The hall was named after the wife of the first owner George Ash. Who had started to build the hall in 1750, he died in 1752 before it was completed. Rose married three more times, her last husband John Palmer completed the house in the 1770's. After their death it was willed to his nephew. He married Annie Patterson. After Annies death the house had 3 more owners before being abandoned. By the 1930's it was in ruins. The hall was fully restored by new owners in 1965. It is now open to the public.

The White Witch Annie Patterson

In the 1800's a women would gain power and wealth mainly through marriage, this Annie did. She moved from France to Jamaica to be the wife of a wealthy man John Palmer who owned Rose Hall and thousands of acres of sugar plantations. It is unknown if Annie was already a cruel person, or if she she became this way to cope with the demands of her husband and the duties entailed with running the home.

What is known is that the slaves feared her greatly, she would deal with them by whipping, torture or even death. She would start each day by standing on the balcony of her home looking down on the slaves in the yard and would give out her orders.

Annie started to take slaves to bed, but this was not a good thing for them, she would choose someone to lavish her attention on, after she tired of her lover after about a week or so, she would kill them and then have them buried in a unmarked grave.

The master of the house died a sudden death, but at these times Jamaica was pretty lawless and no investigation was done. Annie then had to find a way to remain independant and safe as there were some dangerous people around for example pirates. She chose voodoo.

Many of her slaves were practioners of voodoo and would learn Annie all they knew in order to gain favour. She became known as The White Witch of Jamaica, her reputation as a cruel women who could do magic kept her safe from becoming a target to people who would consider her weak.

Annie married twice more each husband would both meet an untimely end leaving her to gain from their wealth.

There are a few variations about Annie death in 1831some are it was due to the Slave Rebellion and that she was murdered in her bed, and she was buried in an unmarked grave with 3 crosses on 3 sides the fourth was left bare incase she wanted to roam, or she was killed by her overseer who wanted to avenge the death of his daughters fiance whom Annie had murdered and another his she was killed by her latest slave lover who wanted to kill her before she killed him.

Annie is thought to still wander her former home and plantation to this day. There are also the spirits of some of the slaves she killed, as well as the sound of footsteps and tappings and lights switching on and off.