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Projects

Fort Stewart, St Mary

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Rosie Dodd

The FGSJ team examined the remains of Fort Stewart, a small early 18th century fortified bastioned dwelling. The site and construction demonstrate the fears of the English settlers of the dangers posed by French coastal raiding parties and Windward Maroons… Continue Reading →

News, Possible Future Projects 18th century, Dr Ivor Conolley, Fort Stewart, Jamaica, Windward Maroons

Fort Augusta, St Catherine

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Anne M Powers

An astonishing and largely intact defensive structure, it is easy to miss Fort Augusta as it is set so low to the water – thereby offering the least possible target to attackers – that the smallest trees conceal it.  It… Continue Reading →

Possible Future Projects enceinte, Fort Augusta, memorials, Port Authority, subsidence, Technology Park

Scots Kirk, Duke Street, Kingston

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Rosie Dodd

The Scots Kirk is a splendid octagonal church of 1819 (rebuilt after the 1907 earthquake) in downtown Kingston, with brick walls around timber columns, upper floors and roof.  At first sight it looks fine as it is superficially very well… Continue Reading →

Possible Future Projects Duke Street, earthquake, Kingston, Scots Kirk

Hanover Parish Church, Lucea

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Administration

In 2000, the Society contributed £1,000 towards the repair of the roof of St Mary’s Church in Lucea, capital of the parish of Hanover. The church is 200 years old and has a number of interesting monuments including one to… Continue Reading →

Completed Projects

The Morant Bay Courthouse

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Administration

Morant Bay Court House, St. Thomas, second half of 18th c and the site of the tragic end to the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865 The scene of the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, the Morant Bay Courthouse is one… Continue Reading →

Possible Future Projects

The Iron Bridge at Spanish Town

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Administration

Iron Bridge, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, 1801, the earliest iron bridge in the Americas Built in 1801 from prefabricated cast iron sections imported from West Yorkshire, Spanish Town’s Iron Bridge was the first of its type to be erected outside… Continue Reading →

Completed Projects

St Peter’s Church, Falmouth

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Administration

St. Peter’s Church, Falmouth Trelawny, 1796 Completed in 1795 at a cost said to be as high as £10,000, this proud cutstone structure with its tall tower and stylish ‘Gothick’ window tracery was built on four adjoining lots of land… Continue Reading →

Completed Projects Barrett, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Falmouth, Good Hope, St Andrew, St Peter's, Tharp, Trelawny

St Mark’s Church, Rio Bueno

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Administration

Rio Bueno, a charming little town on the island’s North Coast, retains many of its cutstone Georgian buildings including (albeit somewhat decrepit) the Wellington tavern, a little hotel described by Monk Lewis in 1816 as “a very good inn”. Before… Continue Reading →

Completed Projects

The Falmouth Post Office

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Administration

Built some time after 1832, The Falmouth Post Office is one of the finest examples of a merchant house-store on Jamaica’s north coast. The FGSJ contributed some years ago to a restoration of this building in Market Street, since when… Continue Reading →

Completed Projects

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Useful Links

  • The Georgian Society of Jamaica

  • Jamaica National Heritage Trust

  • The Falmouth Project

  • Jamaica Colonial Heritage Society

  • Jamaican High Commission, London

  • Black Cultural Archives

  • Georgian Group

  • INTBAU

  • Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

  • Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings

  • Prince’s Foundation for Building Community

  • A Tour of Jamaica's Great Houses, Plantations, & Pens

  • Family History Jamaica

  • Caribbean Family History Research

  • A Parcel of Ribbons - Anne Powers on genealogy

  • Sharon Tomlin on genealogy

  • Antony Maitland on genealogy

Tags

Georgian Group sugar colonial Caribbean American War of Independence Georgian Society of Jamaica Dr Ivor Conolley Tharp oak aged earthquake timber decay iron frame Port Royal Falmouth West India merchant Fort Charles runaway bay slavery Port Authority enslaved Africans Iron Bridge plantation Kingston Windrush exhibition Rum Coroners Court Trelawny Scots Kirk Good Hope Jamaica treasure trove Spanish Town pot still Fort Stewart Scotland Duke Street Jamaica National Heritage Trust St Peter's Church shingle roofs museum

Restoring

Properly restored and maintained, many of these buildings serve the local community in several ways: practically, they house post offices, courthouses and churches, as well as private dwellings of all sizes; economically, they form the basis of heritage tourism which can help struggling towns survive; they also reinforce local pride in the island’s heritage.

The very act of restoration can also provide much needed employment for young people trained in the skills needed.

Saving

Many of these buildings disappear every year as a result of extreme weather and unchecked degradation. The town of Falmouth, on the north coast, is on the World Monuments Fund’s list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. While there is recognition at government level and in several heritage and conservation organisations of the need to preserve and restore Jamaica’s historic buildings, the state of the island’s economy makes funding a real problem. It is therefore all the more important that we contribute what we can to restoration, both to help preserve these wonderful buildings and also to support the organisations on the island which are struggling to carry out this important work.

Supporting

The FGSJ offers financial support to projects for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings, and seeks to stimulate an interest in and an appreciation of the value of Jamaica’s heritage.

Jamaica has some of the finest Georgian buildings outside Great Britain. The architecture of this period was adapted to suit the tropics while maintaining the style and charm of its eighteenth-century origins. The particular Georgian quality of grace combined with utility appears not only in the design of great houses and civic buildings, but also in quite modest buildings throughout the island.

The Friends of the Georgian Society of Jamaica is a charity registered in the UK, no. 1074915.

It is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, no. 3447992

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