Columbus did not build the chapel

THE EDITOR, Madam:

THANK YOU for reminding us of the anniversary of the founding of Spanish Town. However, the headline of the article on page 2 of the issue of today, 27 July 2000, on the Cathedral of St James, built on the foundations of the ancient Spanish Chapel of the Red Cross, is unfortunate, for Columbus did not build the chapel, in fact he died in 1506, years before the chapel was erected, and even before the island was settled by the Spaniards. Villa de la Vega, later Spanish Town, became the capital of Jamaica in 1534, after the failure of the first Spanish settlement at Seville on the north coast.

The Cathedral of St James is indeed built on the foundations of the Spanish Chapel. Olive Senior, in her A-Z of Jamaican Heritage says that when the British, led by Admiral Penn and General Venables, captured Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655, both the Chapel of the Red Cross, and the Chapel of the White Cross were destroyed, and the Anglican church was built with materials from the original Red Cross Church.

It is also unfortunate that the name of a 20th century lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Walter Rodney, has been confused with that of the great British Admiral, Sir George Bridges Rodney (1718-1792), who is remembered by the Rodney Memorial. He won the Battle of the Saintes, in 1780, and thus saved the island from almost certain capture by the French.

It was not until Rodney appeared at Port Royal with the French Admiral's ship in tow, and the Admiral himself as a prisoner, that the populace knew that they were safe from invasion. As a consequence, Admiral Rodney was regarded as a great hero, and the Assembly voted 1,000 pounds to erect the Memorial in his honour.

And lastly, the sculptor who created the Rodney Memorial, and who carved the memorial to Sir Adam Williamson, was John Bacon, not Francis Bacon, who is famous in an entirely different connection.

I am etc.,

CHRISTINE NUNES

Kingston 8

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