ALL BARK BUT NO LEGAL BITE.
That is the situation the Barbados National Trust says is plaguing it as it fends off criticisms from people who say it should have saved the slave hut owned by the Leacock family, especially as there is a BNT plaque affixed to the historic building.
The structure, believed to be about 175 years old and referred to as the Leacock Slave Hut, is situated at Walmer Lodge, Black Rock, St Michael. Members of the Leacock family, who own the structure, have complained they thought the National Trust would have restored the slave hut, especially after BNT officials placed the Trust’s highly recognisable blue sign, which deemed it a building of historical interest.
But Watson said the Trust’s hands were tied by a lack of legislation and compared the situation it faced with the slave hut to a similar situation involving the ancestral home, in St Lucy, of National Hero and first prime minister of Barbados, Errol Barrow.
heatherlynevanson@nationnews.com
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