BRECHIN CASTLE A QUINTESSENCE OF TRINIDAD’S LOST SUGAR HISTORY

Photos: Left: Dr Arthur Down taken in the early 1950s in sharp contrast to the photograph on the Right: I took from the same position 60 years later in 2012, only a few months before the collapse of the left smokestack. The photograph was taken while I was exploring lands which formerly made up Esperanza estate, located to the south of BC

RECOLLECTIONS: I often cast my mind back to blurred memories of driving through sugar estates like Brechin Castle and Usine Ste Madeleine (USM) in the mid-60s. My parents had friends in both places and would often be allowed to take short cuts through the private estate roads. Brechin Castle (BC) was my favourite during crop time when we would often encounter trains loaded with cane going towards the factory or empties going in the opposite direction. There was a point over the Couva river where road and rail converged into a single bridge. Here a system of traffic lights held up road traffic if there was a train approaching from either direction. I was delighted in 1989 to see the bridge with rails still in situ and the remains of one of the traffic lights. Railway lines on either side having long gone. Sadly, on my last visit the old bridge seems to have been replaced altogether by a wider new one.
The sugar industry in Trinidad closed altogether in 2005.
Only a few years ago there was a plan to restore Brechin Castle as a “Sugar Heritage Village” museum and business park. The venture seemed to gather steam when four diesel locomotives from USM were moved by heavy haulage road vehicles to BC, on 6 November 2012.
I first visited the site at BC a few weeks later, on 28 December 2012, and met with Prof. Brinsley Samaroo and Arjoon Singh. On that occasion, I donated to the museum a series of vintage photographs (slides) taken of the sugar industry in Trinidad by the late Dr. Arthur Down. At the meeting we discussed plans for the museum which included a Sugar Museum, Sugar Archives, living Railway Museum (with short train rides for visitors), golf, convention facilities and a few other things. My last visit was on 21 February 2016 when Prof. Samaroo invited me to tour the sugar archives building which had been beautifully built to a high standard, as was the museum which we visited afterwards.
Sadly, since that time, things seem to have come to a standstill. I don't know what has happened, but it seems that funding for the project has been suspended and lately we are informed that the factory is to be demolished.
BC and USM once had everything and could have very easily set up an operation similar to that which now exists in Barbados at St Nicholas Abbey rum distillery & heritage railway. Redundant sugar workers and local people alike, could have benefited tremendously had this been realised at BC in Trinidad.
A recent British Parliamentary study of the effect on local communities across Britain by having a heritage railway and this also could equally apply to a heritage center such as BC in Trinidad. The following is a quote taken from the British report: "Economic Benefits - Heritage railways make a major contribution to the economies of the areas they serve both in terms of attracting tourism and of substantial spending on local services. Research undertaken for a number of railways suggests a mean benefit to the local economy of around 2.7 times the railway’s turnover. In aggregate, this would suggest that the economic benefit nationally is just under £250m".
The same could have been set up at BC and running as of 2016. As time goes by the dream diminishes and the cost of restoring BC soars out of sight.
In Trinidad we have very interesting history that would be of great interest to locals and foreign visitors alike. Below is some of the history associated with Brechin Castle which I know most local people don’t realise.
The abandoned Brechin Castle that some of us know today is not the original sugar factory or “Usine”. The original factory was a much smaller operation that was located to the west of Couva, south of the river and towards the sea on a location that was to become known as “Tractor Shed”. The BC we know today was built on what was Sevilla Estate.
HISTORY: Sevilla Estate was acquired as part of the great centralisation of sugar estates which began to take place following the abolition of slavery.
This was the beginning of a process of amalgamation in the sugar industry which was moving away from smaller holdings, each with their own crushing mills and factory, into what became known as ‘Central Factories’ or much larger and more efficient modern works where cane would be brought for the process of sugar manufacture.
The introduction of Central Factories was the prelude to the railway age in Trinidad where it became essential to transport cane to factory quickly and efficiently from greater distances. Because of this, particularly in the West Indies, both the sugar industry and railways are indelibly associated.
By 1886 Brechin Castle, which by then included Sevilla Estate, was in the ownership of Turnbull Stewart and Co. The company owned a railway for their cane transportation needs as well as ocean going ships to transport manufactured sugar to the UK.
A very good description of Turnbull Stewart and Co's operation is described by J.H. Collens in his 1886 "Guide to Trinidad" as follows:
" the train has started again; rolling over the muddy Couva River by the longest iron bridge in the island, you see on the right the fine works of Brechin Castle (Mr. G. Turnbull), in the Savanetta part of Couva (Savanetta = little savanna). These were the first Vacuum Pan works erected in Trinidad, and the fine crystals made here took the first prize at the local exhibition in February this year (1886). On the left is Sevilla, worked in connection with Brechin Castle. The first building is the estate hospital; a little further, on the rising ground, is the residence of Mr. John S. Wilson, planting attorney of Messrs. Turnbull, Stewart and Co. There is telephonic communication between Brechin Castle and Sevilla, and from the former to the shipping place. Behind Sevilla, in the direction of Montserrat, are Milton (Messrs. C. Tennant, Son and Co.) and Rivulet (Mr. G. Turnbull)."
The railway bridge over the Couva river described in the 1886 account above still stands to this day. It was known as the “Sevilla Bridge”. This bridge was originally built by Contractors and Engineers Westwood and Baillie & Co. of London England and in 1922 it was reinforced by TGR engineer C. R. Walker so that it could take the heavier Canadian engines (21 Class) which began to arrive in Trinidad in 1920.
Travelling south in 1886 the factory was on the right, today it stands on the left of the old railway line. Also note the mention of the "shipping place". At one time there were 18 "Shipping places" or "Embarcaderes" before the coming of the railways when produce was moved by river to the sea for onward shipment.
By 1913 Brechin Castle estate, including Sevilla Estate, was owned by Trinidad Estates Co. under attorney W.G. Kay. At the time it included the following estates: Rivulet, Milton, Caroni and Sainte Helena. The company was managed by J.W. Arbuckle and J. Gilbert. The Engineer was F.M. Goodwin.
In 1923 a group of estates near Tacarigua known collectively as Orange Grove and belonging to West Indian Estates changes to Trinidad Sugar Estates Limited. In 1924 the original Trinidad Sugar Estates Limited became part of Caroni Sugar Estates (Trinidad) Limited with factories at Caroni (note: the original Caroni Estate, close to Caroni village, was originally known as “Frederick Estate” and today Frederick settlement still exists) and Brechin Castle.
In 1936 Tate and Lyle purchased 50% of Caroni estates. Then at around the same time, Caroni (1937) was created when Tate and Lyle, with Caroni Sugar Estates (Trinidad) Ltd, formed a conglomerate which included Waterloo on the Western coast and Brechin Castle in Couva.
In 1939 the Brechin Castle sugar factory had been rebuilt to process canes from both Caroni and Brechin Castle. Later the capacity of the factory was doubled to include the Waterloo factory which was demolished.
By 1940 the landscape of its headquarters, Brechin Castle, was changed with new factory and the four cooling ponds at the back as well as major company offices, the dispensary, Sevilla School, Sevilla Club and residences for mainly expatriate senior staff. This was the when the new factory (the one now abandoned) was built on the old Sevilla estate.
Caroni continued to expand with the acquisition of Esperanza in 1956, Woodford Lodge in 1961 and Sainte Madeleine in 1962.
Caroni later became 1975 Limited and the rest is within living memory for most of us.
What an important historic attraction this could be in central Trinidad. It could be the project that opens a new chapter or turning point in the tourism industry of Trinidad and Tobago.
Glen Beadon 11 March 2020