Bimble

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 9 Nov 2010 23:26
Just a Little Bimble On The Way Home
 
 
 
 
 
 
On the way back from the Ferry Terminal, after our week on Tobago, we were nearly home when I saw an odd sight, a regional meeting of Corbeau sitting at the top of a dead tree.
 
 
 
 
We usually see these big birds sitting by the side of the road a few feet from Chaguaramas Bay 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Not too dainty on the take off and landing
 
 
 
 
Facing inland on the other side of the main road we saw this chap. I asked Bear if we could drive along the road parallel
 
 
 
 
Of the hundreds of times we have been along the main road, we had no idea what was along this quiet Macqueripe Road - we soon saw this sign
 
 
 
 
The ruins of St Chad’s Anglican Church

 

In 1850, Daniel Cave who was the owner of Mount Pleasant Estate, donated 22,800 square feet of land to the Anglican Church for the construction of a St Chad’s - named after the English saint. The original church that was constructed in 1850 was made of wood but after eighteen years it fell into a state of disrepair and had to be demolished. The congregation requested a new church and with the help of Daniel Cave a new one was completed in 1875. Unfortunately by 1915 this church was in a state of decay. Agnes Tucker, the wife of the owner of the majority of estates in Chaguaramas, then pushed for the construction of yet another new church. By the end of 1915, with the help of the people of Mount Pleasant Village (which was created by the former slaves after Emancipation who settled on the lands of Mount Pleasant Estate) and the estate workers a new church was constructed. This church remained in use until the US Army was given Chaguaramas for use as a military base.

 

 

When St Chad's church was constructed it lay between the grocery and the school. The grocery (though no longer operational) still appears in good condition because of the refurbishing that was done when Mount Pleasant Village was used in 2001 to film some of the scenes for the movie, The Mystic Masseur. Within the church's cemetery there are several graves. The most prominent grave belongs to Amelia Tripp, born on the 19th of January 1856. She was the daughter of William Tucker and married his business partner, Edgar Tripp. Edgar was the Attorney of the Macqueripe Estate, he later pioneered electric lighting in Trinidad. Amelia died on the 17th of April 1879 in childbirth at the young age of twenty three. There are those who say that on a dark night she roams the roadway but no one has been able to prove it. Her grave, appropriate for her high status in the community, now shows a worn marble cross with a faded and worn inscription. Sadly, grass has grown in the tomb itself so it looks pretty poorly. It was the general opinion in those days that only the wealthy were given tombs, whereas a wooden cross was placed as a grave marker for people of the working class. Her inscription reads:

Bright be the place of thy soul;
No lovelier spirit than thine
E'er brush from its mortal control
In the Orbs of the blessed to shine
 

 
 
 
 
 
ALL IN ALL WE NEVER KNOW WHAT WE'LL SEE NEXT