panorama of Kingston Harbour, from 1839
To the east of Kingston, cutting it off from the eastern end of the island, runs the line of hills known as Long Mountain; part of this line of hills is known to-day as the Wareika Hill or Hills. On this page I will bring together what I have been able to find out about this name for the area, and something of its earlier history
Waireka/Wairika/Wareka/Wareika? The last of these four spellings is the one currently accepted, but, in fact, the original spelling was one or other of the first two. Also, if asked, most Jamaicans would probably agree that the name was of Arawak/Taino origin, but that, in fact, cannot be confirmed from any available evidence.
But let's start with Long Mountain ----
But let's start with Long Mountain ----
Long Mountain
'The Long Mountain, even at different levels, was evidently a thickly populated locality in pre-Columbian times.'
Pre-Columbian Jamaica, Philip Allsworth-Jones, 2008
'The Long Mountain, even at different levels, was evidently a thickly populated locality in pre-Columbian times.'
Pre-Columbian Jamaica, Philip Allsworth-Jones, 2008
On this 18th century map Long Mountain is clearly labelled . . .
'There are also [in the market on the Kingston water-front] great quantities of the finest pine apples which grow on the Long mountain.'
Edinburgh Gazetteer, 1822
Edinburgh Gazetteer, 1822
. . . but a century and a quarter later, a house labelled Waireka has appeared on Long Mountain.
Ordnance Survey, 1915
H. P. Jacobs, that indefatigable researcher into Jamaica's past, wrote of Wareika in 1970:
'Few place-names in Jamaica contrive to look so obviously ancient and Arawak as Wareika. GUARICA, which seems like the same word, was the oldest name of Cap Haitien in Haiti, and it also appears as the name of a state and a river in Venezuela. WAROOKA appears as the name of an Arawak village in Guyana, in the early 17th century.' |
Yet it seems the name is actually Maori, from New Zealand, and it is little more than a century old.'
Daily Gleaner, December 23, 1970
Daily Gleaner, December 23, 1970
becoming Waireka
- Commodore Peter Cracroft
- Commodore Peter Cracroft
H. P. Jacobs again: 'The JAMAICA ALMANACK for 1879/80 says that the house at Wareika was built by the late Peter Espeut -- the same, presumably, who was an Assembly-man from 1852 to 1866.'
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[I haven't made any progress in identifying the building of this house on Long Mountain by Peter Espeut, or its name. I expect there is some such information somewhere and I will keep looking for it. Espeut owned a property called 'Mount Espeut', which I did think might be the one on Long Mountain, but it is referred to much later, long after Waireka was named. An item on a later page seems to indicate that the house on Long Mountain earned the label 'Espeut's Folly'. JL]
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Peter Alexander Espeut, 1816-68
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'[Peter] Cracroft presumably bought the house from Peter Espeut and changed its name from whatever it had previously been, choosing to call it after a place where he had accomplished a feat of which he was particularly proud.'
Daily Gleaner, December 23, 1970
Daily Gleaner, December 23, 1970
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So - the clue to Waireka and its name is Peter Cracroft, an officer in the Royal Navy, who nearly played a significant role in an important event in Jamaican history; however, he did not live long enough to fill that role, and his only impact on Jamaica is 'Waireka', and even that link has been obscured and forgotten!
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Wareika/Waireka House as it was in 1865
