William Knibb Baptist Memorial Church

Montego Bay & Northwest Coast


On July 31, 1838, slaves gathered outside this church for an all-night vigil, awaiting midnight and then the dawn of full freedom (to quote the emancipist Reverend Knibb: ‘The monster is dead’), when slave shackles, a whip and an iron collar were symbolically buried in a coffin nearby. Behind the church you can find Knibb’s grave. A plaque inside the church displays the internment of these tools of slavery; to get in, ask at the Leaf of Life Hardware store on King St.


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