A Priest Left Land to the Church With a 15-Year Deadline. It Passed to the Government and Became a Playground

• Father William Cox left 2.2 acres at Loyal Hill to the Catholic Church for a priests’ retreat
• His will said the land would go to the Government if unused within 15 years
• It did, and residents turned it into a playground that opened in 1997
• Reinsurers raised more than $100,000 to restore it in 2025

A community playground in Bermuda owes its existence to a priest’s will and a deadline the church did not meet. The Royal Gazette reported in April 2025 that the 2.2-acre Loyal Hill site was bequeathed by Father William Cox to the Catholic Church to build a retreat for priests.

The will included a condition: if the church could not use the land within 15 years, it should go to the Government, which is what happened. Father Cox was the uncle of former House Speaker Sir John Cox.

In the 1990s, residents campaigned to turn the field into a playground, and the Loyal Hill Community Playground opened in April 1997. Over the years it fell into disrepair, with rusty swings and broken equipment.

In 2025 it was revived. More than $100,000 was raised by 15 reinsurance companies, in an effort led by Sylvia Oliveira of the Bermuda International Long-Term Insurers and Reinsurers. “The local talent in Bermuda is what drives our global reinsurance business, and the Loyal Hill Playground is our gift back to the community,” said the group’s chief executive, Suzanne Williams-Charles. The ribbon was cut on April 4, 2025, with Cabinet Office Minister Diallo Rabain among those attending.

The Loyal Hill story shows how the terms of a gift can decide what happens to land for generations. Many Jamaican churches received land through wills and deeds with conditions attached, and some of those conditions have long been forgotten. Churches should check the terms of any bequest and use the land as intended, or risk losing it. Jamaicans abroad who plan to leave property to their home church should take legal advice on how to word the gift, so it serves its purpose and does not end up somewhere unexpected.

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