St James, near Montego Bay
Bellefield
Great House
A hillside sugar house above Montego Bay, kept by one family for generations.
- Built
- 18th century
- Economy
- Sugar
- Style
- Early Jamaican plantation / pre-Georgian
- Today
- Museum / attraction
Overview
Bellefield Great House stands in the hills of Granville, just south of Montego Bay, with views over the bay and the cruise ship pier. Family tradition holds that the site began as a militia outpost in the 1600s, and a Jamaica Gleaner report gives a construction date of 1735. A date stone at the foot of the garden steps carries the year 1793 and the name of David Kerr, a Scottish doctor and militia officer whose marriage into the Jarrett family created the Kerr-Jarrett name.
The house has a stone ground floor, a timber upper floor reached only by an outside stair, and a wraparound verandah. The large stone sugar mill, dated by the owners to 1794, is now a restaurant. Bellefield is still associated with the Kerr-Jarrett family, whose company Barnett Estates operates it, and it is open for tours, dining and events.
Timeline
11 dated moments in the life of Bellefield. Select a marker, or use the arrow keys, to read each one. Shaded bands show the wider eras of Jamaican history; dotted lines mark island-wide uprisings.
Swipe sideways to see the whole timeline, or read the full list below.
- 1735
Reported construction date
A 2011 Gleaner report says the house was first built in 1735; family tradition places an earlier militia post on the site.
- 1768
David Kerr arrives in Jamaica
The Forfar-born doctor settles in Jamaica and later becomes a major-general of militia.
- 1774
Bellfield in Edward Long's list
A St James estate named Bellfield, owned by John Crawford, is recorded with 231 enslaved people (identification with this house unconfirmed).
- 1793
Date stone
A stone at the foot of the garden steps is inscribed with this year and the name of David Kerr.
- 1794
Sugar mill built
The owners date the cut-stone sugar mill to this year.
- 1817
Slave register
The register for 'Bellefield Estate' in St James lists 260 people: 128 female and 132 male.
- 1831
Christmas Rebellion
The great uprising led by Samuel Sharpe sweeps St James; a Gleaner report says Bellefield's house was not burned.
- 1834
Abolition and apprenticeship
Slavery ends in law, followed by unpaid apprenticeship until 1838.
- 1835
Compensation claim
Claim St James 399 for 'Bellfield' awards £4,595 15s 2d to John Watson for 240 people.
- 1910
Kerr-Jarrett and Barnett
Francis Kerr-Jarrett becomes manager and owner of the Barnett sugar estates around Montego Bay.
- 2018
Restaurant opens in the mill
The old sugar mill reopens as a restaurant under Bellefield Great House Ltd.
The story of Bellefield
Origins, owners and the working estate.
The exact origin of Bellefield is uncertain. The owners and heritage writers describe the house as growing out of a hilltop militia post established in the 1600s, chosen for its view over Montego Bay. A 2011 Jamaica Gleaner society report gives 1735 as the date the house was first built. Neither claim has been confirmed by documentary evidence in the sources consulted.
The Kerr-Jarrett link is better documented. David Kerr (1739–1829), son of a provost of Forfar in Scotland, arrived in Jamaica in 1768, practised as a physician and became a major-general in the colonial militia. Aged 43, he married 20-year-old Sarah Newton Jarrett, daughter of Herbert Newton Jarrett II, and through that marriage gained Spring Garden estate in St James. The family name later became Kerr-Jarrett. A stone at Bellefield bears the year 1793 and Kerr's name, linking him to the property by that time. The owners say the cut-stone sugar mill was built in 1794 using stone brought as ballast on ships that came to load sugar and rum.
Bellefield was a sugar estate. The UCL Legacies of British Slavery database records a 'Bellfield' sugar and rum estate in St James (spelled Bellefield in the 1817 register) that was owned by the Crawford family from at least 1774 and by John Watson from the 1830s. It has not been confirmed that this record refers to the Granville property rather than another St James estate with a similar name, so those figures are presented cautiously. In the 20th century the Kerr-Jarrett family controlled the large Barnett sugar estates around Montego Bay, and their company, Barnett Estates, manages Bellefield today.
