Goldeneye (estate)

Goldeneye (estate)

Goldeneye was the name given by Ian Fleming to his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He purchased the land next door to Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach. The original house was a modest structure consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming pool. Fleming's coterie of friends who visited him at Goldeneye included actors, musicians and filmmakers.

Fleming claimed a number of origins for the name of the estate including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming himself developed during World War II in case of a Nazi invasion of Gibraltar through Spain.

Fleming created James Bond here and wrote many of his fourteen James Bond novels here. A number of the Bond movies, including Dr. No and Live and Let Die, were filmed near the estate. In 1956 British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his wife Clarissa spent a month at Goldeneye after Eden's health collapsed in the wake of the Suez Crisis. The attendant publicity helped to boost Fleming's writing career.

In 1976, 12 years after Ian Fleming's death, the property was sold to reggae musician Bob Marley. Marley sold the estate in 1977 to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. Eighteen years later, the estate's name would be the title of the seventeenth James Bond film, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

Goldeneye is located in the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, which was established in 2011 to protect Oracabessa’s marine ecosystem. It is adjacent to James Bond Beach, home of international concerts and festivals.