CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ^ ^OTTien university LiDrarv F 1883.C97 Historic Jamaica :With fifty-two illustr 3 1924 020 417 527 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020417527 HISTORIC JAMAICA Is it nature or by the error of fantasie that the seeing of places we know to have been frequented or inhabited by men whose memory is esteemed or mentioned in Stories, doth in some sort move and stirre us up as much or more than the hearing of their noble deeds or reading of their compositions ? Montaigne The care which a nation devotes to the preservation of the monuments of its past may serve as a true measure of the degree of civilization to which it has attained. Les Archives Principales de Moscou du Minist^re des Affaires Strangeres, Moscow, 1898. HISTORIC JAMAICA BY FRANK CUNDALL, F.S.A. SECRETAEY AND LIBRARIAN OF THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA WITH FIFTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS, PUBLISHED FOR THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA BY THE WEST INDIA COMMITTEE LONDON 1915 A'3SSl^f I'RINTED BY BALLAKTTNE, HANSON (|- CO. I.TD. , AT THE BALLANTTNE PbESS London, Englanb PREFACE In the year 1900 the present writer published a small volume entitled " Studies in Jamaica History," giving the records of certain historic sites in the colony. In its issue of October 27, 1908, the Editor of the " West India Committee Circular," commenting on the appoint- ment of a Royal Commission to enumerate and report upon the historical monuments in England, drew attention to the need for the preservation of historic sites and buildings in the West Indies, and stated that a letter on the subject had been addressed by the West India Committee to the Colonial Office. On November 24 he was able to state that the Secretary of State for the Colonies (the Earl of Crewe) sympathised with the object of the West India Committee and had forwarded their representations to the governors of the various West Indian colonies, recommending them to their consideration. In Jamaica the present writer, at the request of the Governor (Sir Sydney Olivier) and with the consent of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Jamaica, undertook to prepare a list, parish by parish, of historic sites, buildings and monuments, stating in each case the nature of its interest and the name of its owner. This list was published as a special supplement to the " Jamaica Gazette " on it reprinted December 23, 1909 ; and in November 1912 was as part of a report relating to the preservation of historic vi PREFACE sites and ancient monuments and buildings in the West Indian colonies presented to Parliament. In the meantime the present writer had commenced a " series of articles in the " West India Committee Circular dealing with historic sites and monuments in Jamaica, which appeared from Octoher 1909 till October 1914. At the suggestion of various persons interested in the subject it was decided to reprint these articles. In doing this it has been thought well to arrange them parish by parish and to add a few words of general history, taken in part from the writer's contributions to the "Handbook of Jamaica," and of descriptions of sites and monuments which have not been treated of individually. It is hoped that the following notes may not only serve the double purpose of evoking interest in the history of the colony in the minds of its inhabitants and proving a source of information to visitors, but may be the means of steps being taken to preserve old buildings and other monuments alike from decay and the hand of man. A list of works consulted in the compilation of the notes embodied in this volume would comprise almost all the books in the Jamaica section of the West India Library of the Institute of Jamaica, some 1400 in number. My thanks are due to Mrs. Lionel Lee for making the illustrations and to Mr. Algernon E. Aspinall for kind assist- ance in seeing the work through the press. F. C. Kingston, Jamaica. 1915. : CONTENTS PAGE LISTS or OFFICIALS Governors, Presidents of the Council, Speakers of the Assembly-, Chief Justices, Attorney- Generals, Naval Commanders-in-chief at Jamaica, Agents for Jamaica in Great Britain xiii INTEODUCTION Aboriginal inhabitants, Arawaks : physical features, language, beliefs, habitations, implements, name of Jamaica, other Arawak names : Spanish occupation, hatos, towns, buildings, names: English possession, ancient monuments, -buUdings, slavery, polities, forts; religion, agriculture!, education, printing, mapSi parishes, counties, place-names, Jamaica overseas 1 I. PORT ROYAL The Point : Shirley : Jackson : Forts : Residence- oi the Governor: Church: Buccaneers l Myngs : Morgan :. Earth- quake of 1692 : Spanish bell : Fire of 1703-4 ; Hurricane of 1722 : Attempt on Cartagena, Ogle, Smollett : Rodney Water-supply : Rodney's Look-out : Fort Charles : Nelson's Quarter-deck : Rodney's victory over De Grasse : the Convoy : Prince William Henry : Lady Nugent : Gosse : HiU : Urgent 45 IL ST. CATHERINE Passage Fort : Jackson : Penn