Spanish Town Methodist Church.

That Spanish Town was the island's first English capital is well known. The English swiped the city from the Spaniards in 1655.

That it's one of the oldest Georgian squares in the Western Hemisphere and one of the world's oldest cities is also probably well known too.

But lurking behind its haunting architecture which still stands in Emancipation Square are mysteries and stories about the Old Capital, some of which are yet to be investigated and others which are hardly ever told.

Secret tunnels

Underground the Old Capital run secret tunnels not explored in recent times. They connect every building in the old square and are said to have been used by the Spanish to secretly transport artillery.

They could also be used as routes of escape and could prove useful in springing ambushes on their British enemies, though it's not clear if they ever put the tunnels to such use.

"The Spanish used them [the tunnels] from Port Henderson into Spanish Town," explained museum curator, Tyrone Barnett.

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust has never allowed exploration of the tunnels, which were partially blocked up by the British when they conquered the territory.

When they were secured by the trust, however, it was clear that people other than the Spaniards used the tunnels.

"When they built the manhole cover, they removed beds and lanterns and all kinds of things because people were using it as a little hideaway," said Barnett. Thieves would also hide their loot in dark crevices of the tunnels.

But apart from the mysterious tunnels, contained in these old brick walls are fantastical stories about infamous rulers of the seas, deception and hexes.

Not many people know that in the old courthouse, whose skeletal remains still tower over the square, were convicted and sentenced to death two of the most notorious female pirates of the time, Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

The pair reputedly disguised themselves as men for years before they were eventually arrested, though contemporary views state a different claim.

"It was not until Mary Read got pregnant because she had a secret relationship with a ship captain," said Barnett.

"It was when she got pregnant that the men got suspicious of her sparring partner."

Read later died - history's reasons point to causes ranging from fever to childbirth complications - while in the very prison cell just behind the courthouse.

Courthouse curse

Beware of the curse of the old courthouse!

In the same spot in which the building was erected stood a chapel built by the Spanish many years before.

"On a stone that was erected on a building there, it read that if the property is to be used for anything else but a chapel that a curse would come up on whatever they put up there rather than a chapel," Barnett said.

The stone with the curse was, however, removed by the British some time after they had built the courthouse in place of the chapel.

Whether that curse would be responsible for any tragedies that would follow, including a fire that destroyed the courthouse during the 1980s, will never be known.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com