The town is home to numerous memorials, the national archives, and one of the oldest Anglican churches outside England (the others are in Virginia, Maryland, and Bermuda).

Since the town was badly damaged during the conquest, Port Royal took on many administrative roles and functioned as an unofficial capital during the beginning of English rule.

"[citation needed] To worsen the situation, following the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, Sir John Peter Grant ordered the removal of the capital in 1872 to Kingston.

Built on the west bank of the Rio Cobre, the town lies 13 miles from Kingston on the main road.

Regency buildings in the town centre include the Rodney Memorial flanked by two guns from the French ship Ville de Paris (1764),[5] and the façade of the Old King's House, which was the residence of the governor until 1872.

Spanish Town is the site of an early cast-iron bridge, designed by Thomas Wilson and manufactured by Walker and Company of Rotherham, England.

[9] More recently, violence in the area has prevented the bridge from achieving the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The latter nickname is a reference to the cricket pitch or oval located just outside the St. Catherine District Prison, where some inmates can get a limited view of the sport through their cell windows.

[11] Standing untouched in character is a historic alms-house, public hospital, and a penal institution built in the eighteenth century.