Overplus Lane

Sandys Parish, West End

Sandys Parish is home to Overplus Lane, which has an interesting history behind it. It's a history of the way Bermuda was settled in the seventeenth century, a history of human nature and splendid example of political corruption that is timeless and persistent probably even today. When the Bermuda Company was beginning to organize the newly-discovered Bermuda amongst the British settlers, and to divide the land among them, the man in charge was Richard Norwood. Norwood divided the island into

shares and tribes. A share consisted of 25 acres, and when you put 50 shares together, you got a tribe. The survey was extensive and detailed, with the goal of creating equal-sized farms based on shares and tribes, and allotting them accordingly, to the citizens of the new colony. The mathematical equation left some 200 acres not allotted, since things didn't work out even with the shares and tribes. 200 acres was less than the area covered by one tribe, you see, so nobody could farm it, being too small. Then-Governor Tucker told the surveyor to go ahead and create the tribes, and to apply the leftover 200 acres to some of the choicest real estate. Norwood chose a chunk of land in the western part of the island as the designated surplus land, and Governor Tucker promptly claimed it as his own. Tucker built a house but unfortunately for him, he didnt' get to stay long.

When the Bermuda Company heard of this abuse of the surveying and tribe system, they kicked him off the land and sent him back to London to sort out the mess. In the meantime, the surplus or Overplus land was divided up into tiny pieces, and given to the Church, all except the tiny piece upon which sat Tucker's beautiful home. The rest is history. Overplus Lane should explain itself quite easily now that you know the history.