Architecture
How the house was built, and what survives.
Bellefield is described as older in character than most Georgian great houses, while sharing many of their features. The ground floor has thick stone walls and solid stone floors, and the upper floor is timber-framed. Unusually, there is no staircase inside the house: visitors climb an outside stair to a verandah that wraps around the upper storey, and every upstairs room opens onto it. The upper floor contains bedrooms, a sitting room, a smoking room and an office.
Inside, the ceilings have exposed beams and the walls carry wooden panelling to chair height. Windows are fitted with louvred shutters and angled jalousies to let air through while keeping out sun and rain. The former outdoor kitchen still stands and is now used as an office. The sugar mill, which the owners describe as one of the largest on the island and date to 1794, is built of cut stone and has been converted into a restaurant.
The grounds include lawns, a very old guango tree, a pergola and a gazebo. A small donkey-powered cane mill is used for demonstrations.
The people of Bellefield
Owners, enslaved Africans and their descendants, workers and keepers.
Like other sugar estates in St James, Bellefield depended on the labour of enslaved Africans and their descendants. If the UCL LBS 'Bellfield' estate in St James is the same property, about 231 enslaved people lived there in 1774, and government registers recorded 260 people in 1817 (128 female and 132 male), falling to 244 by 1832. In 1782, the probate inventory of owner John Crawford listed 228 enslaved people, 63 of them children, valued at £14,545 in Jamaican currency. That estate was later run by attorneys for Crawford's son, John Innes Crawford, who lived in Edinburgh. When slavery was abolished, John Watson of St James claimed compensation for 240 people and was awarded £4,595 15s 2d. No individual enslaved people at Bellefield have been identified in the sources consulted.
St James was the heart of the 1831–32 Christmas Rebellion led by Samuel Sharpe, during which many estate buildings were set on fire. A 2011 Gleaner report says Bellefield was one of the few great houses not burned. On the Kerr-Jarrett side, David Kerr was a senior militia officer, and the family were large landholders around Montego Bay. Freed people served an unpaid apprenticeship until 1838.
David Kerr1739–1829
Physician, militia major-general, landowner
His name and the year 1793 are carved on the date stone; married into the Jarrett family.
Sarah Newton Jarrettd. 1814
Wife of David Kerr
Daughter of Herbert Newton Jarrett II; her marriage created the Kerr-Jarrett line.
John Crawfordd. 1781
Owner of a St James estate called Bellfield
His 1782 inventory listed 228 enslaved people; identification with this house unconfirmed.
John Watson1830s
Compensation claimant for Bellfield, St James
Received £4,595 15s 2d for 240 people in 1835.
Sir Francis Kerr-Jarrett1885–1968
Owner of Barnett sugar estates; Custos of St James
Led the family's 20th-century landholdings around Montego Bay.
Mark and Paula Kerr-Jarrett21st century
Current owners and managers via Barnett Estate
Operate Bellefield as a heritage attraction.
What the records count
Every mark below is one person listed as enslaved on the estate in the official returns. Choose a year to see how the number changed.
244
Between 1817 and 1832 the recorded number fell by 16, from 260 to 244. On most Jamaican sugar estates, deaths outnumbered births under slavery; the population was kept up by purchase.
Historians have not yet confirmed that these register entries refer to this house: other Jamaican estates share the name. Treat these figures as provisional.
Myth and fact
Stories told about the house, checked against the documents.
The story
Legend: the house began as a 1600s militia outpost and is over 300 years old.
The record
This is family and tourism tradition. Documented dates found are 1735 (Gleaner), the 1793 date stone and the 1794 mill.
The story
Bellefield is 'one of the oldest sugar plantations in Jamaica'.
