Perched high on the hill on the western side of the old Royal Naval Dockyard at Bermuda stands one of our most important historic buildings, the Casemate Barracks.

The building was begun at the time that Queen Victoria came to the throne in Britain and was likely completed around 1842—43, making it the oldest standing edifice of the Dockyard after the equally historic Commissioner’s House (late 1820s), facing ‘Casemates’ from the other, eastern, end of the naval base.

Both homes, the former for the superintendent of the Dockyard and the latter for the men of the Royal Marines Light Infantry (who manned the guns), are within the 16 acres encircled (irregularly) by the ramparts of the fortifications of the Dockyard, the beginning of which predates the House and Barracks, but were not completed until the later 1840s.

In the early 1960s, the Casemates area was removed from the ordinary life of the Dockyard, to become the Island’s maximum-security prison for men, the ladies’ facility being at the western end of St George’s Island, near the ‘oil tanks’, going toward Ferry Reach.

Never the twain thus met and in 1994, the jail for males was moved from Casemates to the brand-new “Westgate Correctional Facility”, carved into history by the demolition of the northwesterly remains of the Glacis, or cleared field-of-fire, of the Land Front defences adjacent to the Casemate Barracks.

Once a barracks, once a prison, now the Casemates area, with its three large buildings and associated fortifications, is to be part of the National Museum of Bermuda (formerly the Maritime Museum).

The Museum will thus be a sixteen-acre facility and one of the largest such institutions in the Americas. Where once soldiers slept and prisoners reclined, exhibitions on many diverse aspects of Bermuda’s heritage will eventually be displayed.

Other uses will also be made of the buildings, and the Land Front fortifications will be rearmed in due course, for the edification of the visitor, as well as for the defence of the site against modern invaders.

Thus, in years to come, the visitor to the Museum will be able to range freely around ten acres or so of landscaping and examine exhibitions in some ten buildings, all of which are heritage artefacts in and of themselves.

One was designed, no less, by the engineer and architect, Francis Fowkes RE, who went on in later life to design a few minor buildings like the Royal Albert Hall and the National Gallery of Ireland, to name a couple.

There were many who doubted that the Commissioner’s House could be restored, but it was eventually and was opened in the year 2000 by the then Premier of Bermuda, now Dame Jennifer Smith DBE DHUML.

The opening exhibition occupied (and occupies) the two main reception rooms of the House and displays subject matter relating to the Atlantic Slave Trade and Bermuda families descended therefrom.

The House took thousands of hours of volunteer work and the restoration was ultimately funded largely by the general public, with a generous grant from the government of the late 1990s.

Some years ago, thanks to permissions granted by Lt Col David Burch OBE, then a Senator and Minister of Public Works, and the West End Development Corporation, weekend-warrior volunteers began to work on the restoration of the Casemate Barracks and its siblings, the Upper and Lower Ordnance Buildings, all three being ‘casemated’ to make them bombproof against incoming (probably, American) cannonballs and mortar fire.

Fortunately for heritage, that reinforcement of the roofs was never called into use. Other groups of volunteers have come from local and international companies, whose goal is to confine volunteer members of staff to the Casemate Barracks for “Days of Giving” back to the community, through such out-of-office experiences.

On 16 April 2014, staff from one of the Island’s leading reinsurers showed their community spirit by spending a day helping out with three charitable projects.

Tokio Millennium Re helped with touch-ups around Lefroy House, undertook some much-needed gardening and conservation work at WindReach, and swapped computers for shovels and jackhammers to help with demolition of 1960s additions and clearing of debris at the historic Casemate Barracks.

Elena Strong, Curator of the National Museum, said: “Such Days of Giving are a massive boost to the restoration of the Casemates Barracks — the second oldest surviving building in Dockyard.

“The restoration of Casemates is a major component of the expansion of the National Museum and Tokio’s efforts are essential to help prepare the property for a new life of exhibits, education and other heritage uses.

“We would like to extend a big ‘Thank You’ to all the volunteers from Tokio, and for the continued support of the international business community, who are doing a stellar job in helping the Museum to protect and restore this and other important aspects of Bermuda’s heritage.”

Tats Hoshina, Group CEO of Tokio Millennium Re, said: “As a company, we feel it is very important to support the local community. This was our second Day of Giving and we were delighted to be able to help out with three worthy projects around the Island. We look forward to continuing this initiative for many years to come.

“We hope that Tokio Millennium Re and many other international businesses will be here for many years, nay generations to come, for it is impossible to image the state of Bermuda’s heritage and charities without their outstanding support in this new millennium and for the past three decades.

Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, PHD, FSA is Director of the National Museum. Comments may be made to director@nmb.bm or 704-5480.