Under siege of time: Kingston's majestic fortresses maintain appeal despite falling in ruins
Walls and ruins at Rockfort, coated with cement dust, staved off infiltrators and was the first line of defence. “Isn’t it an attractive idea to get an exciting tour that talks of the French invasion of Jamaica in 1694, the history of Kingston, and you get to fire a cannon?” asked Jonathan Greenland, pointing at the row of cannons lined at Rockfort. Fire a cannon? Just the mention of it is enough to transport you to the 17th century, when, the now-cement-dust-coated, cold stone walls of Rockfort were the front line of defence of Kingston. The cars that sped by on Sir Florizel Glasspole Boulevard faded into a distant obscure frame, the soldiers in rapt attention manning the metal-forged weaponry, looking out at the turquoise blue Caribbean Sea. “Rockfort,” informed Greenland, who is director of the National Museum Jamaica at the Institute of Jamaica, “was developed primarily because of fears of an attack on Kingston and the Liguanea Plain from the East, primarily the invasi...