The Rock Rose property, is registered as Parcel Number 171 of the

The Rock Rose property, is registered as Parcel Number 171 of the

The Rock Rose property, is registered as Parcel
Number 171 of the Sandy Bay East Registration
Section and covers a total area of 64.34 acres.
The property consists of a ruin; Rock Rose House,
which is believed to have been built before 1705 and
two buildings which were built during the
rehabilitation period of 1949 – 1950 following the
disuse of the first Rock Rose Flax Mill which was built
a few hundred metres away from Rock Rose House.
The records of 1694 state that Thomas Cole sold his
mansion house, of which the position and style fixes
Rock Rose, to Richard Swallow (Deed No. 19 of 1705).
Another record by Geoffrey Charles Kitching,
Governors Secretary, 1932 – 1940, states that this
house had a ‘beautiful ebony staircase’. Ebony was
used to burn lime, which was discovered in Sandy Bay
in 1709, until 1744 when there was concern
expressed over the disappearance of ebony. Both
records indicate the house was in existence in 1705.
Kitching also states that there is not much else
recorded about Rock Rose House, expect that stones
had been found bearing “R.B. Esq. Governor 1789”,
which had been cut for the building of Plantation
House by Governor Robert Brook; Plantation being
completed in 1792. This suggests that the house was
either extended or rebuilt using stones surplus to the
building of Plantation House.
The Rock Rose property also boasts the largest
Norfolk Island Pine tree (Araucaria Excelsa) on the
Island, which is believed to be between 150-200
years old. This is confirmed by Benjamin Grant, who
in 1883, records that a Norfolk Island Pine tree of
about 60 years old stood between 21 – 25m high on
the lawns of Rock Rose house. In addition to the tree
the property is also surrounded by Pinus Pineaster
which Major General Alexander Beatson, in a letter
to the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, K.B
President of the Royal Society on 18 September 1811
states, “these trees, raised at St Helena from English
Seed yield timber superior to all others”.