For years now, the reports to the relevant authorities by the St. Christopher Heritage Society (SCHS), now the St. Christopher National Trust (SCNT), of the theft of cut stone and the consequent destruction of our heritage sites by unconscionable individuals have fallen on deaf ears. This activity has risen to all new heights as cut stones are piled up on roadsides, in estate yards and elsewhere and their use in construction are flaunted in developments around the Country. Whole structures have been vandalized, some of the cut stones even been sent overseas to restore in some cases but more often to construct new structures elsewhere. While many citizens look on in dismay, speak of this rape of our culture openly and make the reports to the Trust on almost a weekly basis, it would appear that nothing or very little is being done to stem this illegal activity. One government minister has even indicated to us that while there is a law, the National Conservation and Environmental Protection Act (NCEPA),that speaks to the illegality of this activity, there are no regulations attached to the Act that would allow the authorities to prosecute those engaged in this activity. One can ask it has stopped being illegal for persons to enter property that does not belong to them with jack hammers and excavators to destroy that property with the sole aim of getting the precious cut stone to sell to others for profit?  Surely this could be considered ‘breaking and entering’, ‘larceny’,’ sale of stolen property’..... And those persons who buy these historic artifacts, surely they are complicit in these acts of vandalism that are systematically destroying our built heritage and the rape of our collective patrimony? Architects, truckers, building contractors are all involved and in many cases the names of these people are known but when reported to the relevant authority it would appear that little if anything is done to deal with the matter.

Except in one case where young farmers in the Sandy Point area acted with determination to stop the thieves!  When a truck load of individuals and an excavator arrived at Farms Estate one Sunday morning they were met by a group of enraged young men who stood in the way of the equipment and phoned the police, following that call with one to the Executive Director of the National Trust. Immediately their report to the police station was followed by that of our ED and thanks to the intervention of these farmers and the police the vandals were turned back. Asked for the written permission that the well know individual who engages in this activity said he had, nothing was produced and the truck load of helpers and equipment had to turn back and left the scene. This was a case of pure People Power and the young farmers are an example to other communities who see their sites ravaged by unscrupulous persons.

But the reports continue to come in and the destruction of our heritage sites continues unabated and has even increased with new intensity. The SCNT is in the process of trying to get the boundaries for the sites that it has been vested with clearly demarcated so that they may be legally protected with penalties clearly specified. This process is long, so long that one can only ask the question if anything will be left standing on the sites to protect when all is said and done. It would appear that unless People intervene and take the example of those young men of Sandy Point to protect our national treasures, very little will remain of our built heritage for the edification and benefit of present and future generations.

St. Christopher National Trust