, was built in the 1800s by Sir Graham’s father, and he bequeathed it to Sir Graham in 1856. Sir Graham renamed the property “Farley Hill” after a British school of which he had happy memories. Folklore attributes 99 windows to his dream of a mansion. However, after his death in 1887, the building gradually became dilapidated […]