The land on which the BARBADOS YACHT CLUB, formerly 'SHOT HALL', is located was originally part of the Bay Plantation, which in 1790 consisted of 208 acres facing on Carlisle Bay and extending nearly to Charles Fort.

In September 1790 John Beckles. who owned the plantation, sold off 23 acres to the British Army for the garrison then being established at St. Ann's. Its northern boundary was the ground now occupied by the Grand Barbados Beach Resort and the neighbouring buildings running eastward to Bay Street.

On this ground, flanked by the road leading to Gravesend Beach, tile Royal Engineers erected certain buildings and a pier and a wharf which were in use by the Forces up until their withdrawal in 1905-06.

In May 1795 John Beckles sold 7 acres of land bordering on the Engineer's establishment to John Savery for three hundred pounds sterling; then in October 1802 Savery sold four and three-quarter acres of this to the Army. This enabled the Engineers' establishment to be extended almost as far as where the Bay Street Esplanade is now located, and its extremity is still marked by a portion of the old Garrison wall bearing the inscription WDI.

In 1822 a strip of one and three-quarter acres of beach land containing a long pond, still possessed by Beckles, was finally sold by him to the Army for fifty pounds sterling and added to the land already occupied by the Royal Engineers.

This area, by this time, had become known as the Lower Arsenal, in contradistinction to the Upper Arsenal, which lay within St. Ann’s Fort.

The officer commanding the Royal Engineers, officially styled the Commanding Royal Engineer, or C.R.E., originally had his living quarters and office in what is now called Bush Hill House. Brigadier­ General, Sir Charles Shipley, appointed C.R.E. in 1796, was still resident there in 1809, when, on 6th May, the "Barbados Mercury" newspaper reported on "a most barbarous and diabolical murder" that had occurred the previous night between the Main Guard and near Sir Charles Shipley's gate.

In a plan of the "Engineer's Arsenal" prepared by General Shipley in 1811 and dated 30 September, he describes the Bush Hill building as "heretofore(known) by the name of the Engineers Office and Quarters". Quite clearly his use of the word "heretofore" indicates that he no longer lived there; and this is confirmed by a related plan of the same date which shows SHOT HALL, his new residence.
This two-storied house, then measuring 70 feet by 40 feet, must therefore have been erected in 1810 or early 1811 at the latest.

Exactly how SHOT HALL got this name is unclear; but the name probably derived from two buildings, each 60 feet by 10 feet, originally on the north side of the house, described in an 1822 garrison plan as "Artillery Stores"

A report on the Royal Engineer establishment in Barbados published in the Royal Engineer Journal, Vol. 1X. 1st October 1879 tells us:

"Part of the roof of this house was blown down, and the whole (building) much shaken. The sashes, frames, and doors have suffered greatly (and) a considerable part of the Chamber floor must be renewed."

SHOT HALL afterwards became the residence of Captain W.H. Owen, the Marine Superintendent of this Company. With his permission the Annual Agricultural Exhibition was held in its grounds in December 1908 and again in December 1909 when the premises of Harrison College, the customary venue, were not made available.

SHOT HALL sustained much damage by the hurricane of 11 August, 1831, when Colonel, Sir Charles F. Smith, C B., was C.R.E. A report on the state of the garrison building prepared by Lieut. Cowper Rose, R.E. states:

"SHOT HALL", Barbados, is the C.R.E's quarter and is an excellent one, next door to his office." The report adds: "There are very good croquet and lawn tennis grounds at 51.101' HALL".

On the withdrawal of the Forces in 1905-06 most of the Garrison buildings were put up for sale by Colonel E.J.G. Boyce, the C.R.E., on behalf of the War Department. On 23 May, 1906, the lands totaling seventeen and a half acres, together with the buildings of SHOT HALL, the Royal Engineer offices, the Army Service Corps Stores, the Naval Coal Yard and other War Department property in the coastal area, excepting the Rifle Range (600 yards), were sold as a package to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for Six thousand nine hundred and ninety-two pounds sterling.

How long Captain Owen remained in residence is uncertain, and the next traceable tenant appears to be Ludlow C. Livingstone, United States Consul, who was in occupation, 1918-1921. He was succeeded by a Colonel Yates, a British Union Oil Company executive, 1921-1923; and then by Harold Wright, a local businessman, 1923-1924 or 1925. The Barbados Yacht Club certainly was in possession of SHOT HALL in 1926. That year's Telephone Directory gives the telephone number as 1225.

The Royal Hotel

SHOT HALL underwent much structural alteration around 1936 with the object of improving its amenities as a Club. The work was reputedly executed by Mr. Albert Douglas of Egerton, St. George, a building contractor associated with Messrs C.S. Pitcher & Company, lumber and hardware merchants of Bridgetown.

The porte-cochere over the entrance to the building was erected in the early 1950's by the engineering firm of Messrs Law and Connell.