Clarendon is a parish in the southern section of Jamaica, roughly halfway between the island's eastern and western ends. It is located in the county of Middlesex, bordered by the parish of St Catherine to the east, Manchester to the west, St Ann to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south.
The parish is administered by one parochial board, the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.
Land Area: 1,192.9 sq km (460.6 sq mi)
Capital Town: May pen
It was named in honour of the Lord Chancellor Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. The parish formed from a combination of three parishes: St. Dorothy’s, Vere and the old parish of Clarendon. However, the capital was Chapelton before merger.
Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards and the English, the Tainos, Jamaica’s indigenous people, lived on Portland Ridge [now called Portland Point] (the part of the parish that juts out into the sea). Taino villages sits on the banks of the Rio Minho River, the island’s longest river, with the other villages on the banks of the Milk River.
