Freedom Rock Travel Diary

Portland, Jamaica

Scenes of Jamaica

Lucea, Capital of Hanover

The town of Lucea is the capital of Hanover on Jamaica’s northwestern tip. It is the second smallest parish and covers an area of 450.4 km square.

Lucea is set on a natural bay. Hanover was established in 1725 and given the family name of the British monarch King George I who was from the House of Hanover in Germany. Hanover
has been mainly agricultural, but tourism has become important in recent years.
The town of Lucea is steeped in history, and relics of yesteryear stand as tourist attractions.
Located at the 19th-century courthouse is a clock tower which was installed in 1817. It is still fully functional. The clock was originally intended for the island of St Lucia, but was delivered in error
to Lucea, Jamaica, which had placed an order for a much more modest clock with the same English manufacturer.
A GIFT
The clock tower was erected as a gift to the town by a German landowner in the area, on the condition that he would have a free hand in designing it. The tower is modeled after the helmet which was worn by the Royal Guards of Juega, Germany.
Lucea Parish Church dates back to the 1700s. Legend has it that a tunnel leads from the church to the
nearby Fort Charlotte. Fort Charlotte, named after King George III’s queen, guards the harbor , which is a beautiful blue basin of water one mile in diameter.

The old cast iron bridge that spans the Rio Cobre River in Spanish Town was built in 1801 at a cost of four-thousand pounds. It was designed by British Engineer Thomas Wilson and shipped to Jamaica in prefabricated parts.

Did you know that it is the oldest bridge of its kind in the Western Hemisphere?

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