Geddes Great House, near Brittonville

Located in St. Ann, the estate originally functioned as a cattle and pimento plantation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Its original owners stem back to James Rose, a Scottish Jacobite who fled to Jamaica after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Geddes’s estate passed through the hands of several owners such as the Rose and Johnson families, who had also become managers of the Seville estate. Like many plantations in the area, it was run using enslaved labour. Like many other great houses across the island, Geddes would have served not only as the home of the plantation owner but also overseeing the estate’s daily operations, including accounting, storage and workforce management.  In 1815, the estate recorded 88 Africans, and stories passed down speak of the cruel treatment they had endured. An original punishment cell, still visible in the 20th century, had reflected the horrendous amount of brutality of the time.

The estate saw changes over time, with major additions in 1818, and a shift in ownership to Englishman Thomas Jobson by 1823. In the 1960s, the abandoned great house was restored by Burnett Webster, a wealthy socialite, who had added many modern features to the property. These include: a stone staircase, musket loopholes, and a fireplace along with a spial-cast iron staircase and moongate on the exterior side of the plantation.