Pennants, Clarendon, Jamaica
Pennants – was named after its first owner, Gifford Pennant, a royalist who settled in Jamaica soon after the restoration and represented Clarendon in the Assembly from 1672 to 1675. Gifford Pennant, originally from Flintshire was a soldier in the invading British fleet sent to Jamaica by Oliver Cromwell in a ‘coup de etat’ that successfully seized control of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1665. Shortly afterwards, the British monarch was reinstated. This prompted Pennant’s decision to settle in Jamaica; one that later resulted in him procuring great wealth, cementing him in history as the founder of the Pennant Sugar Dynasty. As a settler, Pennant was granted land in Clarendon on November 5, 1665, as a part of the Crown’s attempt to develop Jamaica. The properties owned and acquired by Pennant were known as: The Denbigh Estate and plantation The Cotes Estate and Plantation The Bullards Estate and Plantation The Main Savannah Estate and Plantation The 500 acres Kupuis plantation (acquired from the estate of a deceased child of Dutch descent). Much of these estates were located close to the Rio Minho River (The Rio Minho River is just to the left and it is Jamaica’s longest river.