Codrington () is the only village on the island of Barbuda, which is part of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Codrington coincides with the Codrington major division, one of the two major divisions on Barbuda. Situated on the Codrington Lagoon, Codrington is the country's northernmost settlement. The population of Codrington was 796 in 2011.
As the primary residential area on the island, Codrington was established in 1685 by Christopher Codrington and his brother John. Codrington is one of the oldest settlements in the country, and is now the country's twenty-third largest settlement. Codrington is on the larger end of villages in the country, and due to its position as the only settlement on Barbuda, is home to many specialized facilities, such as seven churches, a post office, a police station, a daycare, a preschool, a primary school, and a secondary school.
In 1685, Christopher Codrington and his brother John established Codrington as the primary residential area on the island. They constructed a castle that towered over the town, but in 1843 an earthquake severely damaged it, leaving only ruins.
For the purpose of the census, Codrington is split into three enumeration districts: Codrington-North, Codrington-Central, and Codrington-South (Airport). Codrington is also made up of different settlements: the old airport is located in the Park community, the village hospital is located in the Spring View community, and the village center is in the Middle Section and Mulatto Quarter communities.
The local government in Codrington is the Barbuda Council, which governs Codrington and the rest of the island. Situated in the Middle Section neighborhood, the Barbuda Council Millenium Administration Building serves as the Secretary of the Barbuda Council's primary headquarters. The Fisheries Complex, where the Barbuda Council meets, is also located in the Middle Section neighborhood.
History
Colonisation and slavery
Prior to European colonisation, Barbuda was a centre of trade in the pre-Columbian Caribbean. While many parts of the island had permanent villages, the area around Codrington is not known to have had extensive settlement. It is likely that when indigenous people first arrived during the Archaic period about six thousand years ago, the site of the present-day village was on the shores of a former small pond. Most indigenous peoples preferred to build their settlements around the Barbuda Highlands and along the South Coast. The first successful European settlement on Barbuda was a community of British farmers whose end-goal was for the island to become an export hub for agricultural products. Some sources state that these initial settlers may have inhabited the Codrington area and the Codrington family did already own some of the land on the island.
Barbuda was leased to the Codrington family by King Charles II for an initial period of 50 years starting in 1684. John Codrington moved to the island and likely lived there until his death. After the lease was secured, he ordered the self-funded construction of the Codrington Castle near the lagoon. This castle became the administrative centre of the island. The castle became the epicentre of the modern village, with most of the island's slaves living in close proximity to it forming a small settlement (others living in either the Highlands or along the coast). It was fortified by an extant wall, mostly to keep wild animals out. As human activity in the area expanded, many of the evergreen forests of the island's central plain were cleared. The castle was also intended to protect the small population of Barbudans during attacks. In March 1710, the castle was attacked by a French force led by John Bermingham. The castle along with several other buildings were destroyed and many of the people in the village were carried off, including slaves and servants. Sir William Codrington the Elder was tasked with rebuilding the area with heavy expenses. By the end of the eighteenth century, the castle's fortifications were described by a shipwrecked sailor as useless for the purpose of defending against Europeans. This was made clear in 1743 when a group of Spanish privateers landed on the narrow isthmus across the lagoon from the village. Armed slaves and servants from the village were sent after them and support from Antigua was eventually required to calm the situation. Two slave rebellions also took place in the 1740s: the first of which being Beech's Rebellion, which took place in 1741 due to poor conditions on the island. In December 1745 a second rebellion took place in the village, with the island's manager at the time, a Mr. McNish, being murdered and the castle being occupied. Eventually, the slaves seized the island's arms and ammunition as well and it was feared by the Codrington family that the slaves would attempt to side with the French. An Antiguan contingent was able to capture the island and the leaders of the rebellion, known as the "Afro heroes" were burned alive in front of the castle.
