 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Clark's Town |
| Clark’s Town is located in the heart of the Trelawny sugar belt, and is a busy rural town with an interesting history. After the emancipation of slaves in Jamaica in the mid 19th century, the owner of the Swandswick Estate, Mr G.M. Clarke donated a thirty-acre tract of land on the edge of his estate to be used for the development of a “Free Village”. The village at the time was structured in the traditional free village style, with a centrally located church and the houses of mainly sugar estate workers. This was not the typical free village, however, since the traditional free villages rose out of land acquired and developed by a coalition of missionaries and emancipated slaves. Unlike the others, Clark’s Town was built by an estate owner, perhaps with the intention of keeping the labourers on the plantation.
Currently there is a debate as to whether the church was originally Baptist or Anglican, as that fact would give further insight into the history of the town. Despite it all, the town stayed within its 1843 boundaries for almost a century, surrounded by sugar estate lands. Only in the past fifty years has the town been allowed to grow, and today it is no longer a small village but a bustling transportation hub and with an energetic populace. St. Michael’s Chapel, the church around which the village was built, is still standing, and is a beautiful structure set against a background of miles of green cane-fields. |
|
|
|
 |
