Porous is a village in

Manchester Parish The Parish of Manchester () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its Capital (political), capital, Mandeville, Jamaica, Mandeville, is a major business centre. Its St. Paul of the Cross ...

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 ...

, that overlooks a plain to the south, with hills behind it to the north. A tributary of the

Rio Minho The Rio Minho is the longest river in Jamaica at . It rises close to the island's geographic centre, flows generally south-southwest and reaches the Caribbean Sea at Carlisle Bay in the central south coast, to the west of the island's southernm ...

runs parallel to the main road, helping to keep the atmosphere cool.

History

Porus was founded in 1840 by the

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

James Phillippo James Phillippo (1798 in Norfolk, England – 11 May 1879, in Spanish Town, Jamaica) was an English Baptist missionary in Jamaica who campaigned for the abolition of slavery. He served in Jamaica from 1823 to his death, with some periods lobbyin ...

as a free village for ex-slaves following

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

. It was his sixth such village. It was originally called Vale Lionel after the then

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jama ...

, Sir Lionel Smith, but was soon renamed "Porous", most probably after the porous soil in the vicinity. It was described as a "small estate" on the journey from

Savanna-la-Mar Savanna-la-Mar (commonly known as Sav-la-Mar, or simply Sav) is the chief town and capital of Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica. A coastal town, it contains an 18th-century fort constructed for colonial defence against pirates in the Caribbean. Hi ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

taken by M. G. Lewis, a plantation owner, in 1817. In its early days, the village had a very small population, although it boasted a large coffee market. It is now a thriving community of predominantly small farmers and

artisans An artisan (from , ) is a skilled worker, skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by handicraft, hand. These objects may be wikt:functional, functional or strictly beauty, decorative, for example furnit ...

. Thomas Albert Samuel Manley, father of

Norman Washington Manley Norman Washington Manley (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969) was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate o ...

, one of Jamaica's National Heroes, was born in Porus in 1852.

Transport

Road

Porus is on the A2 road, which runs from

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

in south central Jamaica to

on the south-west coast.UK

Directorate of Overseas Surveys The Ordnance Survey International or Ordnance Survey Overseas Directorate its predecessors built an archive of air photography, map and survey records for the United Kingdom from 1946 to 1999. The Ordnance Survey International Collection (formerly ...

1:50,000 map of Jamaica Sheet G, 1973.

Rail

From 1895 to 1992, Porus was served by Porus railway station on the Kingston to Montego Bay line. Although all services on the line have ceased, the extensive (for Jamaica) station buildings remain.

Future generations Future generations are Cohort (statistics), cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The Moral agenc ...

are hoping to rebuild these services better than ever.Aerial view of the station

Public amenities

There are seven schools, (Porus District of churches) churches, a post office, a police station, a comprehensive health clinic, and various small retail outlets.

References

External links

*Photos
Fruit stallDowntownBarFruit stallFruit stallPolice stationCommunity centreMethodist churchUnited churchSchoolStationTrain
Populated places in Manchester Parish> {{Settlements in Jamaica Populated places in Manchester Parish/a> {{Settlements in Jamaica Populated places in Manchester Parish