Several attempts were made to deepen the harbour, but Falmouth never regained its former glory. These bulky vessels needed deeper waters to dock, and Falmouth Harbour was not deep enough. Steamboats began to arrive in Jamaica in the 1830's, and it signaled the end of Falmouth as a major port town. Many slave ships arrived at this port, full of West African slaves who were auctioned off to local plantation ownersįalmouth was operating as a free port in the early 1800's. This made Falmouth a central hub of the slave trade and the now notorious cross-Atlantic triangular trade. Jamaica, during this period, had become the world's top exporter of sugar. It was a wealthy town in a wealthy parish with a rich racial mix. It was home to masons, carpenters, tavern-keepers, mariners, planters and others. Twenty-three years before that, Falmouth contained less than 20 houses and cleared about 10 ships annually.īy 1794, the number of houses reached 220 and the number of ships cleared reached 30.įalmouth developed in the days when sugar was king and it has much of the charm of the Eighteenth Century in its Court House, in its wrought iron balconies, its colonnades and overhanging storeys.ĭuring the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Falmouth was one of the busiest ports in Jamaica. ![]() In 1794, Bryan Edwards had recorded his astonishment at the rapid development of the town. In 1794, Moulton Barrett donated 7,800 square feet of land along the intersection of Duke Street and Pitt Street for the construction of an Anglican church, the St. Trelawny after 1790 was one of prosperity. He built two houses and a wharf in Falmouth, and one house is currently the Office of the Collector of Tax. Tharp owned a number of estates in Trelawny and he assisted Moulton Barrett and his brother Samuel with selling the lots in Falmouth. Tharp was also Custos of Trelawny, until 1795, when a series of personal tragedies and ill health forced him to resign. The lots in Falmouth were sold to wealthy planters and merchants, and John Tharp was one such planter. In other words, the town was divided into square and rectangular blocks, separated by vertical and horizontal streets, similar to a chessboard, then subdivided into lots which were sold. Noteably, Martha Brae Village, not Falmouth, was the first capital of Trelawny.įalmouth was built in accordance with the gridiron plan. The town was named after Falmouth, Cornwall in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of Sir William Trelawny. ![]() It was a market centre and a fort for over forty years when Jamaica was the world's leading sugar producer. Additionally, Falmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny.įounded by Thomas Reid in 1769. Falmouth is located in Trelawny, Jamaica (Caribbean).
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