Dream House | Cardiff Hall Great House the best kept secret

The existence of this well-preserved, Jamaica National Heritage Trust-listed, private landmark is unknown to many.

We embark on a journey to the past to visit this veritable repository of memories, in the hills of Runaway Bay, St Ann, in the locality of Cardiff Hall. There you will find the Cardiff Hall Great House, named after Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

It all began with a Scotsman named Daniel Blagrave, an officer, who was a part of the British invading force that conquered the Spanish in Jamaica, in 1655. As fate would have it, he also played a part in the execution of King Charles I of England, by being one of the signatories to his death warrant. The King would lose his head to the executioner’s axe!

When King Charles II came to the throne years later, he avenged his father’s death by hunting down those that signed the warrant. Even those who had died already, he had their corpses dug up, and then hanged!

Daniel Blagrave’s son would change the family surname to Blagrove. The Cardiff Hall Great House, bequeathed to him, was built in 1655, and has been in the family’s generational hands since then, for over 300 years, until 1950.

The greathouse was rebuilt in 1789, and over time, has been a working sugar and pimento plantation, and a cattle rearing and horse breeding farm.

The estate, now reduced to 10 acres, with commanding vistas from its strategic vantage point, was also owned by Michael Paton, who had a love affair with fox hunting.

Peter Finch, an anti-aircraft gunner in the Australian army in the 1940s, who later became one of Britain’s leading actors in the 1960s, and an Oscar-winning Hollywood icon, purchased the house to evade the international spotlight. The movie star would marry (his third trip down the aisle) a humble Jamaican woman, 30 years younger than himself.

Sometime after becoming a widow, Mrs Finch one day in the 1980s, appeared unannounced at the home of a successful all-inclusive hotelier. She wanted to sell, and he bought the property immediately as his new residence.

The custom-built, 4,500-square-foot basically symmetrical colonial mansion, with its quintessential Georgian elements, is meticulously constructed of an appreciable amount of wood and stone, enhanced by front and back airy verandahs.

Gorgeously crafted interiors, adorned with vintage pieces, are a throwback to the Elizabethan era, with drawing room downstairs, and a sitting room upstairs. There are five bedrooms, along with five modernised bathrooms. The kitchen has been upgraded.

Pertinent archaic features include: classical pedestal, interior wood columns; elaborate mahogany stairs, and polished board floors.

Two cannon relics still fortify the place from possible attack, as well as a concealled underground, hurricane bunker, safeguarding life and limb, a swimming pool, lily pond, and a two-bedroom, self-contained bungalow.

Emancipation Day was recently celebrated on August 1. We are reminded of the 1,500 enslaved person counted here on this former plantation.

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barry-rattray@hotmail.com and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com.