In an undulating city such as Plymouth it is no surprise to find that there are a number of Valley place names dotted around the place. Compton has a couple, the pre-war, late-1930s – Valley View Road and Valley View Close, both overlooking the valley that still today has a small stream running through it, although in recent years that stream has come to be dwarfed by the stream of traffic that pours along the Parkway that runs alongside it.
There are two too in Woolwell – Valley View and Valley Walk, on either side of Holt Wood – both more recent developments, and then there is, what is possibly the best known of the bunch, Valley Road in Plympton.
The word itself appears to be French in origin and came across the Channel soon after theConquest. Traditionally a Valley has high land either side of a stretch of low land, generally with a stream or river flowing through its lowest points, where the land does not rise so steeply we tend to talk of vales not valleys.
