Granville, Jamaica


Granville is a small community on the outskirts of Montego Bay in the parish of Saint James on the island of Jamaica founded by Rev. William Knibb.

History

Granville is named after Granville Sharp in 1845. Sligoville was said to be the first ‘free village’ to be established, and this was done by Rev. James Mursell Phillippo. William Knibb bought 90 acres here to create somewhere that ex-slaves could live if they were thrown off their previous owners land. Knibb also hoped to grow the congregation of Falmouth Baptist Church.
What became known as ‘The Free Village System’ resulted from the first named Sligoville, 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.