Half Tree Hollow is the smallest by area of the eight

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s of the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, part of the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory located in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and the archipelago of Tri ...

in the South

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It is a suburb of Jamestown and is situated at the top of Ladder Hill, which forms the southern side of the James Valley, at the base of which sits Jamestown. The hill was fortified in the late 1700s, and Ladder Hill Fort was subsequently built. The village grew during the 1960s because the James Valley lacked any room for expansion.

Description

The district is bounded by the contours of Ladder Hill and is essentially a flat plateau. Half Tree Hollow is the largest settlement in Saint Helena, with a population exceeding that of the territory's capital of Jamestown. Its population has fluctuated from 901 in 1998 to 1,140 in 2008 and 1,034 in 2021.

History

Ladder Hill was initially known as Fort Hill, even though it was not initially fortified. It was first used by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

as an execution ground with the

gibbet Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. Occasionally, the gibbet () was also used as a method of public ex ...

visible from Jamestown for the moral edification of the population. The first road to Ladder Hill was completed in 1770, and construction of fortifications on the seaward side of the hill began around 1790. Additional works were built over the next several decades, and the complex was known as Ladder Hill Fort by 1815. The fort was reinforced and expanded while

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

was in exile in St. Helena (1815–21), and the 20th Regiment of Foot is known to have been garrisoned there in 1819. Additional

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

and officer's quarters were built during the 1820s. Half Tree Hollow - From Sea

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

was built to connect Jamestown and the fort in 1829. The cars and rails were removed in 1871 and it was converted into a staircase, commonly known as

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder () is a ladder or staircase leading to Heaven that was featured in a dream the Biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of the dream has been de ...

References

Bibliography

External links

A view of Jamestown showing Half Tree Hollow
{{coord , 15, 56, 0, S, 5, 43, 12, W, type:city(901)_region:SH, display=title Districts of Saint Helena Populated places in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha