Hanover, near Hopewell / Sandy Bay (about 12 miles west of Montego Bay)
Tryall
Great House
A rebellion-scarred sugar estate whose waterwheel still turns beside a golf resort.
- Built
- 1834
- Economy
- Sugar
- Style
- Jamaican Georgian plantation house with veranda
- Today
- Hotel/resort
Overview
Tryall sits on the north coast of Hanover between Hopewell and Sandy Bay, about 12 miles west of Montego Bay. For well over a century it was a sugar and rum estate owned by a group of British investors, worked by around 300 enslaved Africans and Jamaican-born people. Its sugar mill was powered by a large waterwheel fed by an aqueduct from the Flint River.
During the great Christmas Rebellion of 1831–32, led in western Jamaica by Samuel Sharpe, much of the estate was destroyed, including the waterwheel, and a member of the Allen family is reported to have been killed defending it. The present Great House was built in 1834, the year slavery was abolished. After sugar ended the estate grew coconuts, and from the late 1950s it became the Tryall Club, a private resort with villas and a golf course. The Great House now serves as the clubhouse, and the restored waterwheel survives as a landmark.
Timeline
15 dated moments in the life of Tryall. Select a marker, or use the arrow keys, to read each one. Shaded bands show the wider eras of Jamaican history; dotted lines mark island-wide uprisings.
Swipe sideways to see the whole timeline, or read the full list below.
- 1734
Earliest ownership record
The LBS database records joint owners of Tryall from 1734.
- 1740
Allan, Hiscox and Acres
Estate accounts describe Tryall as the estate of the late Messrs Allan, Hiscox and Acres.
- 1762
Estate leased
The joint owners lease the roughly 300-acre estate to Peter Mackenzie and Hutchinson Mure.
- 1763
Mapped with water mill
Craskell's map shows Tryall as a sugar estate with water and cattle mills.
- 1799
272 enslaved recorded
A count sent to the governor lists 272 enslaved people registered to Jane Allan and others.
- 1817
Slave register
The official register lists 295 enslaved people: 162 female and 133 male.
- 1831
Christmas Rebellion
The rebellion spreads through western Jamaica; much of Tryall, including the waterwheel, is reported destroyed.
- 1832
Allen family compensation
The Assembly grants money to the widow and children of a Robert Allen of Tryall, reported killed defending the estate.
- 1834
New Great House; abolition
The present Great House is built in the year slavery is abolished and apprenticeship begins.
- 1835
Compensation awarded
Owners are awarded £5,337 0s 11d for 314 people (Hanover claim 56A–H).
- 1838
Full freedom
Apprenticeship ends and the formerly enslaved people of Tryall become fully free.
- 1918
Last sugar harvest
One account says Tryall's last sugar cane crop was in 1918, after which coconuts took over.
- 1957
Club is born
Visiting businessmen offer to buy Tryall for a private club; the first villa follows in 1959.
- 1993
Heritage declaration
The JNHT declares Tryall Great House and the ruins of the sugar works on 16 December 1993.
- 1996
End of golf tournament
Tryall hosts the Johnnie Walker World Championship for the last time.
The story of Tryall
Origins, owners and the working estate.
Tryall's documented history as an estate begins in the early 18th century. A business magazine interview says the name can be traced to about 1680, and the UCL Legacies of British Slavery (LBS) database has records of joint owners from 1734. In 1740–41 the estate's accounts describe it as belonging to the late Messrs Allan, Hiscox and Acres, and through the following century it was held in shares by the families of these original partners, including Allens, Hydes, Sandbys and others. In 1762 the owners leased the roughly 300-acre property to Peter Mackenzie and Hutchinson Mure. Thomas Craskell's 1763 map shows Tryall as a sugar estate with water and cattle mills, and James Robertson's 1804 map shows it with a watermill. Jamaica Almanacs from 1811 onward register the estate to Robert Allen and others, and the business was managed in Jamaica by attorneys, including William Allen and later William Gordon.
