Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Encyclopedia
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. It is located on the south of the island, roughly half-way between the island's eastern and western ends. Located in the county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
of Middlesex, it is bordered by Manchester
Manchester Parish, Jamaica
The parish of Manchester is located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its capital, Mandeville, is a major business centre, and the only parish capital not located on the coast or on a major river. The Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley The parish of Manchester is located in...
on the west, Saint Catherine
Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica
St Catherine is a parish located in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parish because of its many resources. It includes the first capital of Jamaica, Spanish Town, originally known as San Jago de la...
in the east, and in the north by Saint Ann
Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica
Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called 'the Garden Parish of Jamaica' on account of its natural beauty...
.
History
Clarendon was named in honour of the Lords ChancellorChancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. The parish was formed from a combination of three parishes: St. Dorothy's, Vere and the old parish of Clarendon. Before the merger, the capital was Chapelton
Chapelton, Jamaica
Chapelton is a market town in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica and the former parish capital.-Name:According to a long time resident:-Amenities:*Clarendon College, secondary school.*Clarendon Hospital, built c1903, now a community Type 3 hospital.*....
.
Geography and population
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...
, marked by several rivers, including the Rio Minho River, which runs the length of the parish. Toward the northern end of the parish lies the Mocho Mountain, (200 ft), and Bull Head Mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
(2800 ft), which is considered to be the geographical centre of the island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
. The Vere plain is another significant geographical feature.
Portland Point, the southernmost point of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, is on a peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
in Clarendon which also hosts Portland Point Lighthouse
Portland Lighthouse
Portland Cottage light structure formerly Portland Lighthouse sometimes Portland Point Lighthouse is situated on the summit of Portland Ridge, Clarendon, near the southernmost part of the island....
. On the same peninsula are Jackson Bay beach, the flood-prone community of Portland Cottage, and two different locations both called Rocky Point: a residential community on the western side of the peninsula, and a port used primarily for the export of alumina on the eastern side of the peninsula.
With a population at an estimated 215,515, Clarendon is one of the most populous parishes in the island. May Pen, the capital, has a population estimated at around 60,000.
Towns
- ChapeltonChapelton, JamaicaChapelton is a market town in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica and the former parish capital.-Name:According to a long time resident:-Amenities:*Clarendon College, secondary school.*Clarendon Hospital, built c1903, now a community Type 3 hospital.*....
- HayesHayesHayes may refer to:* Hayes , including a list of people with the name* A.F.C. Hayes, an English football club based in Hayes, Hillingdon* Hayes Brake, an American company dedicated to the design and manufacture of non-automotive disc-brakes...
- May PenMay PenMay Pen is the capital and largest town in the parish of Clarendon in the Middlesex County, Jamaica. It is located on the Rio Minho river , and is a major market centre for the Parish...
- FrankfieldFrankfieldFrankfield is a town in Clarendon in central Jamaica. It is located near the top of Jamaica's central ridge of mountains overlooking the south coast...
- Lionel Town
- Race Cource
- Portland Cottage
- SanguinettiSanguinettiSanguinetti is a family name that may refer to:* Davide Sanguinetti , Italian professional tennis player* Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Italian writer and member of the Situationist International...
- Low Wood
- VereVereVere may refer to:People with the given name Vere:* Vere Fane, 4th Earl of Westmorland grandson to Horace Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury* Vere Fane, 5th Earl of Westmorland* Vere Fane, 14th Earl of Westmorland...
Economy
BauxiteBauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
, Jamaica's major mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
source, can be found extensively in Clarendon. Bauxite mining has been established in the parish by JAMALCO and ALCOA
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
. Most of the island's tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
is also grown in Clarendon, along with cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, allspice
Allspice
Allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or newspice, is a spice that is the dried unripe fruit of Pimenta dioica , a mid-canopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world...
(colloquially referred to as pimento), ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
, livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
, indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
, banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, and cocoa. May Pen is also an important citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
packing centre, famous for 'Trout Hall' oranges
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
. Additionally, dairy farming
Dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
, fish farming
Fish farming
Fish farming is the principal form of aquaculture, while other methods may fall under mariculture. Fish farming involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food. A facility that releases young fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species'...
, and copper mining have been carried on intermittently, and the sugar-cane production contributes significantly to the amount of sugar exported annually. The Denbigh agricultural showground is on the outskirts of May Pen.
Clarendon is the location of the Milk River Bath
Milk River Bath
Milk River Bath is mineral spa in the South West corner of Clarendon Parish, Jamaica.Owned by the Government of Jamaica since its opening in 1794, it now has about 6 public baths and a hotel with about 20 bedrooms. It claims that its warm waters are more radioactive than some other notable...
, a mineral spa
Thermal bath
A thermal bath is a warm body of water. It is often referred to as a spa, which is traditionally used to mean a place where the water is believed to have special health-giving properties, though note that many spas offer cold water or mineral water treatments.A thermal bath may be part of a...
famous for the therapeutic
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
value of its waters. The oldest church on the island is in Alley, the old capital of Vere.
