Parishes of Jamaica

Parishes of Jamaica
Category	Unitary state
Location	Jamaica
Number	14 Parishes
Populations	68,000 (Hanover) – 541,000 (Saint Andrew)
Areas	25 km2 (9.7 sq mi) (Kingston) – 1,213 km2 (468 sq mi) (Saint Ann)
Government	Parish government, National government
Subdivisions	Cities, Towns, Villages

Administratively, Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes. They are grouped into three historic counties, which have no administrative relevance. Every parish has a coast; none are landlocked.

The traditional county towns were Savanna-la-Mar for Cornwall County, Spanish Town for Middlesex County, and Kingston for Surrey County.

	Parish	Area km²	Population Census 2011	Capital
Cornwall County
1	Hanover	450.4	69,533	Lucea
2	Saint Elizabeth	1,212.4	150,205	Black River
3	Saint James	594.9	183,811	Montego Bay
4	Trelawny	874.6	75,164	Falmouth
5	Westmoreland	807.0	144,103	Savanna-la-Mar
Middlesex County
6	Clarendon	1,196.3	245,103	May Pen
7	Manchester	830.1	189,797	Mandeville
8	Saint Ann	1,212.6	172,362	Saint Ann's Bay
9	Saint Catherine	1,192.4	516,218	Spanish Town
10	Saint Mary	610.5	113,615	Port Maria
Surrey County
11	Kingston Parish(1) (2)	21.8	89,057	Kingston
12	Portland	814.0	81,744	Port Antonio
13	Saint Andrew(1)	430.7	573,369	Half Way Tree
14	Saint Thomas	742.8	93,902	Morant Bay
	Jamaica	10,991.0	2,697,983	Kingston

⁽¹⁾ The parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew together form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.
⁽²⁾ The parish of Kingston does not encompass all of the city of Kingston. Most of the city is in the parish of St. Andrew.

Map of the parishes of Jamaica.

Former Parishes

Parishes have been a feature of local administration in Jamaica since the island was captured by the English in 1655. The number has varied over time and some no longer exist having either been absorbed into or divided between neighbouring parishes. At the peak, 1841–1865, there were 22 (the current 14 plus those listed below).

The current set of parishes was established in 1866 with the elimination of the 8 listed below (roughly by county):

Surrey:

• Port Royal (now divided between Kingston and Saint Andrew)
• Saint George (now divided between Saint Mary and Portland)
• Saint David (now part of Saint Thomas)

Middlesex:

• Metcalfe (now part of Saint Mary)
• Saint Dorothy (now part of Saint Catherine)
• Saint John (now part of Saint Catherine)
• Saint Thomas in the Vale (now part of Saint Catherine) – note that the current Saint Thomas used to be named "Saint Thomas in the East" to differentiate between the two parishes at the time.
• Vere (now part of Clarendon)

See also

• List of Caribbean First-level Subdivisions by Total Area
• ISO 3166-2:JM

External links

• Jamaican Parish Reference, a concise and well illustrated history of parish naming in Jamaica.