“Their Veneration for Every Thing Connected with the Grave”: Evidence of an Afro-Barbadian Burial Ground at Society Plantation, Barbados, West Indies

Abstract

Few enslaved burial grounds have been identified throughout the Caribbean, notably on the southeasterly island of Barbados, which was home to one of the densest populations of enslaved peoples from its official settlement in 1627 to Emancipation in 1834. In this paper, we present archival, oral historical, and geophysical data evidencing a burial ground for enslaved and free Barbadians at Holy Cross Church, located on Society Plantation. Situated on the grounds of Christopher Codrington’s seventeenth-century estate, which was later gifted to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, this burial ground, and its associated archival record, sheds light on proselytization efforts and burial practices on the island shortly before and after Emancipation. We present evidence of the location of burial grounds for Afro-Barbadians who chose the Christian rite of burial. We then offer alternatives to excavation that can properly honor and respect the individuals interred at the site. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

African diaspora Barbados burial grounds EM geophysics GPR remote sensing slavery

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States

Department of Anthropology, City College of New York, New York, NY, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

University of the West Indies, UWI

This work was supported by Research Foundation of The City University of New York. The authors wish to thank Reverend Griffiths, Rector Bean, and the Sexton at Holy Cross Church for providing valuable information about the history of the Church and enthusiastically granting permission for us to conduct research. We are also grateful for the support of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, particularly Kevin Farmer. We are very grateful for the assistance provided by team members from the City College of New York and the University of the West Indies, including Herbert Seignoret, Bryanna Caraballo, Parker Hovis, Sema Tascioglu, Elizabeth Hinds, and Anisah Wood. Reilly is particularly grateful for research suggestions provided by Jerome Handler and Tara Inniss-Gibbs. Finally, we thank Helen Blouet and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript. All errors remain our own.

City College of New York, CCNY

This work was supported by Research Foundation of The City University of New York. The authors wish to thank Reverend Griffiths, Rector Bean, and the Sexton at Holy Cross Church for providing valuable information about the history of the Church and enthusiastically granting permission for us to conduct research. We are also grateful for the support of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, particularly Kevin Farmer. We are very grateful for the assistance provided by team members from the City College of New York and the University of the West Indies, including Herbert Seignoret, Bryanna Caraballo, Parker Hovis, Sema Tascioglu, Elizabeth Hinds, and Anisah Wood. Reilly is particularly grateful for research suggestions provided by Jerome Handler and Tara Inniss-Gibbs. Finally, we thank Helen Blouet and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript. All errors remain our own.

Research Foundation of The City University of New York, RFCUNY

This work was supported by Research Foundation of The City University of New York. The authors wish to thank Reverend Griffiths, Rector Bean, and the Sexton at Holy Cross Church for providing valuable information about the history of the Church and enthusiastically granting permission for us to conduct research. We are also grateful for the support of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, particularly Kevin Farmer. We are very grateful for the assistance provided by team members from the City College of New York and the University of the West Indies, including Herbert Seignoret, Bryanna Caraballo, Parker Hovis, Sema Tascioglu, Elizabeth Hinds, and Anisah Wood. Reilly is particularly grateful for research suggestions provided by Jerome Handler and Tara Inniss-Gibbs. Finally, we thank Helen Blouet and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript. All errors remain our own.

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“Their Veneration for Every Thing Connected with the Grave”: Evidence of an Afro-Barbadian Burial Ground at Society Plantation, Barbados, West Indies

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