Seville Great House

When the English captured Jamaica in 1655 from the Spanish areas of the country were divided up amongst the captains and generals of the conquering armies. One such was the Seville Estate that was awarded to a Captain Hemmings. Prior to the Spanish, Taino peoples from South America had settlements on the area now known as Seville. The Spaniards imported Africans as slaves to work the sugar and later Copra there and the English continued this activity.

The Seville Great house was built by Hemmings grandson towards the end of the 17th century. Originally a two storey house, the top floor was blown off during a hurricane in the 19th century. The upper floor was never restored so the house as it was then remains today. Operated as a heritage park where visitors can learn about the various known inhabitants of the area, the once 3000 acre Seville estate which extended form Clayground to the sea has been divided up and what remains known as Seville Estate is now merely 300 acres, divided by the main coastal highway that runs on the northern side ot the island from Montego Bay in the west to Port Antonio in the east.

The last owners of the estate prior to it being taken over by the Government were the Hoskins family. Their family burial site can  be seen here. The last remaining spot is empty as the youngest sister did not die on the island and is buried elsewhere.

At Seville Heritage Park, you can take a tour of the great house and the grounds and learn something about the past inhabitants of the area, from the Taino, through to the English. Several archaeological digs have been carried out there, revealing artifacts from the past, which demonstrated how the inhabitants lived.

There are also reconstructions of a Taino village and African house on the site as well as the ruins of some of the plantation workers most notably the overseers house and the intact structures of the copra kiln and chimney.