Trelawny Parish - History

History

In 1770, the wealthy planters in St James and St Ann succeeded in having sections of those parishes become the parish of Trelawny as they were too far from administrative centres. Trelawny was named after William Trelawny, the then Governor of Jamaica. The first capital was Martha Brae located two miles (3 km) inland from Rock Bay.

Trelawny is best known for its sugar estates and sugar factories. It had more sugar estates than any other parish, so there was need for a sea coast town to export it. Falmouth became a thriving seaport and social centre. The town had two of its own newspapers; The Falmouth Post and The Falmouth Gazette.

Trelawny was also home to the largest group of Maroons in the island. A 1739 treaty between the Maroons and the English gave the Maroons freedom and land, which effectively put a stop to their raids on the plantations. However, a second Maroon uprising in 1795, led to over 600 Maroons being exiled to Nova Scotia, Canada and later to Sierra Leone in Africa in 1800.

In 2007 the opening ceremony for the ICC Cricket World Cup was held in Trelawny Parish.

Read more about this topic:  Trelawny Parish

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “When the history of guilt is written, parents who refuse their children money will be right up there in the Top Ten.”
    —Erma Brombeck (20th century)

    “Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”
    —Lytton Strachey (1880–1932)