Tryall's sugar mill was driven by a cast-iron waterwheel. Water was brought from the Flint River in the hills along a cut-stone aqueduct, described as about two miles (about 3 km) long. A boiling house turned cane juice into muscovado sugar and molasses, and its chimney still stands. Remains of a small coastal fort, Fort Tryall, are reported on the property.
The estate suffered heavily in the 1831–32 rebellion. A new Great House was built in 1834; sources say earlier houses on the site were destroyed, by hurricane according to the Tryall Club's own accounts. Sugar continued for decades after emancipation; one account says the last cane harvest was in 1918, after which coconuts took over.
Architecture
How the house was built, and what survives.
Few published architectural details exist for the Great House itself. Sources agree that the current house dates from 1834 and that it has a veranda, where afternoon tea has been served to guests since the 1930s. A 2017 interview with club management says an earlier great house stood further south and was destroyed by a hurricane in the 18th century, and that the club's master plan proposed restoring the building to its 1834 shell. The house has been extended and adapted for use as a guest house and clubhouse, so its present form includes later additions.
The estate's industrial remains are better documented. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) notes the ruins of the sugar works, a large cast-iron waterwheel that can still turn, an old cast-iron boiler and a handsome brick chimney. The waterwheel is fed by the stone aqueduct from the Flint River and turns mainly in the rainy season when the river is high. Fragments of 19th-century gravestones also survive on the grounds. A 1972 photograph in the National Library of Jamaica shows the waterwheel and its stone walls.
The people of Tryall
Owners, enslaved Africans and their descendants, workers and keepers.
Tryall was among the larger estates in Hanover. The LBS database records 272 enslaved people in 1799 and about 300 to 330 in the registers between 1810 and 1832, for example 295 in 1817 (162 women and girls, 133 men and boys) and 311 in 1826. Some Almanac figures are higher, perhaps because they included other properties. No individual enslaved people at Tryall were named in the sources consulted.
The owners were mostly absentees in Britain. Robert Allen, a director of the London Assurance company who lived in London, was the leading shareholder in the 1830s. At emancipation the estate's owners were awarded £5,337 0s 11d for 314 people, divided among Allen and other shareholders. The people who had been enslaved received nothing and were held in unpaid 'apprenticeship' until 1838.
The Christmas Rebellion of 1831–32, also called the Baptist War or Sam Sharpe Rebellion, spread across western Jamaica as enslaved people struck for wages and freedom and burned estate property. Tryall appears in a contemporary list of properties in Hanover in the returns of losses. Lonely Planet and the Jamaica Observer say much of the estate, including the waterwheel, was destroyed. According to a lawyer cited by LBS, a Robert Allen of Tryall was shot and killed defending the property, and the Assembly later gave money to his widow and children; LBS notes this was probably a relative of the London owner.
Allan, Hiscox and Acresbefore 1740
Early joint owners
Their families held shares in Tryall for over a century.
Robert Allend. 1852
Leading owner and compensation awardee
London insurance director; absentee owner of Tryall from 1810.
Robert Allen of Tryalld. 1831–32
Estate resident
Reported killed defending the estate during the rebellion; probably a relative of the owner.
Samuel Sharpec. 1801–1832
Leader of the 1831–32 rebellion
His strike for freedom spread through western Jamaica, including Hanover.
Enslaved community of Tryall18th century–1838
Estate workers
About 300 people in the 1810–1832 registers; individual names not found in sources consulted.
Browne familyearly 20th century
Later owners
Turned Tryall to coconuts and opened the Great House to guests in the 1930s.
Pollard Simonsto 1975
Club manager
Ran the Tryall Club until his death.
What the records count
Every mark below is one person listed as enslaved on the estate in the official returns. Choose a year to see how the number changed.
311
Between 1815 and 1832 the recorded number fell by 19, from 330 to 311. On most Jamaican sugar estates, deaths outnumbered births under slavery; the population was kept up by purchase.
Myth and fact
Stories told about the house, checked against the documents.
The story
The Tryall waterwheel was built in 1700 by a man named Henry Fairchild.
The record
This claim appears in one blog but was not found in any official or historical source.
The story
The Great House on the estate today is the one the rebels burned in 1831.
The record
The present house dates from 1834; sources describe it as the third house on the site.
Tryall today
After sugar declined, Tryall was bought by the Browne family, who planted coconuts; one account says production peaked at about a million coconuts a year in 1933. When the coconut market fell in the mid-1930s, the family began taking paying guests in the Great House. After the Second World War William and Ida DeLisser owned the property. In 1957 a group of businessmen staying at nearby Round Hill visited for afternoon tea and made an offer to buy the land for a private club; the first villa was completed in 1959.
Pollard Simons managed the club until his death in 1975, after which the homeowners bought it. The 18-hole golf course hosted the Johnnie Walker World Championship until 1996. The waterwheel was restored to working order in the late 1950s. The JNHT declared the Great House and sugar works ruins on 16 December 1993. The Great House is now the club's centre for dining and events.
Tryall is a private members' club and resort, so access to the Great House and waterwheel is generally for guests or by arrangement. The waterwheel can sometimes be seen from near the main road.
Learn
For students, teachers and the curious.
Did you know?
- Tryall's waterwheel is fed by a stone aqueduct carrying water from the Flint River.
- The present Great House was built in 1834, the same year slavery was abolished.
- In the 1930s the estate grew so many coconuts that it reportedly produced about a million a year.
- Tryall's golf course once hosted an international championship that ended in 1996.
- The JNHT protects both the Great House and the ruins of the old sugar works.
Test yourself
Sources
Where this account comes from. The web addresses are listed so you can check the evidence yourself.
- UCL Legacies of British Slavery – Tryall Estate (Hanover)https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/1902
- UCL LBS – Claim Hanover 56A-H (Tryall Estate)https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/15039
- UCL LBS – Robert Allenhttps://lbs.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/16079
- Jamaica National Heritage Trust – Tryall Great Househttp://www.jnht.com/site_tryall_great_house.php
- Jamaica Observer (2012) – Tryall Great Househttps://jamaicaobserver.com/2012/10/29/tryall-great-house
- Business View Caribbean – The Tryall Clubhttps://businessviewcaribbean.com/the-tryall-club-villas-of-distinction/
- Lonely Planet – Tryall Estatehttps://www.lonelyplanet.com/points-of-interest/tryall-estate/1417801
- Adventures from Elle – Tryall Water Wheelhttps://adventuresfromelle.com/2021/05/10/tryall-waterwheel/
- Jamaican Family Search – 1831 slave uprisings, properties listhttps://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/buprisin.htm
- National Library of Jamaica – Tryall waterwheel, 1972https://nljdigital.nlj.gov.jm/items/show/5479
Historian's notes: what is uncertain
The brief said the Great House 'burned in 1831–32'; no source confirmed that the house itself burned. The Observer and Lonely Planet say the estate and waterwheel were destroyed in the rebellion; club sources say earlier great houses were lost to hurricanes, and the present one dates from 1834. Tryall's inclusion in the Hanover list of the 1835 book is not specific about damage.
The killing of a Robert Allen of Tryall is reported by LBS from a lawyer's account and flagged by LBS as uncertain. The Business View 2017 interview calls the estate mainly a livestock pen with small-scale sugar; this conflicts with LBS, maps and almanacs, which show a sizeable sugar and rum estate, so the LBS view is preferred. Blog claims (waterwheel assembled 1700 by Henry Fairchild; first Great House 1747 with 176 enslaved; last sugar crop 1918; coconut peak 1933; club closed 1939) are unverified.
LBS register totals differ between T71 returns and the Almanacs. A separate LBS 'Tryall' estate in St James and one in St Mary are different properties. The tryallclub.com history page could not be accessed. Coordinates are approximate.
Nearby great houses
This profile was compiled by Jamaica Homes News from the sources listed above and checked against archival records where they were available. Legends are labelled as legends. Inclusion here does not confirm public access or opening hours. Spotted an error, or hold records about this house? Return to the Great Houses archive to explore the other houses.