Blog To The World

Falmouth

History:

Falmouth was created from seaside land owned by famed English Romantic poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s grandfather, Edward Moulton Barrett, in 1790. Barrett sold portions of land off to planter friends, kept the waterfront and donated what remained for the building of a courthouse, church and public gardens.

As Falmouth took shape, government offices were moved and churches such as St. Peter’s Anglican Church, located in the town centre were built. Today St. Peter’s, after an 1842 extension stands as one of the largest Anglican churches in Jamaica. Its supporting columns are of solid mahogany and its floor includes crosses inlaid with mahoe and mahogany. Graves spanning over 200 years grace its cemetery.

Falmouth was carefully laid out with narrow streets named after 18th and 19th century British sovereigns and heroes: King St., Queen St., George St., Rodney St., Charlotte St., Pitt St., Victoria St., as well as Wellington, Stanley and Albert Streets. This was the heyday of King Sugar and Jamaica’s fortunes were on the rise as the world’s leading sugar producer. Planters flocked to Falmouth, their slaves in tow. In the late 1820s there were some 25,000 slaves in Trelawny alone. Indeed Falmouth was Jamaica’s boom town of the 19th Century but its fortunes declined with the decline of King Sugar. It was finally “killed” in the late 1960’s by moving the shipping pier to Ocho Rios, a move which has had severe political repercussions for the then ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government. Falmouth residents have not forgotten nor forgiven the JLP and have become some of the staunchest, die hard supporters of the rival People’s National Party (PNP).
Old Georgian House
It is one of the towns in Jamaica that has maintained the features, ambience of the past and is declared a Historic town. In 1991 Falmouth had a population of 7,955. When Falmouth came into being a small coastal town, the town had the highest concentration of Georgian Architecture in Jamaica (possibly in the Caribbean). Construction was done in stone, brick and timber. It resulted in a complete and comprehensive small town with its own distinctive environment.

Falmouth residents will proudly remind you that residents of Falmouth received piped water pumped by The Falmouth Water Company pumped (from the
Martha Brae River) before the city of  New York.

Falmouth Today:

Today, Falmouth is slowly growing to meet the needs of the future. In the field of commerce, Falmouth is best known for the weekly (Wednesdays) ‘Bend Down Market’ when vendors and buyers from all over the island converge on the town. It is the largest such market in the island. There are two commercial banks, 2 building societies and a credit union. A highway has been constructed as a bypass to the town and that has considerably restricted growth prospects for the town. Formerly, the narrow main road passed through the town creating business possibilities for it’s citizens.

Employment:

Employment is mainly provided by the tourism sector, fishing, government, trade work (mechanics, carpentry, construction, etc.) and the business sector. Training is provided at the HEART (vocational skills training) Academy in the town.

The youths:

The town has been grappling with an on-going gang feud that has taken several twists and turns over the past few years. Many young men have been killed or injured in a battle that started over five years ago. Each gang has borders they cannot cross and this has severely restricted the prospects of employment and skills training for the youths. To make it worse, the HEART Academy is located adjacent to one of the gang areas.

There has been improvement in several areas in the town, especially in education. New schools have been added to boost school places and include Hague Primary and Holland High to complement my alma mata William Knibb Memorial High and Falmouth All-Age & Junior High.

At left: students at the newly built Hague Primary & Infant School.

In sports:

The town has a football team (Village United) in the twelve team National Premier League and has done well over the years going to the semi-finals twice, but never passing that stage. It has been to one national final, the JNBS Knockout in 2004, but lost against Waterhouse FC.                                                             

The town was the host of the opening ceremony for the 2007 World Cup Cricket competition which was held at the new Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium at Greenfield, two miles from Falmouth.

Warm-up match at Greenfield Stadium

The future:

Falmouth has been declared a national heritage site and there are plans to restore Falmouth to some semblance of former glory with plans for a huge cruise ship pier (see the video below) to accommodate the world’s largest ship. This  will involve re-development of a large part of the town. there is also the Harmony Cove resort development which includes plans for several hotels, villas and golf courses. There are several other massive hotel developments planned (including the partially constructed Oyster Bay hotel which is reported to be targeting almost 2,000 rooms).

Take a look at my Falmouth photos.

Acknowledgement: A History of Falmouth: Boom Town of the 19th Century by Dr. Rebecca Tortello;