Window on Wednesday

…at the slave fort on Bunce island….

Some information about the island and the fort:

Bunce Island is located about 20miles upriver from Freetown and is the site of an 18th century British slave castle. Although a small island only about 1650 feet long and 350 feet wide, its strategic position at the limit of navigation in Africa's largest natural harbour made it an ideal base for European slave merchants and was the largest British slave castle on the Rice Coast. African farmers with rice-growing skills were kidnapped from inland areas were sold at the castle or at one of its many "outfactories" (trading posts) along the coast before being transported to North America. Several thousand slaves from Bunce Island were taken to the ports of Charleston (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) during the second half of the 18th century.

Sadly the site of the old fort is in a very sad state and there is absolutely no visible evidence of the old town and new town shown as on the map above. The cemetery not shown on the map is just a sandy opening in the quite dense bush. One or two head stones have “survived” and lay in pieces scattered on what were once graves. We were able to make out on one of the head stones; a Governor at the fort had arrived when he was 35, he died aged 60…we wondered if he ever returned to England for a break…we came to the conclusion that perhaps he did not…

a collage of what remains…