Abandoned Barbados: Ministry of Health, St Michaels

Just South of this popular tourist island’s capital- Bridgetown, and a stone’s throw from a popular white sand beach, we cautiously wandered into this large derelict complex.

We were on edge, unsure of how locals took to random European tourists sneaking about abandoned buildings, and with little information online, we felt like we were exploring uncharted territory, not knowing what we’d find.

Within minutes of wandering around this huge site, we met a local who was using it as a shortcut- he told us that it had been destroyed by fire in 2018, and that there have been a few other fires since. The departments that were based there have since been relocated to new facilities.

Sweating under the scorching heat of the sun, we continued to explore the plethora of structures, which were of typical colonial architecture. Many buildings were mere shells, like a film set for a British colonial film. Arched windows that would once have been sheltered from the sun by wooden shutters, verandas over doorways and protruding entrance, now lying in ruin.

Some buildings contained scarred documents and files, others had lost their roofs and were now home to wooden structural remains being swallowed up by plants and trees.

Only a few buildings had an accessible upper floor. In most cases “accessible” is an overstatement, with staircases leading to a small landing, giving a good overview of the charred and decayed innards spewed out below.

However, the final building we entered was the most intact, with individual rooms and a solid floor beneath our feet. We crept around the burnt-out ground floor, entering the large main room which was filled with smashed computer monitors, which were strewn across the tiled floor.

We made our way up the stairs, which were buried beneath rubble and debris. After checking out the smaller rooms, we entered the main room, following the footprint of the downstairs layout. We were welcomed by a man. Sat a desk with a computer, typing away. This was not what we expected. After the initial shock, we said ‘Hi’ and got chatting. It was a bizarre sight- he was working on his computer as if unaware that the entire site around him had be burnt to a crisp and abandoned for the past seven years.

He was friendly enough, though slightly unsettling. He was unfazed by his foreign visitors, even continuing to type as our bewildered faces intruded on his peculiar workspace. He had cleared an area of debris, swept up and organised the junk. He told us that a few people visited to chil out and smoke, that we were free to wander round, but he didn’t offer tours.

After making our way out, we got googling. The Old Health Ministry was hit by a significant fire in 2018, though it was already abandoned by this time. And it seems we were right to be on edge, as in 2020 a woman was stabbed on the site- though this did occur at 4am in the morning.

The Ministry of Health complex included administration buildings, document storage and archives, a family planning department and an ambulance station. A local news article in 2023 stated that there had been at least 7 fires within the abandoned complex within a year, and that locals were “appealing to the authorities to do something about the disused government complex.”

According to Barbados Today “One resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said neighbours believed a man who frequented the area and was well known to the community was responsible for Wednesday’s fire as well as previous blazes at the building.” Maybe our office friend was using the site for more than typing on his desktop computer….

Last Updated on 20 January 2025 by Michael