HERITAGE

The Caribbean is a treasure trove for UK visitors interested in the British Navy’s (often dubious) colonial and military history.

In Antigua, Nelson’s Dockyard is part of Nelson Dockyard National Park, which also includes Clarence House and Shirley Heights. Despite declaring it a ‘vile spot’ when he arrived in 1784, it is named after the famous British seafaring captain, Horatio Nelson, who lived in the Royal Naval Dockyard whilst stationed there until 1787.

The dockyard has another more recent claim to fame: in 1982 Duran Duran filmed their ‘Waiting for the Nightboat’ music video in a dry dock there.

There are more Nelson links in Nevis, where Nelson made his mark as an ambitious young commander. It was here that he met plantation owner’s daughter Frances ‘Fanny’ Nisbet, the wife he would later scandalously leave for Lady Emma Hamilton.

The island’s main Nelson shrine also happens to be one of its best hotels.

The Montpelier Plantation stands on the site of the governor’s mansion where the ambitious young captain of HMS Boreas first met Fanny Nisbet around 1785.

In nearby St John’s church you can see their signatures in the registry and their marriage certificate while the Horatio Nelson Museum in the capital Charlestown, boasts the largest collection of ‘Nelsonia’.

In neighbouring St. Kitts, a major attraction is Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a remarkable example of European military engineering dating from the 17th and 18th centuries - but also a lasting testimony to European colonial expansion and the African slave trade.

The fortress, which perches atop a 240-metre high extinct volcano with panoramic views over the south part of St Kitts and Caribbean Sea, dates from 1690 when the British installed a canon to drive out the French.

Also in times of European settlement in the Caribbean, the capital of Barbados, Bridgetown, was a major port for the shipment of goods for the British. One of the Caribbean’s earliest established towns, it was used as a trading port in the 17th century. Bridgetown and its Garrison is a World Heritage Site featuring colonial town buildings, the seaport and former garrison.

In Dominica, Fort Shirley is a part of the Cabrits National Park and is best known for an uprising by the enslaved African soldiers in 1802, an event that led to their freedom in 1807. The fort was used as a defence force between Britain and France in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In Martinique, Bibliothèque Schoelcher is a flamboyant building on the northwest corner of La Savane constructed for the 1889 World Exposition in Paris and then shipped here. It still functions as a free-entry public library.

In the British Virgin Islands, the Callwood Rum Distillery is a small, family-run business believed to be 400 years old. Tours are available from March through to August. •