Boulton & Watt Steam Engine was sold to the sugar plantation in 1841 from Soho Foundry Birmingham.
Cyanotype: Fragment of an original Boulton and Watt steam engine drawing from the Boulton and Watt Collection, MS3147/5/1015, (2023) made by Tracey Thorne
During my field trips in Jamaica, I was keen to try and find the ruins of the former Drax Hall sugar mill, in the parish of St Ann's. Before I left Birmingham, I had looked at the surviving engine drawings for the Drax sugar estate of a 10 horsepower engine supplied to the estate in 1841 by Boulton and Watt, from Soho Foundry. The engine was ordered by London merchants Davidson and Barkly & Co., mostly likely for the heirs of John Pink's estate.
The sugar plantation is perhaps one of the most well-known in Jamaica due to its first notorious owner William Drax, around 1669. In 1715 the Drax family sold part of the estate to Peter Beckford another well-known plantation and slave owner. By 1821 the estate was owned by a Jamaican planter called John Pink. His heirs the Pink children were the beneficiaries of the compensation claim for freeing 353 enslaved people in 1837.
More research is needed to explore the possibility that wealthy estates, benefiting from compensation money, used this to purchase new equipment to make their estates more profitable and to examine whether trade cities such as Birmingham benefited from this money.
Several drawings from the 1841 order survive and are marked with the name of the estate at the top, as shown in the cyanotype above 'Drax Hall.'
At the end of the eighteenth century, the estate is reported to have had a new waterwheel installed to power the sugar mill, with water carried from the St Ann Great River. The supplementary notes for the supply of the Boulton and Watt steam engine in 1841 reference the waterwheel.
"Also "Different views of Connecting Machinery required to render available the power of either a Waterwheel or Steam Engine to the same mill as circumstances may require agreeably to the annexed specification."
Online research suggested that the ruins of the waterwheel existed, but very little other information was available. I was familiar with the area known as Drax Hall as this is today a very busy commercial area with a bus hub, supermarkets, and many other food outlets off the main road. I had never noticed anything that looked historic, so it took me a lot of time to figure out where in this area the ruins of the sugar mill are located.
Photograph: Ruins of the sugar mill and waterwheel Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne, from the series Intended for Jamaica.
I spent some time comparing the location pinpointed on the UCL Robertsons map of Jamaica in 1804 to Google Maps. Then I drove to the area and spent ages circling it, which in recent years has also been developed for housing, with a large part behind gated walls. People in the area confused it with the waterwheel at Mammee Bay, a short distance away.
Eventually, I found another small road to drive up and spotted some old brickwork and outbuildings. I pulled into this peaceful area; no one was around, and I couldn't see anything that resembled the familiar sugar works I had found at other estates. I noticed a young woman living in one of the small dwellings with a baby and asked her if she knew where the waterwheel was. She seemed surprised by the question and said no, not around here. As I walked off, frustrated by what felt like a wild goose chase in the hot midday sun, I suddenly spotted some old brickwork covered in vegetation on the edge of the compound.
I walked in that direction through some bushes, climbed a small wall that was part of the ruins, and then suddenly there it was—the enormous eighteenth-century waterwheel. I looked around and observed the outline of what would have been part of the sugar mill and found some more ironwork to the side. The steam engine was gone, but I felt a sense of emotion standing in what I believe is the exact spot where it once stood. I am unsure if any of the ironwork that remains originated from the Boulton and Watt order, but tracing it from 5,000 miles away in Birmingham to this historic site in Jamaica felt significant.
Photograph: Looking towards the section of the building that contains the waterwheel. At the site of the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
Unlike other waterwheels I had seen in Jamaica, this one was encased within a brick structure. Due to it becoming overgrown, it’s easy to see why people don’t know that the eighteenth-century waterwheel is there.
Photograph: Looking through the window where a section of the metal water wheel is still visible. At the site of the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
I couldn't get up by the waterwheel on this side, so I went through a lower section of the building on the other side and climbed up the wall shown in the photograph below.
Photograph: Looking up to a small wheel on the upper section of the building in front of a small gap into the chamber where the waterwheel is encased. At the site of the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
Photograph: Close-up of the small wheel on the upper section of the building which is in front of a small gap into the chamber where the water wheel is encased. At the site of the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
It was pretty difficult to photograph the waterwheel, although I did crawl a little way through the gap between the wheels.
Back on the lower section, the outline of sections of the building is still visible, including the sunken area shown below. I wasn't sure if it was part of a well or used for boiling sugar in the kettles, as it was quite overgrown and I am not an expert on sugar mills.
Photograph: Close-up of a section of the building inside the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
Photograph: View towards an iron cylinder inside the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
Photograph: One of the buildings inside the compound surrounded by part of the old wall of the ruins of the sugar works at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
The area appeared to have a small number of people living there, with some buildings used for agricultural purposes and a car wash.
Driving out of the compound back onto the road facing towards the A1 main road at Drax Hall, the ruins of the sugar works can just be made out, concealed on the left by dense vegetation including breadfruit trees.
Photograph: The road heading back towards the A1 road at Drax Hall, Jamaica (2023) Tracey Thorne.
I discovered after visiting the site that Joseph Sturge, an English Quaker, abolitionist, and social reformer, visited Jamaica in 1837. His visit was part of his broader mission to investigate the conditions of the newly emancipated slaves in the British West Indies. During this visit, he also went to Drax Hall, a plantation to observe and report on the state of the former enslaved people and the ongoing practices on the plantation. His observations were documented in his book "The West Indies in 1837," which provided a detailed account of his findings. A copy of this book is held in the Library collection and a 'white' marble statue of the 'man', memorialising him stands at Five Ways, Birmingham.
I did seek out the passage in his book on his visit to Drax Hall and maybe one day I will find Sturge Town, which is also in the same parish of St Ann in Jamaica named after him.
Works on show - Exhibition
One of the 1841 Drax Hall original engine drawings is being exhibited in Intended for Jamaica at the Library of Birmingham, alongside a photograph of the ruins. This project was supported with a grant from Arts Council England.
Note: the original engine drawings of steam engines in the Boulton and Watt Collection weren't made as cyanotypes they mostly pre-date this photographic process that started to become popular in Britain in 1843. They were made on plain paper or tracing paper, usually monochrome but some are in colour. One of the Drax Hall drawings is in colour.
Reading
Jamaica National Heritage Trust Drax Water wheel http://www.jnht.com/site_drax_hall_waterwheel.php
Time Magazine 'Inside Barbados’ Historic Push for Slavery Reparations' https://time.com/6290949/barbados-reparations/
Undoing 2007; Preparing for 2038: Reflections on the Making Freedom Exhibition and Emancipation 1838 Project, Convened by Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman (Visiting Fellow, University of Birmingham) blog (2024) by Dr Carol Ann Dixon
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