As time progressed under the Codringtons, some managers decided to make their homes outside of the village and at some points the castle was mainly used for storage and defence purposes as well as when the Codrington family or guests decided to come to the island. It is likely that slaves in the village lived in small homes constructed with wood and sedge-thatched roofs sourced from Palmetto Point. Some slaves also lived in larger slaves' quarters that usually had two rooms: a living area and a bedroom. Water was sourced from the castle and the other wells that dotted the village. With an abundance of building materials, the village tended to recover quickly from hurricanes and slaves would be housed in the castle as repairs went on. An 1837 visitor noted that the homes on the island were significantly poorer quality than those on Antigua although it is likely that this was due to a crisis on the island. Barbudans had their own gardens and there were also some community enclosures on the village's outskirts. Slaves would also travel from their homes in the village to their provision grounds, usually about ten to eleven acres, where they would farm about one day per week both for self-sufficiency and as part of required slave labour in a quasi-feudal system. The enslaved population was known to value their time on their provision grounds deeply and discontent arose when this schedule was disrupted. By the 1820s it is possible that some slaves were not required to work on Sundays and that some were permitted to fish in the lagoon freely.
Post-emancipation village
Slavery was abolished in Barbuda in 1834. As the island continued to be owned by the Codrington family, villagers continued to work for the family. In 1843 the castle was destroyed by an earthquake and the rubble was used to construct a new building in the village, The Ginnery, used for storage purposes. A new castle was eventually built that was likely demolished by Robert Dougall's Barbuda Island Company (BIC) by the end of the century. In 1860, the Codringtons issued a directive requiring that all Barbudans maintain their provision grounds within two miles of the village as the Codringtons were losing many of their sheep that roamed the island to theft. On 1 August 1860, Barbuda was merged with Antigua and the Codrington family's rule ended in 1870 with the expiration of their final lease. This is when communal land ownership is considered to have begun on the island.
Following the Codrington's departure, the island changed hands between several owners until the BIC purchased the island in 1894. The company had ownership of the entire island except for major throughfares, a cemetery, and some grazing lands until 1899. Like the 1860 directive, BIC prevented islanders from being able to build outside of the village other than some small one-acre gardens, a policy that was further confirmed by the Barbuda Ordinance in 1904 that restricted outward development for several decades. In 1895, many Barbudans refused to accept their BIC-assigned plots and instead petitioned for lands in the Highlands, a location that Barbudans had desired to settle since emancipation. The Barbuda Ordinance established an island warden who resided in Codrington's Government House. It also defined the legal boundaries of the village and codified the process of land distribution within its limits. A similar system was also established in 1942 in Bell Village (which eventually was absorbed into Codrington to form the Park neighbourhood) where residents would pay rent for 21 years and then have an exclusive right to occupation.
Many visitors to the island in the 1920s described Codrington as a clean and orderly village. At the village post office, there was a "Visitors' Book" in which an Anglican minister, J. F. Pilgrim, wrote that he was "struck by the cleanliness of the village" in 1921. A medical officer in 1924 described Codrington as in good health and as a "village clean and tidy". Leeward Islands governor also wrote in the book in 1923. Roads were constructed in the village in 1947 and the Barbuda Codrington Airport opened in 1961.
Independence era
As Antigua and Barbuda negotiated its independence in the 1960s and 1970s, premier Vere Bird proposed allowing settlement outside of the village, experiencing a roadblock with his party's loss in the 1971 general election. When his party returned to government in 1976, he established a local government for the island, abolishing the island warden's position, leaving the Government House abandoned. The first election took place in January 1977. As Antigua and Barbuda moved towards independence, Barbudan voters repeatedly elected parties opposed to unification with Antigua. As a condition for granting the country independence, the Barbuda Council was granted increased autonomy. The country gained independence on 1 November 1981, although protests erupted in the village on 3 November with the majority of villagers signing a petition to separate Barbuda from the new country.
In January 2007, prime minister Baldwin Spencer visited the village. Spencer toured both the schools in the village and met with the council to discuss various issues. In April 2007, community consultations about the Barbuda Land Acts commenced, establishing the modern system of land management on the island. In May 2007 there was a crime wave with an attempted bank robbery and a burglary at the secondary school. In February 2011 an interpretation centre opened in the village for the Codrington Lagoon National Park. Road surfacing works took place in July 2011, especially in the Middle Section area. In August 2011 the Barbuda Fisheries Complex opened along the lagoon's shores which continues to be one of the tallest and largest buildings on the island. In January 2012 a Chinese-funded community centre opened in the Spring View area in the village's south. In March 2015, prime minister Gaston Browne visited Codrington to attend a controversial village meeting which resulted in a disputed vote in favour of the Paradise Found development. In September 2016 reports surfaced that some students in the local school system were being taught outside, prompting intervention by the Ministry of Education. In November 2016, Prince Harry visited both schools in the village.