The Barbados Museum is housed in the Garrison’s old military prison, which was built in around 1818. A classic example of West Indian Georgian architecture, with its jalousied windows and open verandahs, it is set around an attractive courtyard.

The displays selectively trace Barbados’ history from the early Amerindian settlers, through colonial times of slavery and Emancipation to the early days of Independence.

The tiny spartan prison cells at the back are one of the more sobering reminders of the brutality of colonial rule, which is somewhat underplayed in the museum as a whole, as are the constant acts of everyday resistance by the enslaved population against the plantation owners, and the post-Emancipation struggles for social justice.