Spanish Town

Spanish Town is the oldest continuously occupied city in the Western Hemisphere. Its history is largely the history of early Jamaica. Architecturally, Spanish Town remains a national treasure. Near the town`s entrance stands the oldest iron bridge of its kind in Western Hemisphere. Cast in England it was erected in 1801 at a cost of È4,000. On the eastern side of the Square, where the Assembly used to be, is now housed the offices of the St Catherine parish council. The original House of Assembly was built in 1762. On the south side of the square stand the burned remains of the former Courthouse, built in 1819, the victim of a 1986 fire. It is believed that on this site once stood the Spanish Church of the White Cross, said to have been connected by an underground passage to a monastery on nearby Monk Street. Also nearby on Barracks Street lie the remains of military barracks erected in 1791 to house both soldiers and officers. A large underground passage has been discovered there, although its origin and purpose remain elusive..