One of Jamaica’s most rugged and least-traveled roads stretches from Albert Town in Trelawny to Kinloss, winding through the breathtaking Cockpit Country. Originally built in the early 1700s to aid British troops in defending against French invasions, this historic roadway remains a fascinating yet challenging route. Along the way, travellers can witness stunning forested hills, expansive cane fields of the Trelawny Estates, and even ruins of what appears to be an old aqueduct near Kinloss.

Published Saturday, February 5,1972

Jamaica places: Kinloss is scenic

by Alex D. Hawkes 

One of the most interesting, rough, and amazingly unpopulated roads in all of Jamaica is the one that leads almost due northward from Albert Town in the parish of Trelawny to Kinloss. I have previously discussed a trip made along this "thoroughfare" on the edge of the Cockpit Country in my articles in this series, dealing with buildings for a sizable structure. 
It seems difficult to believe now, but the roadway extending from Rock near Falmouth, through Clark’s Town, Stewart Town, Brown’s Town, and then onwards towards the east, somewhat parallel to the coast highway, was originally constructed around the beginning of the 1700s to facilitate the movement of troops engaged in preventing invasions from the sea by the French. Consider the labor involved in the construction of such a thoroughfare.
Kinloss is one of those myriad small Jamaican towns through which one generally travels without paying much heed to either the place or its surroundings. In this instance, as in so many others, a pause during one’s peregrinations is recommended to enjoy the scenery on all sides, whether one comes wearily up via the Barbecue Bottom road, along the much easier one extending from Clark’s Town to Duanvale and eventually to Windsor in the Cockpit Country, or even to Good Hope Great House.
Kinloss lies just beyond the high, handsomely forested hills at the northern egress of this road at the westward turning to Duanvale and the northeastern continuation to Clark’s Town. One of my accompanying photographs shows these hills, beyond which lies the fascinating yet tiring road through Barbecue Bottom, with the omnipresent cane fields that characterize this sector of the parish. These are part of the Trelawny Estates Ltd., with Long Pond Sugar Factory situated nearby beyond Clark’s Town. In addition to sugar, a very extensive herd of prime beef cattle is grazed in the environs of this district. 
I assume that Kinloss’s name is of Scottish origin but have not been able to discover any details of its particular history, even though it is obviously of considerable age. On the Duanvale road, just westward from the small village of Kinloss, can be found, at a tattered sign designating Kinloss Farm, some interesting ruined structures just to the north of the way, which appear in part to be an old aqueduct and accessories. 

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