Halse Hall Great House
Halse Hall
Halse Hall is a plantation great house in Clarendon, Jamaica.During the Spanish occupation of Jamaica the estate was known as "Hato de Buena Vista". In 1655, following the English capture of Jamaica the site was given to Major Thomas Halse who came from Barbados with Penn and Venables. Here he...
is one of the island's historic houses. The land on which the house stands was given to an English officer, Major Thomas Halse, in 1655, and was passed from him to Francis Sadler Halse. Halse played a leading role in the Maroon Wars.
The Denbigh Agricultural Show Grounds — once a year, on the weekend prior to Independence celebrations, a national Agriculture Show is staged here.
Vernamfield was the first car-racing track established in Jamaica. The track is located on the former American lend lease air base, Vernam Field (later Vernam Air Force Base) that was named in honor of WWI flyer Remington de B. Vernam
Remington de B. Vernam
For the Rockaway, New York land developer, see Remington Vernam .Lieutenant Remington D. B. Vernam was an American pilot who had enlisted in the French air service during World War I, and was transferred to the United States Army Air Service after American entry into the war.He attained ace status...
. Vernam Field is known for drag racing
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
.
- The Woodleigh racetrack outside of May Pen is known for dirtbike racing.
- It is the home of the New Yarmouth, Sevens Estate and Moneymusk Sugar factories.
Twin Areas
This area has twinning with the following:- HaringeyLondon Borough of HaringeyThe London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...
, United Kingdom 
KoblenzKoblenzKoblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Germany;
LarnacaLarnacaLarnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...
, Cyprus;
Livry-GarganLivry-GarganLivry-Gargan is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Twin towns:Livry-Gargan is twinned with the communities of:* Almuñécar, Spain* Cerveteri, Italy* Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany...
, France;
Sundbyberg, Sweden
Notable residents
- Birthplace of Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home
- Birthplace of Canadian sprinter Atlee MahornAtlee MahornAtlee Anthony Mahorn is a three-time Canadian Olympic sprinter. He is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA in International Business....
- Birthplace of singer Liz MitchellLiz MitchellLiz Mitchell is a singer, best known as the former lead singer of the 1970s disco/pop band, Boney M.-Early life:...
of Boney M. fame. - Birthplace of singer MillieMillie (singer)Millie is a Jamaican singer-songwriter, often known as "Little Millie Small", and in the United States as "Millie Small", and is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop".-Career:...
who had a hit in 1964 with My Boy LollipopMy Boy Lollipop"My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and usually credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. It was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye...
. - Birthplace of Reggae singer Cocoa TeaCocoa TeaCocoa Tea is a Jamaican reggae/dancehall singer, songwriter, and DJ.- Biography :Cocoa Tea was popular in Jamaica from 1985, but has become successful worldwide only since the 1990s...
- Calvin George Scott - Birthplace of singer Freddie McGregorFreddie McGregorFreddie McGregor has been variously a singer, musician and producer. According to Allmusic he is one of reggae's most durable and soulful singers, with a steady career that started in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.-Biography:In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to...
- Birthplace of writer Claude McKayClaude McKayClaude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote three novels: Home to Harlem , a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo , and Banana Bottom...
, who was part of the Harlem RenaissanceHarlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
. The high school at his birthplace, James Hill, is named in his honour. - Birthplace of singer Barrington LevyBarrington LevyBarrington Levy is a reggae and dancehall artist from Jamaica.-Career:In 1976, Levy formed a band with his cousin, Everton Dacres, called the Mighty Multitude; the pair released "My Black Girl" in 1977...
- Birthplace of singer Toots HibbertToots HibbertFrederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert is a ska and roots reggae singer and leader of the reggae band Toots & the Maytals.-Biography:...
of Toots & The Maytals fame. - The Earl of Carlisle, a governor of Jamaica from 1678-1680.
- Birthplace of world champion boxer Glen JohnsonGlen Johnson (boxer)Glengoffe Donovan Johnson is a professional boxer. Nicknamed Gentleman and The Road Warrior, Johnson is the former IBF and Ring magazine light heavyweight champion.-Amateur career:...
- Birthplace of Mona HammondMona HammondMona Hammond OBE is a Chinese Jamaican actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where she has remained ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career...
- Birthplace of soccer player Rodolph Austin
- Birthplace of Fr. Raphael MorganRaphael MorganVery Rev. Raphael Morgan was a Jamaican-American priest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, designated as "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies, later the founder and superior of the Order of the Cross of Golgotha, and thought to be the first Black Orthodox clergyman in America.He spoke...
(Robert Josias Morgan), missionary and first Black OrthodoxGreek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
priest in America. - Birthplace of Super CatSuper CatSuper Cat is a deejay most popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s dancehall movement. Super Cat was born in Jamaica and was nicknamed Wild Apache. His nickname, the "Wild Apache" was given to him by his mentor Early B...