Fort George is situated on the Titchfield Peninsula in the town of

Port Antonio Port Antonio is the capital of the parish of Portland on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, about from Kingston. It had a population of 12,285 in 1982 and 13,246 in 1991. It is the island's third largest port, famous as a shipping point for b ...

, in the parish of Portland,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. The proposal for a fort in Port Antonio was first discussed in 1728, when a committee of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

met to consider measures to be taken in the face of a possible

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

invasion. In 1729, Christian Lilly was assigned the task of building a fort which, after being built, became known as Fort George in honour of

King George I of Great Britain George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first ...

. Lilly had built some of the walls at the

Royal Citadel, Plymouth The Royal Citadel in Plymouth, Devon, England, was built in the late 1660s to the design of Sir Bernard de Gomme. It is at the eastern end of Plymouth Hoe overlooking Plymouth Sound, and encompasses the site of the earlier fort that had been bu ...

, and the bastion at Fort George was designed as a smaller version of the Citadel. Fort George’s construction served a dual purpose, first as a source of defence against foreign invasion and, second, to deal with the menace of the

maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos. ...

in the area. The area between Fort George and

Fort Haldane Fort Haldane is located near Port Maria in the parish of St Mary, Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (aft ...

in nearby

Port Maria Port Maria is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary. Originally named "Puerto Santa Maria", it was the second town established by Spanish settlers in Jamaica. The ruins of Fort Haldane, built 1759, overlook the town. It has a p ...

had a very large population of freedom fighters in the mid-eighteenth century. One of the most notable was Tacky, who led an insurgency, known as Tacky's rebellion against the British which lasted over five months. Fort George was built to hold 22 guns including 8 large cannons, and has walls ten feet thick. The fort was used during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a training base and supply depot for the British Navy. The barracks of the fort now house classrooms for the Titchfield High School. Much of the fort has been lost over the almost 300 years since its original construction, and all that remains are the

Munitions Building The Main Navy and Munitions Buildings were constructed in 1918 along Constitution Avenue (then known as B Street) on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall (Potomac Park) as the largest of a set of temporary war buildings on the National Mall. Both b ...

, the defence walls and a line of cannons.http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/destinations/portland/port_antonio/fort_george.htm Ref to cannons

References

External links

Aerial view
{{National Heritage Sites in Jamaica Buildings and structures in Portland Parish Tourist attractions in Portland Parish Museums in Jamaica Monuments and memorials in Jamaica Forts in Jamaica 1729 establishments in the British Empire