When the Parish of Trelawny was subdivided from the parish of St. James in 1770, the town of Martha Brae was chosen as the parish seat and a courthouse was first established there. In January 1794, however, residents of Falmouth began to agitate to have the Court House removed from Martha Brae to Falmouth.¹ During the late-eighteenth century, Falmouth eclipsed the upriver town of Martha Brae as the important port city serving the parish’s vigorous sugar trade. With its deepwater harbor and extensive wharfs, Falmouth became the seat of Trelawny and the courthouse was moved to the growing port town. Court activities were first held in a tavern located at the corner of Market and Duke Streets, but by 1815 construction began on this building overlooking Falmouth Harbour, on the former site of Fort Balcarres, which was moved to its current site (the Falmouth All Age School) in 1802.² The courthouse does not face the houses, shops, and markets of central Falmouth, but rather the sea to the northeast, emphasizing the importance of the harbor and making it a symbol of the town’s civic pride, genteel taste, and status to those arriving in the port. The courthouse is a striking example of Jamaican Georgian architecture, constructed in the Palladian style, with a central block and a ground floor arcade fronted by a large central portico. Early records tell us that Mr. John Robey was paid £16 for his drawings of the courthouse.³ At the center of the portico’s pediment is a round covered opening which once housed an eight-day clock donated in 1844 by Mr. Samuel Magnus, a member of the Justices and Vestry.⁴

The courthouse served numerous functions for residents of nineteenth century Falmouth. Not only were legal and legislative procedures carried out here, the large rooms on the upper floors also hosted social functions for the town’s elite. One of these events, the Trelawny Bachelor’s Ball, was held on Friday, the 21st of July, 1826. The Falmouth Gossip, a local weekly newspaper, reported that the guests crowded the great room almost to capacity. A supper room provided refreshments to the party-goers, who spent the rest of the evening dancing quadrilles and country dances. The party lasted from about 8:30 pm until 4:00 in the morning.

In 1926, a fire that began in a store nearby ravaged the courthouse and destroyed much of the original fabric. According to local histories, the Falmouth Courthouse was reconstructed quickly after the fire within the original masonry shell. An iron gate within the main arcade supports a decorative element bearing the date “1929”. The courthouse reconstruction preserved the basic design and overall aesthetic of the original building, except for the window frames and the roof structure. The most significant change to the overall look and design of the Falmouth Courthouse was the reconstruction of the roof . The roof was reoriented at a 90° angle, significantly changing the building’s appearance. Rather than seeing a large, unbroken mass above the cornice of the façade, three hipped gables of the roof structure are now visible. Metal frame windows also replaced the original wooden windows lost in the fire. In May of 2007, Falmouth Heritage Renewal removed the metal frame windows and replaced them with wood frame windows based on a 1798 mold pattern, with funds provided by the Tourism Enhancement Fund and the Tourism Product Development Company.