The ruins of the old estate house, situated on the hill at Mamiku Gardens have an interesting, yet macabre history. 


The estate was originally acquired in 1766 by the Baron de Micoud, a colonel in the French army and a former Governor of St. Lucia when it was in French hands.

After the French Revolution about 1796, the French were driven out of St. Lucia by the British, who then issued a decree that no Frenchman could own land in St. Lucia. Luckily for the Baron de Micoud, he had married a French Creole woman from Soufriere by the name of Marie Anne Devaux. Mamiku Estate previously known as the “Union de Micoud” was then called “Madame de Micoud”, which then corrupted to “Ma Micoud” and now is known as MAMIKU

By 1796 the estate house was no longer a family home to French aristocrats, but a British military post, set up by the famous General Sir John Moore. The post endured much action, culminating in a famous battle with the ‘Brigands’, which Sir John recounts in his diary.

This battle left 15 soldiers dead, 20 wounded and the de Micoud home a burnt-out ruin. The captain of the post committed suicide after the battle so as not to live out his life in disgrace and for two hundred years, the de Micoud estate ruins were left virtually undisturbed. 



This was not, however, the end of Mamiku Estate. It eventually returned to its former glory as a profitable sugar estate. Today, Mamiku Estate is a hardworking plantation producing bananas, cocoa, tropical flowers and fruits, with the botanical gardens added in 1997 as part of Agro - Tourism. 



An ongoing archaeological dig of the de Micoud home has uncovered
fragments of 18th century pottery on the site. These pieces can be viewed at Mamiku Gardens. For now there is no museum, but with funding, hopefully this will happen.

The entire estate has been owned and operated by the Shingleton-Smith family since 1906, when Henry Martin Shingleton-Smith bought the estate for £ 500.00.