Newcastle is a settlement in the Blue Mountains of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Formerly a military hill station for the British Army it is now a training centre for the Jamaica Defence Force. The Blue Mountain and John Crow Mountain National Park in which Newcastle is located was established in 1992. Newcastle lies on the Kingston to Buff Bay road through the National Park. The Blue Mountains are criss-crossed by trails connecting villages to farms and plantations and other villages and trails from Newcastle to Catherine's Peak and Mt. Horeb are among the attractions for hikers and other visitors to the Park.

History

Newcastle became a military centre in the 1840s when Major General Sir William Maynard Gomm, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (and Britain's longest serving soldier), observed that yellow fever, a major cause of death among the British troops stationed in Jamaica, was far less prevalent in the mountains.The Blue Mountains - Newcastle, Jamaica Travel and Culture website
accessed 18 March 2011 After unsuccessful attempts to persuade the government to pay for the construction of a military barracks up in the hills, Gomm went ahead with construction of the barracks at the Newcastle coffee plantation on his own initiative. Construction was subsequently authorised by the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...

. The death toll among the troops posted to the West Indies garrison, formerly regarded as virtually a death sentence, declined dramatically., accessed 18 March 2011 During the colonial period until 1959, Newcastle was used as a "change-of-air camp" by British regiments stationed in Jamaica. In 1959 Newcastle became the Training Depot of the

West Indies Federation The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean th ...

's Federal Defence Force. When the Federation was dissolved and Jamaica achieved independence in 1962, Newcastle was part of a general transfer of all military lands in Jamaica to the Jamaican Government. The Newcastle Barracks are still used by the Jamaica Defence Force as a training centre.

References

External links

* (accessed 18 March 2011)
View of Newcastle in the hills overlooking Kingston at Jamaican Family Search website
(accessed 18 March 2011)
"New Castle (''sic'') Training Depot" page at Jamaica National Heritage Trust website
(accessed 18 March 2011) Populated places in Jamaica {{Jamaica-geo-stub