and Venables : Spanish-Town : Raymond and Tyson : Cathedral, monuments, plate, rectors, ^ Earl of Effingham, Countess of Elgin: House of Assembly: Eagls House : Sir Hans Sloane's House : King's House : Rodney Memorial : St. John's, Guanaboa Vale : Church of St. Dorothy : Colebeck Castle : Galdy's Tomb : Ferry Inn : Fort Augusta: Rodney's Look-out : Port Henderson 81 III. KINGSTON Earthquake, site : Lilly, plan : Fire, 1780 : Corporation : Fires, 1843, 1862, 1882 : Earthquake, 1907 : Names of streets : Parish church, Knight, Lewis, Hakewill, plate, rectors, records, Benbow, monuments : Scotch Church : Headquarters House : : ; BlundeU Hall : Thomas Hibbert : General officers Old Mico :::: viii CONTENTS FAQB purse : Institute of Jamaica : Arawak pottery : Chancellor's maces: Monuments, Sir Charles Metcalfe, Queen Victoria, Edward Jordan, Dr. Bowerbank, Father Dupont, Rev. John 147 KadclifEe, Kev. W. J. Gardner : Wharves IV. ST. ANDREW of Liguanea: Halfway-Tree: Old Burial- Ground : Church St. Andrew, records, monuments, rectors : Lundie's pen King's House : Admiral's Pen : Rook Fort : Fort Nugent Constant Spring : Raymond Hall : Up-Park Camp : Bertha- ville : Mico College : Stony Hill Barracks : Garden House : Hope : Jamaica College : Lumb drinking-trough : Newcastle - : Jewish Burial-Ground : Hunt's Bay : Kitchen middens Norbrook : Hope : Long Mountain : Caves : Dallas Castle : Bloxburgh: Silver Hill: Cane River Falls: Hagley Gap: Catherine's Peak : Gordon Town : Dallas Castle : Manning's Hill: Salt Hill: Morce's Gap : Hardwar Gap : Scarlett 197 V. ST. THOMAS Name : Yallahs, church, plate : Luke Stokes : Stokes Hall : Stokesfield, Estate accounts : Morant Bay : Rebellion : Eyre, Gordon : Church, Bath, Spring, Court House Botanical Gardens : Dr. Dancer : Belvedere : Lyssons, Sir John Taylor, Simon Taylor : Hordley, Monk Lewis Albion : Arawak remains at Cambridge Hill and Botany Bay : Cow Bay and Bull Bay 236 VI. PORTLAND Name : Titchfield : Early settlement : School : St. George : Olivier Park : Carder Park : Moore Town : Muirton : Darling- ford : Low Layton : Spring Garden : Modyford's Gully Baloarres HUl : Seaman's Valley 254 VII. ST. MARY Name : Gray's Inn, Spanish remains : Decoy, Tomb of Sir Charles Price, Gardens : Sir Charles Price's rat : Agualta Vale : Dryland : Fort Haldane : Prospect : Heywood Hall 259 VIII. ST. ANN Historic interest : Liberty HiU : Arawak remains : Dry Harbour : Landing of Columbus, 1494 : Don Christopher's Cove : Residence of Columbus, 1503-4 : Mendes, rebellion of Porras, appeal to Hispaniola, bravery of Bartolommeo Columbus : Sevilla Nueva, Sloane's account, Peter Martyr, Ocho Rios, Chireras : Doyley's defeat of Sasi : Rio Nuevo in St. Mary, Pinal defeat of Sasi : Runaway Bay : Sevilla CONTENTS ix PAGE Nueva : Cardi£E Hall : Edinburgh Castle, Hutchinson : Mon- eague Tavern : Forts, Manimee Bay, St. Ann's Bay, Windson Forest : Priory : Dixon Pen : Geddes : York Castle ; Dry Harbour Caves : Walton, Jamaica Free School 267 IX. TRELAWNY Falmouth : Martha Brae : Bryan Castle, Bryan Edwards and his writings : Fort Dundas : Hyde Hall : Kitchen-middens 300 X. ST. JAMES Montego Bay : Close Harbour : Church, rectors : Mrs. Rosa Palmer : Maroons, Block House, Maroon Town, Accompong, War, Walpole, Treaty, Balcarres, Gillespie, Maroons in Nova Scotia : Duckett's Spring, the Scarletts : Rose Hall : Arawak Middens and Caves 319 XI. HANOVER Luoea, church : Rusea : Shettlewood 343 XII. WESTMORELAND Savanna-la-Mar, church : Bluefields and Gosse : Cornwall and Monk Lewis : Roaring River, Fort William and Williams- field and Beckford 346 XIII. ST. ELIZABETH Black River : Munro and Dickenson : Lacovia : Catadupa 369 XIV. MANCHESTER Mandeville : Sir William Scarlett : Bridges 372 XV. CLARENDON : Church of Carlisle Bay : Vere Church, rectors, monuments the White Cross : Morgan's Valley : Chapeltoa Church : Halse Hall: Longville: Kellets 373 INDEX 398 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS With the exception of the full page-plates and the ttoo maps, the illustrations are from sketches by Mrs. Lionel Lee. FAQE Arawak Bowl 1 Mealing-stone 2 Arawak Pestle 3 Sketch Map of Jamaica, circa 1661 7 Branding-iron 15 Sketch Map of Jamaica, circa 1866 41 PORT ROYAL Spanish Church bell, from Port Royal 56 Nelson's Quarter-deck 68 Kingston Harbour in 1774. From an enyruving in Long's " History of Jamaica" facing 70 rigure-head of the Ahouhir 71 ST. CATHERINE xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS paqe ST. ANDREW Halfway-Tree Church in 1906 200 King Edward's Clock Tower, Halfway-Tree 208 Admiral's Pen 211 Rock Fort 212 Fort Nugent 215 Raymond HaU 219 Up-Park Camp in 1840. From a coloured lithograph by Joseph B. Kidd (Frontispiece) ST. THOMAS Stokes Hall 241 Albion Estate 252 PORTLAND Port Antonio in 1770. From an engraving facing 256 ST. MARY Tomb of Sir Charles Price 261 ST. ANN Dry Harbour 268 Don Christopher's Cove 273 Rio Novo 285 Cardifi Hall 294 Moneague Tavern in 1844. From a daguerreotype by Adolphe Diiperly facing 302 Slave Punishment Cell at Geddes 303 TRELAWNY Bryan Castle 307 ST.