Harrison Point Lighthouse is the latest, of four lighthouses, to be built on the island, in 1925. Rising to a height of 26 meters, on the north-west corner of the island; the lighthouse remained in use until 2007.
In 1957 a United States Naval Facility was commissioned on the land adjacent to the Harrison Point Lighthouse. Its purpose was to operate as an underwater listening station, designed to track Soviet submarines during the cold war period, as part of the chain of SOSUS (sound surveillance system) listening posts. But at the end of March 1979 the Barbados Government declined to renew the lease agreement. The base was subsequently taken over by the Barbados Defence Force and later used in the Barbados Youth Service programme.
The site was later repurposed as a temporary prison, after the former HM Glendairy Prison was destroyed by fire during a prison riot, in 2005. 'An Island View' write, "Dorms were converted by building cages from metal reinforcing rods; such was the demand and urgency that all the island’s metal fabrication facilities were ordered to cease their activities to concentrate on producing the cages.". British drug smuggler, Terry Donaldson, describes his experience of the temporary Harrison Point Prison in his memoirs;
Harrison Point Prison
Harrison Point Lighthouse
In 1957 a United States Naval Facility was commissioned on the land adjacent to the Harrison Point Lighthouse. Its purpose was to operate as an underwater listening station, designed to track Soviet submarines during the cold war period, as part of the chain of SOSUS (sound surveillance system) listening posts. But at the end of March 1979 the Barbados Government declined to renew the lease agreement. The base was subsequently taken over by the Barbados Defence Force and later used in the Barbados Youth Service programme.
The site was later repurposed as a temporary prison, after the former HM Glendairy Prison was destroyed by fire during a prison riot, in 2005. 'An Island View' write, "Dorms were converted by building cages from metal reinforcing rods; such was the demand and urgency that all the island’s metal fabrication facilities were ordered to cease their activities to concentrate on producing the cages.". British drug smuggler, Terry Donaldson, describes his experience of the temporary Harrison Point Prison in his memoirs;
The replacement for Glendairy, known as HMP Dodds was opened on 15 October 2007.
Harrison Point Prison
Harrison Point Lighthouse
