Another appeal for Roxborough - JamaicaObserver.com

Saturday, November 07, 2009 4:48 PM

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Another appeal for Roxborough

Birthplace of National Hero Norman Manley still in disrepair

BY Garfield Myers Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau myersg@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Mandeville, Manchester - There have been renewed calls for Roxborough, the inadequately maintained birthplace of National Hero Norman Washington Manley, to be upgraded in a manner befitting its historical significance.

Mayor of Mandeville and chairman of the Manchester Parish Council, Brenda Ramsay, led the charge on Saturday at the annual July 4 celebration of Manley's birth, claiming the nation had failed to adequately honour the name of a man often described as the 'father' and chief architect of post-independent Jamaica.

Roxborough, the birthplace of National Hero Norman Manley, is still in disrepair. (Photo: Gregory Bennett)

"How do we account for the obvious lack of care for these surroundings, what could be the excuse for the only once-per-year hurried attention we pay to maintaining these grounds and the absence of even a proper monument to mark the site where he (Manley) grew up," said Ramsay as she gestured to the surroundings.

"This is an indictment on all of us and I sincerely hope that we do not have to come again to commemorate the memory of one to whom we owe so much without seeing significant improvement," she added.

Though considered among the most important of Jamaica's heritage sites, Roxborough is officially used just once annually - on July 4.

Apart from an impressive frontal façade, the 19th-century stone and mortar building in which Manley was born in 1893 and spent his early years is no more. Only the foundations remain following a destructive fire in 1968. There is a full-time caretaker who lives with his family in an assigned cottage on the property but there is no electricity and no running water.

A just over quarter-mile-long bumpy, unpaved and unkempt access road leads to the site in a hilly bauxite-mining area close to May Day, a few miles south of Mandeville and with a panoramic view of much of Central Manchester.

A brief note on Roxborough on the website of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, which has responsibility for official heritage sites, says in part: "It was proposed that the house be restored since it had fallen into disrepair, but in 1968 it was destroyed by fire. Currently only the foundation remains. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust proposes to restore the building."

Pressed by the Observer following Saturday's function, which incorporated tributes to Manley's life in speech and song, Ramsay argued that a library and/or museum suitably furnished with literature and memorabilia on Manley should be part of any upgrading.

"Nobody knows of this place, but once a year we come and we pay homage. Norman Washington Manley did a lot for this nation and we should pay perpetual gratitude to this hero.," said Ramsay.

She stressed that she did not want to cast blame but "I am saying that it is an indictment on all of us and something should and must be done", she said.

The People's National Party (PNP), which was Manley co-founded and led for 30 years, held political power for 18 years between 1989 and 2007 - a period in which calls were repeatedly made for upgrading of Roxborough.

Ramsay noted that the responsibility lay with the Jamaica Heritage Trust.

"It is a heritage site and anything that is going to be done here must be with their blessing before anything can be done. surely they need to come on board. to say what can be done here.," she said.

Others at the function shared Ramsay's concerns and argued that an upgraded Roxborough could become an attractive place to visit for Jamaicans at home and abroad and even for others with an interest in the nation's history. But it was also pointed out by PNP parliamentarians Michael Peart (South Manchester) and Peter Bunting (Central Manchester) that the current harsh economic times were likely to mitigate against improvement anytime soon.

"I am disappointed that up to now we have not restored the building," said Peart. "The road needs to be surfaced and beautified and the place should be established in a way so that it is not only a once-a-year ceremony we go through. but people can readily come and visit and feel comfortable, relaxed and able to refresh themselves. This is something we have spoken about a lot like many other things year after year after year, and we have done literally nothing. In these economic times, I am afraid this will have to wait."

Bunting argued that any upgrade would have to be hinged to holistic incorporation of Roxborough as "a centre of knowledge" that would guarantee regular use and, by extension, proper maintenance.

"You are always going to find the facilities kind of running down if nobody is using it," said Bunting. "Until we can get it incorporated in the programme of education for the parish, for example, and. people coming through on a week to week basis and really using it (for) information, and perhaps with an audio-visual component to it, then I think it will always be sort of a facility on the margin and never fully appreciated, fully utilised.," said Bunting.

Guest speaker at Saturday's civic ceremony, Hyacinth Ione-Boothe, Jamaica's first ever ordained Methodist minister and a lecturer at the United Theological College, suggested that upgrading could include "a museum, a library, a kind of cultural centre with a room for prayer, reflection, even guest house, that if you want to you can come and rest. Reflect on the past and really be renewed in the spirit".

Crucially, she suggested every effort should be made to recreate the old architecture.

"This is ancient Jamaican architecture which should be restored and preserved as it was. they knew how to build in those days," said Ione-Boothe.

Daniel Monteith, principal of Bethabara Primary and Junior High School who chaired Saturday's ceremony, believes Roxborough should be developed as a "must-visit" site for students "especially our boys, to learn of that rich legacy that Norman has left us".

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