About
Type: Extant
Parish: St.John
Founding date: 1750
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Current Status
The mill still stands on this site. It was repaired in 2001 by the owners of the Royal Antiguan Hotel, which is situated on a hill. A great deal of the acreage is hilly and was used to raise cattle when the estate was flourishing. The estate house was on the hill to the north of the millworks. The flashes below were very productive salt ponds from which salt was collected in baskets for sale in the market.
Estate Related History/Timeline
The name of this estate is believed to originate from the town of Yapton, near Arundel, in Sussex, England. Sir George Thomas, who took ownership of the plantation in 1800, was a native of Yapton.
“The estate house enjoyed a beautiful view of St. John’s harbour and the surrounding area. After the death of Frankie Warneford, the estate was sold to Ralph Francis, but shortly thereafter, it caught fire and burned to the ground. The ruins are still visible today. Frankie was a friend of my grandmother’s and was known for his talent in the theatre as a young man. He played the piano and was fond of entertaining in his home, which he did in grand style using the family silver and crystal. He was always a perfect gentleman but never a family man.
Author Agnes Meeker.
The mill still stands on this site. It was repaired in 2001 by the owners of the Royal Antiguan Hotel, which is situated on a hill. A great deal of the acreage is hilly and was used to raise cattle when the estate was flourishing. The estate house was on the hill to the north of the millworks. The flashes below were very productive salt ponds from which salt was collected in baskets for sale in the market.
In 1790, the Thomas Baronetcy of Yapton, in the County of Sussex, was created for George Thomas, Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1753-1766. The title became extinct on the death of the seventh Baronet in 1972, who happened to be a prominent chess player.
In 1802, an indenture between Sir George Thomas and his son specified the same to Thomas Edwards “and his heirs in fee simple a plantation therein described for the price of 22,000 pounds to be paid as follows . . . .” George White-Thomas took the name Thomas upon inheriting Yapton from his grandfather, Sir George Thomas (d. 1821) and his memorial encryption is at Yapton.
Vere Oliver, Volume III.
Messrs. Hyndman, who owned Yapton in 1829, also owned several other estates on Antigua: Bendalls (#37), with 503 acres; Towerhill was owned by William Hyndman, Esq.; Belevedere (#38), with 361 acres, Yapton Farm with 343 acres, and Mathew’s or Constitution Hill (#132), with 888 acres, were owned by Warrick P. Hyndman in 1852, as was Elmes (#109) with 158 acres and Sawcolt’s (#174) with 234 acres.
When slavery was abolished by the British Parliament in 1833, Yepton’s was granted a Legacy payment (Antigua 1045) of £1,681. 4s. 1p. for granting freedom to 113 enslaved. The awardees were Boyd Alexander, Claude Neilson, and William Maxwell Alexander. Unsuccessful was Robert Hyndman, and involved was the Honorable William Fraser.
The apparent owner of Yepton’s in the 1850s (although he is listed historically as taking possession in 1878) was Alex Coltart, proprietor of Harney & Coltart, a firm that struck farthing coins — a quarter of a penny in British currency — for the collection of salt from the nearby salt ponds. As noted earlier, several ponds in Antigua yielded salt that was harvested in baskets, but the only source of salt currently is in Barbuda, where it is collected during the dry months and stored in large barrels for local use.
In the mid-1800s and well into the early decades of the 20th century, Yepton’s pond behind Deep Bay was a valuable source of salt. It was a coarse-grained type, ideal for salting fresh food or making ice cream. Sea water was introduced through a small channel at the north end of the pond, and during the hot, dry months, it was blocked from leaving so the sun’s rays could evaporate the seawater, leaving behind a bed of salt crystals.
At the end of the drying season, village ladies from Five Islands and other villages would harvest the salt. They were paid in farthings by Harney & Coltart for every basket of salt they delivered. Currently, these tiny coins are sometimes found and brought to the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda.
Desmond Nicholson, Heritage Treasurer.
According to shipping records, a Henry Warneford arrived in Antigua from England on September 22, 1913, aboard their S/V Giuina.” He was 21 years and 6 months old. His relative, Francis “Frankie” Warneford (son of Rex Warneford and Nellie Blackmore), was associated with the Agricultural Department, ultimately becoming Superintendent of Science & Agriculture at Jepstones. He owned, lived, and died at the estate. He was a good friend of the author’s family, with a reputation for being strict and honest.
Rex was a merchant in St. John’s. He sold his business to Jim Piggot in 1938, the year of his death. Pigs purchased the business for his daughter Kate.
In 1941, the Antigua Sugar Factory Ltd. had cane returns of 168 tons from an 18-acre estate no peasants on the land. Tons of cane delivered 144 at 14.40 per acre.
Enslaved People’s History
Based on contemporary research, we have little information to share about the enslaved peoples from this plantation at this time. When slavery was abolished by the British Parliament in 1833, Yepton’s was granted a Legacy payment (Antigua 1045) of £1,681. 4s. 1p. for granting freedom to 113 enslaved. We will continue our quest for more information about these vital individuals.
Ownership Chronology
- 1750: Edward Otto-Baijer Baptized 1709; d. 1779
- 1790: John Otto-Baijer d. 1796 (1777/78 map by cartographer John Luffman.)
- 1800: Sir George Thomas d. 1815
- 1821: George White-Thomas
- 1829: Messrs. Hyndman 344 acres; 111 slaves
- 1843: Alex McDowell
- 1851: Ralph W. Baxter – 343 acres
- 1878: Alex Coltart
- 1891: Robert Warneford
- 1921: Rex A. L. Warneford – 290 acres. First man to shoot down a German Zeppelin in World War I.
- 1933: Rex A. L. Warneford d. 1938 (1933 Camacho map.)
- 1940: F. (“Frankie”) Henry S. Warneford (1892-1980c)