Sligoville | |
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Village | |
Coordinates: 18°06′N 76°57′W / 18.100°N 76.950°WCoordinates: 18°06′N 76°57′W / 18.100°N 76.950°W | |
Country | Jamaica |
Parish | St. Catherine |
First settled | 1835 |
Founded by | Rev. James Mursell Phillippo |
Sligoville is a small community approximately 10 miles from Spanish Town in the parish of St. Catherine on the island of Jamaica.
Sligoville is named after The 2nd Marquess of Sligo, Governor of Jamaica in 1834, the year that freedom came to the enslaved people of Jamaica. Sligoville was said to be the first ‘free village’ to be established, and this was done by Rev. James Mursell Phillippo, English Baptist minister stationed in Spanish Town, on land which was acquired in 1835.
What became known as ‘The Free Village System’ resulted from this first settlement, and similar villages were established throughout the island, most of them by ministers of religion, who supplied land to the ex-slaves who had never owned land before.