The record
Sugar estates existed in Jamaica from the 1600s; Bellefield's own founding date as a plantation has not been documented in the sources checked.
Bellefield today
Bellefield is described by its owners as having been in the Kerr-Jarrett family for eleven or more generations, and as the family's home for seven. In the 20th century the family's Barnett Estates became a major landowner around Montego Bay; Sir Francis Kerr-Jarrett ran the Barnett sugar estates and was Custos of St James for more than three decades. Today Barnett Estate, managed by Mark and Paula Kerr-Jarrett, operates Bellefield as a heritage attraction. In 2018 the restaurant opened inside the old sugar mill, run under Bellefield Great House Ltd, a joint venture with the Josephs family that also offers living-history tours, rum tastings and events.
The house holds 19th-century objects such as clothing, a locked tea box and estate ledgers. Bellefield sits within the wider Montego Bay South development area, where the family has also given land for a University of the West Indies campus.
Bellefield is privately owned and operates tours, a restaurant and events; some tours have been reported as by appointment, so check arrangements with the operator before visiting.
Learn
For students, teachers and the curious.
Did you know?
- There is no staircase inside Bellefield Great House; you reach the upper floor by an outside stair.
- The old stone sugar mill is now a restaurant.
- A small mill turned by a donkey is used to show how cane juice was squeezed.
- The family name Kerr-Jarrett came from a marriage between a Scottish doctor and a Jamaican planter's daughter.
Test yourself
Sources
Where this account comes from. The web addresses are listed so you can check the evidence yourself.
- Bellefield Great House – Our History (official site)http://bellefieldgreathouse.com/history/
- Jamaica Great Houses – Bellefieldhttps://jamaicagreathouses.com/bellefield/index.html
- Jamaica Observer – Big plans for Bellefield Great House (2019)https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/big-plans-for-bellefield-great-house
- Jamaica Gleaner – Social, 2 Dec 2011https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111202/social/social1.html
- UCL LBS – Bellfield [1], St James (estate 2415)https://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/2415
- UCL LBS – Claim Jamaica St James 399 (Bellfield)https://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/18898
- UCL LBS – John Crawfordhttps://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146644257
- UCL LBS – David Kerr (1739–1829)https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146644247
- Wikipedia – Francis Moncrieff Kerr-Jarretthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Moncrieff_Kerr-Jarrett
Historian's notes: what is uncertain
Construction date is unresolved: owners say 1600s militia outpost; Gleaner (2011) says 1735; date stone 1793; owners date the mill to 1794. built_year 1735 is a low-confidence placeholder. The 'Barnett/Kerr' framing in the brief: the family is Kerr-Jarrett; 'Barnett' is their estate company (Barnett Estate/Barnett Estates Ltd), not a separate owning family at Bellefield. How and when the Kerr-Jarretts acquired Bellefield is not documented in sources found; the David Kerr LBS record mentions Spring Garden and Dry Ridge but not Bellefield.
LBS has several St James 'Bellfield' entries (estate 2415 'Bellfield [1]', 'Bellfield Estate [3]' estate 2062 which could not be opened, and a Bellfield owned by James Cunningham); the Crawford/Watson estate 2415 is used here because the 1817 register names it 'Bellefield Estate', but it is NOT confirmed to be the Granville house — enslaved counts and compensation should be treated as low confidence. LBS lists the claim awardee only implicitly (John Watson as claimant). The Gleaner claim that the house escaped burning in 1831 is a single-source report.
Coordinates approximate (Granville, south of Montego Bay). JNHT status unknown. Compensation £4,595 15s 2d expressed as decimal 4595.76.
Nearby great houses
This profile was compiled by Jamaica Homes News from the sources listed above and checked against archival records where they were available. Legends are labelled as legends. Inclusion here does not confirm public access or opening hours. Spotted an error, or hold records about this house? Return to the Great Houses archive to explore the other houses.