Watling's Castle

Watling's Castle stands on a rise at the southern end of San Salvador: the stone remains of a great house, outbuildings and slave quarters from a Loyalist plantation of the late eighteenth century, walls standing to varying heights with the bush grown through them. The name attaches it to the buccaneer John Watling, after whom the island was once called Watling's Island, but the buildings are a century too late for him and the association is a local story rather than history.

What you actually see

• The great house - the main building's walls standing among the coppice.
• The outbuildings - kitchen, store and quarters ranged around the site.
• The stonework - coral rubble construction typical of Loyalist estates.
• The rise - the position looking south over the end of the island.

When to go

November to April is the dry season and the best for the walk in. The bush is thick and easier when dry. Mornings are cooler.

Honest expectations

The pirate attribution is wrong: the buildings postdate Watling by about a century, and guides still repeat the story. The site is unmanaged, overgrown and unmarked, and poisonwood grows through it. There is no interpretation.

Nearby

Sandy Point is at the southern tip, and Cockburn Town is north along the coast.