Briars, Saint Helena

Briars is the small pavilion in which Napoleon Bonaparte stayed for the first few weeks of his exile on Saint Helena in late 1815 before being moved to Longwood House.

Because of his family's closeness to Napoleon, Balcombe attracted the suspicion of Governor Hudson Lowe, and in 1818 he was forced to leave the island and return to England.

He wrote to the admiral commanding the garrison on 3 April 1816, "You may tell Bony that I find his apartments at the Elysée-Bourbon very convenient and that I hope he likes mine at the Balcombes.

In 1959 the Pavilion was purchased by Dame Mabel Brookes, a great granddaughter of William Balcombe, and donated to the French government, which appointed her as Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1960 in recognition of her generous gesture.

On this new estate, it is believed that he was responsible for introducing two plants to Australia, the Sweet Briar (Rosa rubiginosa) and the Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica).