Admiralty House, Bermuda

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Coordinates: 32°18′23″N 64°48′23″W / 32.3063°N 64.8065°W / 32.3063; -64.8065
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Admiralty House, Bermuda
Admiralty House at Clarence Hill, formerly St. John's Hill
Active1795-1956
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
RoleStation command
Garrison/HQNorth America and West Indies Station

Admiralty House, Bermuda, was the official residence and offices for the senior officer of the

colony of Bermuda, originally the Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station
.

Early Admiralty Houses in Bermuda

Further information: Royal Navy
Admiralty House Bermuda at Mount Wyndham (1810 to 1816)

The first location of the Admiralty House had been at Rose Hill, in

Great Sound and Hamilton Harbour, to access by large vessels.[1]

St. John's Hill, a property at

John Warren. It was then intended to move Admiralty House to a building on Langton Hill, also in Pembroke, but this evidently did not happen. In 1810, Admiralty House moved instead to the rented Mount Wyndham, above Bailey's Bay.[2] This location allowed observation of both St. George's Harbour and Murray's Anchorage, and signals could be passed between these points with visual aids (flags or lights). Mount Wyndham was "granted by" the House of Assembly in 1812, and St. John's Hill (which was still being rented by the Admiralty, but had been sitting vacant) was adapted to a naval hospital during a yellow fever epidemic that year.[3]

Move to the West End

colony of Bermuda
to exercise on the open ocean

With the development of the

Government of Bermuda for £2,000-3,000 pounds and gifted to the Admiralty by the House of Assembly. "Admiralty House" moved there from Mount Wyndham in the same year.[4]

Closure

In 1822, St. John's Hill was renamed "Clarence Hill", commemorating Admiral of the Fleet, Prince William, the

King William IV), and remained Admiralty House until 1956, when it finally closed.[4]

Civil use

After the two units amalgamated in 1965 to form the

Paget (the main campus of the college was situated separately at the former Prospect Camp, until moving to the same site in Paget in the 1990s).[5]

Current use

TS Bermuda (Sea Cadet Corps) at Admiralty House in 2016

While most of the grounds are now public parkland, the Clarence Hill property retains a naval use as part of it has since 1968 housed TS Bermuda, the headquarters unit of the Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps.[6]

Mount Wyndham (where the press of the Great Seal of the Confederacy, which had been waiting in Bermuda for delivery to Charleston, South Carolina by blockade-runner, was kept for many decades after the defeat of the Confederate States of America ended the American Civil War) returned to use as a private dwelling after Admiralty House was relocated to St. John's Hill, and currently is part of a housing condominium development which includes many newer buildings.[7]

Rose Hill became the site of the St. George's Hotel, and currently is occupied by the St. George's Club, a time sharing development made up of seventy-one cottages, an administration building (also containing a restaurant), and storage buildings. No earlier structures remain.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Bermuda Naval Base: management, artisans and enslaved workers in the 1790s". Mariner's Mirror. May 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  2. Edward Cecil Harris. The Royal Gazette
    , 1 October 2011
  3. ^ "The Andrew and the Onions", by Lieutenant-Commander Ian Stranack
  4. ^ a b Worth, Margaret (9 January 2022). "The History of Admiralty House". The Bermudian. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Admiralty House Park". 19 September 2011. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Admiralty Park House". Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Townhome offers grandeur, privacy, spectacular sea views". Royal Gazette. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  8. ^ "The St. George's Club". Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

32°18′23″N 64°48′23″W / 32.3063°N 64.8065°W / 32.3063; -64.8065

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