his grand old home, built in the mid 1650s, is one of the few Jacobean style houses left in the Western Hemisphere and one of the oldest buildings on the island. This elegant home was also a working sugar plantation during the days of slavery and many of its working buildings remain.
Situated in St. Peter in the north of the island, it is furnished much as it was 300 years ago with impressive late 18th century and early 19th century antiques. The house still retains many interesting architectural features such as the curved dutch gables, ceder paneling, coral stone finials, corner chimneys as well as a Chinese Chippendale staircase. This property is a prime example of the 'landed gentry' lifestyle of that era.
It is believed that the home was built by Colonel Benjamin Berringer, a wealthy planter and member of an aristocratic family. John (later Sir John) Yeamans was neighbour, friend and business partner to Yeamans. However his attentiveness to Mrs. Berringer and the rumoured affair they were having, caused a feud between Yeamans and Colonel Berringer, which ended in a duel and the subsequent death of Berringer. Soon after Sir John married Mrs. Berringer and claimed the Abbey but a court ruling later returned the property to Berringer's children and the property was named after Berringer's grand-daughter who married George Nicholas.
There is a guided tour of the house but only the ground floor is open to the public. Of particular interest is the remarkable 20 minute film taken in 1934 which lay forgotten in a drawer for 45 years. It shows the sugar plantation, windmills turning and streets scenes of Bridgetown.
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