Government officials have been condemned after a historic burial site protected by strict Planning orders was “razed to the ground”.

And Ombudsman Arlene Brock described the lack of action by bureaucrats to enforce protection orders on the Tucker’s Town graveyard as “lamentable” and “so very sad”.

The site, which Ms Brock described as “emblematic of a communal history known, dismissed and forgotten”, is the final resting place of countless enslaved blacks and free blacks who owned and worked the Tucker’s Town area more than 200 years ago.

But tombstones were removed in October, 2012 after the site’s owner, the Marsden First United Methodist Church, submitted plans to build a new cemetery memorial on the site.

That development was met with protests because the land was designated a Historic Preservation Area under the Bermuda Plan 2008 a site of archaeological significance. In addition, Ms Brock had been assured by Government officials in May, 2012 that the stones would be given Historic Building designation “to add status and an extra layer of protection”.

Ms Brock launched an investigation into the debacle in March, 2013.

And in a hard-hitting report released yesterday, she concluded that a failure to act by the Environment Ministry and the Department of Planning “set the stage for the tragedy that was to follow”.

In her report, titled “A Grave Error”, Ms Brock pointed out that the cemetery was “the last relatively intact relic that evidences the communal life of a wholly unique population in Bermuda community”.

She added that that population had been “removed from their lands in Tucker’s Town, either by voluntary sale or compulsory acquisition, pursuant to legislation in 1920 that granted development rights to the Bermuda Development Company to establish an exclusive tourism resort there”.

She noted that in February 2012 she recommended that the headstones should be given Listed Building status to provide the site with even more protection — a recommendation that environment chiefs said they would follow.

“Despite making a commitment in April, 2012 to implement my recommendation, the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Planning did absolutely nothing to do so.

“This failure to implement the recommendation set the stage for the tragedy that was to follow,” Ms Brock said in her report.

“The tombstones were demolished by an agreement of Marsden First United Church — institutional inheritors of the cemetery — Rosewood Tucker’s Point and world-renowned Bermudian archaeologist Dr Edward Harris.

“They based the decision on an utterly false assumption that the tombs were newly built in 1992.

“In fact, it was only the three inch deep lids of the graves that had been replaced.

“The tombs were clearly Bermuda limestone and had been there for as long as Tucker’s Point/Castle Harbour Hotel employees and a few others could remember.

“This is so very sad. Before demolishing the tombs no one asked why would an elite private tourist resort suddenly in 1992, build false tombs in the middle of its golf course — without reason, pressure, provocation or incentive?

“Lamentably, no one double-checked with the Department of Planning to see if altering the structures was even allowed.

“Although the Department and Ministry did not make the decision or actually destroy the tombstones themselves, they could provide no credible reason for failing to do anything to implement the recommendation.

“The evidence is quite clear — had the Department just scheduled a meeting or otherwise contacted Rosewood Tucker’s Point or Marsden First United Church, the tombs would never have been destroyed.

“While there are descendants amongst some of the members of the Marsden First United Church, there are also descendants throughout Bermuda.

“Therefore, I have recommended that, in consulting stakeholders about what to do next, the Historic Building Advisory Committee and the Development Applications Board should engage in a broader community consultation.”

Ms Brock pointed out that 2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of the date when the black population was forcibly evicted from Tucker’s Town.

She urged the Island to find ways of “honouring” that 1920 event “not only to bring dignity to the ancestors but also to bring unity to the living”.

“A lot of hurt had continued through the generations — partly because this highly racialised episode has not been fully acknowledged,” she said.

“I believe that a community consultation can use the cemetery as a focal point to take the high road and forge positive memorials that can truly bring us together in our own Bermuda version of truth and reconciliation.”

“The cemetery within the Tucker’s Point golf course must be understood to be a national heritage site with resonance even beyond its stones.

“It is more than a mere physical space. It is emblematic of a communal history known, dismissed and forgotten.

“It is a mirror for us to acknowledge the past as well as its living and institutional legacies. It is an opportunity for us all to rally around, reflect and reconcile.”