Saint David's Parish is the fourth largest of the

parishes of Grenada The Caribbean island country of Grenada is divided into regions known as parishes. A parish defines a territorial unit or region that, historically, was usually an area under the pastoral care served by a local church as an ecclesiastical adm ...

in the island's southeast. The parish's main town (largest village) is St. David's, located between La Tante and Westerhall. Because St David's is so small, the parish is sometimes referred to as "The Virgin Parish". The parish's coast to its east has spectacular headlands, bays and

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

s. The unspoilt rocky coastline slopes up gently towards the central mountainous ridge. It is known for its undeveloped bucolic state and secluded

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

es.

History

The town of Megrin was established at St David's Point in 1609 and destroyed during the 1795–96 Fedon conflict and the town never rebuilt. In the 1721 the Catholic parish of Megrin was reopened by the French, but it was built down next to the sea. In 1747 Megrin in St David was one of the six churches and parishes in Grenada. In 1795 the Fedon Rebellion became a battle between Fedon and the English troops staying at the church over night. In Grenada lies the area of Perdmontempts which is a mountainous area which includes many valleys bearing rich fruit such as guava, cherries, plums, mangoes and sugar cane. The parish was also the home to the

New Jewel Movement The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, or New JEWEL Movement (NJM), was a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop. Established in 1973, the NJM issued ...

, which culminated in the Grenada Revolution on 13 March 1979. Its founders, Theodore Victor, aka "Teddy", Sebastian Thomas, Unison Whiteman, and Wally Jeremiah, all discontented with the opposition party

Grenada National Party The Grenada National Party (GNP) was a conservative and economically liberal political party in Grenada that existed from 1954 to 1984, when it merged into the New National Party. It alternated in power with the Grenada United Labour Party (G ...

(GNP) under

Herbert Blaize Herbert Augustus Blaize PC (26 February 1918 – 19 December 1989) was a Grenadian politician and leader of the Grenada National Party. When Grenada was still a British Crown Colony he served as the first Chief Minister from 1960 to 1961, ...

decided to build a grass roots movement that would organize and educate the Grenadian masses, publishing a weekly newspaper, ''The New Jewel''. St David's become the hotbed of political activity in the late 1970s culminating in a confrontation with the Gairy Regime over access to a popular beach LaSagess which had been bought by a British peer, Lord Brownlow, denying natives access to the popular beach. St David's had served the same purpose for

Eric Gairy Sir Eric Matthew Gairy PC (18 February 192223 August 1997) was the first Prime Minister of Grenada, serving from his country's independence in 1974 until his overthrow in a coup by Maurice Bishop in 1979. Gairy also served as head of governmen ...

some twenty years earlier when he returned from

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

to stake his political future. Being funded by rich natives in the St. David's parish Gairy burned plantations and estates in what came to be known as "Sky Red" in a rebellion against British Rule, eventually leading to Grenada's independence in 1974.

References

External links

Parishes of Grenada Populated places in Grenada {{Grenada-geo-stub