Spanish Town Cathedral

Spanish Town Cathedral, or the Anglican Cathedral Church of St. James, stands on the site of the Roman Catholic Red Cross Spanish Chapel, originally built in 1525 and run by Franciscans. Cromwell’s Puritan soldiers destroyed the Spanish chapel along with another on the northern end of town known as White Cross, run by Dominicans. The church has been destroyed and rebuilt several times through a series of earthquakes and hurricanes. It became the first Anglican cathedral outside England in 1843, representing the Jamaican diocese. It’s also the oldest English-built foundation on the island, after Fort Charles in Port Royal. Several monuments of historical figures are found inside and in the walled churchyard.