The Valley is the capital of

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territ ...

, one of its fourteen

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, and the main town on the island. , it had a population of 3,269.

History

Historical landmarks

The Valley has few examples of colonial architecture due to the relocation of Anguilla's administration to

St. Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

in 1825, though

Wallblake House Wallblake House is a heritage plantation house and museum annex in The Valley, Anguilla in the northeastern Caribbean. Built in 1787 by Will Blake, a sugar planter, it is stated to be the oldest structure on the island. Although gutted by the F ...

, built in 1787, still stands and is used as a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

by the adjacent church. New shops have opened in new buildings and renovated West Indian-style cottages. Old shops have been modernized and have enlarged their stocks as well as their space. The ruins of the Old Court House are located on Crocus Hill, the island's highest point. All that remains are the broken walls of a few basement jail cells. At Cross Roads at the western edge of The Valley is Wallblake House, a plantation home built around 1787 that is now owned by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(the parish priest lives there) and St. Gerard's Catholic Church, with its highly original façade of pebbles, stones, cement, wood and tile.

Geography

Location

The town is located in the middle of the island, in front of

Crocus Bay ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain und ...

and nearby

Crocus Hill Crocus Hill is the highest point of Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, with an elevation of . The hill is located near The Valley, Anguilla's capital. Crocus Bay (west of the hill) was named after Crocus Hill. See also *Ge ...

, the island's highest point. Nearest villages are North Side, The Quarter, North Hill and George Hill.

Climate

The Valley has a

tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(Aw) under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

. The area has a short

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

that covers the months of February and March, and a

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the se ...

that covers the remainder of the year. However the wet season, though lengthy, does not quite see the heavy precipitation that is commonplace in other Caribbean cities such as

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

and

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

. Average temperatures in The Valley are relatively constant throughout the year, ranging from 26–29 degrees Celsius.

Demography

Transport

The Valley is served by

Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (formerly known as the Anguilla Wallblake Airport) is a small international airport located on the island of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is located very close to The Va ...

(IATA: AXA, ICAO: TQPF) with some international flights.

Education

There are two government schools, Valley Primary School and Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School (secondary).Schools
" Government of Anguilla. Retrieved on December 7, 2017. Omololu International School, a primary and lower secondary private school, is in The Valley. It was Anguilla's first private school, and opened in 1994 as the Teacher Gloria Omololu Institute. It adopted its current name on 1 April 2013. It uses the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB ...

(IB) curriculum. The name "Omululu" means "Child of God" in the

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 50 million, plus about 2 million second-language ...

.History Of Omololu
" Omololu International School. Retrieved on December 7, 2017.

Notable people

* Cardigan Connor (born 1961), cricketer *

Kieran Kentish Kieran Kentish (born 29 August 1987) is an Anguillan former international footballer who played as a defender. Career Kentish began his club career in Anguilla with the Roaring Lions, before moving to the United States in 2007 to play college ...

(born 1987), Anguillan former international footballer * Carlos Newton (born 1976), mixed martial artist * Omari Banks (born 1982), West Indies Cricketer * Zharnel Hughes (born 1995), British sprinter

References

External links

Map of The Valley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valley, The Populated places in Anguilla Capitals in the Caribbean Capitals of British Overseas Territories Capitals of former nations