Location
🏝️ Greenwood Great House: Where Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Fortune Built Jamaica's Party Palace
✨ Vibe Check: Literary legacy, elegant grandeur, historically fascinating
Step into the party house of poetry's most famous family! Greenwood Great House is a stunning great house belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning's father – a man so wealthy from his 84,000 Jamaican acres that he owned a street in London (still called Barrett Street near Selfridges!). Built purely for entertainment from 1780-1800, Greenwood showcases what £60,000 a year could buy when that was enough to live like royalty. The Barrett family's story spans from failed Spanish conquests to literary immortality, all while hosting Jamaica's most lavish parties.
👨👩👧👦 Who Should Come? Yes for families with curious kids – The Elizabeth Barrett Browning connection makes poetry come alive, and children love hearing about the family's incredible wealth. Perfect for literature lovers and history buffs who enjoy connecting famous writers to their colonial roots. Great for couples interested in elegant architecture and romantic literary connections.
🔍 What's There:
💡 Insider Tip: Ask about the London connection – the Barrett family literally had enough money to own prime London real estate while running this Jamaican entertainment palace! Best photos are in the main entertaining rooms where you can imagine the lavish parties that funded Elizabeth's poetry education. Visit late afternoon for the best lighting through the period windows, and don't miss learning how this "easier prize" of Jamaica (after failing to take Spanish Hispaniola) created one of literature's greatest fortunes.
Accompong, St. Elizabeth
8 Perth Road Mandeville, Manchester
