Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LEAMINGTON

LEAMINGTON, a town, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district and county of Warwick. The town stands on the river Leam, on two lines of railway toward Coventry, Rugby, Oxford, and Birmingham, in a sheltered and well wooded valley, amid a fertile tract of country, 2¼ miles E by N of Warwick, 3¼ NW of the Fosse way, and 23 SE of Birmingham. It took its name from its situation on the Leam; and it is called also LeamingtonPriors, from its having belonged to Kenilworth priory, and to distinguish it from Leamington-Hastings. The manor around it belonged to Turchill, the Saxon Earl of Warwick; went, after the Conquest, to Roger de Montmorency, who became Earl of Shrewsbury; passed soon to the Bishop of Liehfield and Coventry, and then to Geoffrey de Clinton; was given, by the latter's family, in 1160, to Kenilworth priory; went, at the dissolution, to the Crown; was given, by Elizabeth, to Dudley, Earl of Warwick; reverted, at his death, to the Crown; was given, by James I., to Sir Fulke Greville, who became Lord Brooke; and was subsequently divided among varions proprietors. Medicinal waters here were noticed, in 1586, by Camden; they were mentioned afterwards by Speed, Dugdale, Fuller, and the continuator of Dugdale; they began to attract public attention about 1784; and they have occasioned what was only a small and obscure village so late as about 1812, to rise to the condition of a famous watering place, and of a large, beautiful, and prosperous town. The Queen, when Princess Victoria, visited the town in 1830; and she gave her sanction, in 1838, to its being called Royal Leamington Spa. Scarcely any trace of the old village remains. The town is all modern, all well built, and nearly all neat, handsome, or elegant. It is cut in two by the river; and the two parts of it are called old and new; but it stands compact, and presents a uniform character. Its streets are spacious, and mostly intersect one another at right angles. Its principal street is scarcely excelled, or even so long since as 1840 was scarcely excelled, by any street in any town in the kingdom. Its squares, its crescents, its terraces, and its parades may nearly or quite bear comparison with those of the metropolis. Its baths are unsurpassed by any in Europe. Its detached villa residences, in the outskirts and in the neighbourhood, are numerous, and may vie with those of any watering place in England. Its principal hotels, six in number, are first class, at once in size, in beauty, and in appliances. The Regent hotel was erected in 1819, at a cost of nearly £25, 000; has been entirely renovated and largely embellished; presents to the lower parade a noble tetrastyle Doric portico; contains upwards of 100 apartments; and has attached mews, with accommodation for 100 horses, and a corresponding number of carriages. The Clarendon hotel stands at the top of Lansdowne place; presents one fine frontage to York terrace and another to Beauchamp square; has a large and handsome entrance hall; is noted for the excellence of its arrangements; and partakes materially of the character of a large family mansion. The Bath, the Crown, the Angel, and the PostOffice hotels also are notable. The assembly rooms, in Regent street, were built in 1813, at a cost of £10, 000; contain a ball room 86 feet long, 36 wide, and 23 high; and contain also a billiard room. The music hall, in Bath street, was erected in 1821, at a cost of £25 000; is artistically constructed; and contains a good organ. The Public hall, in Windsor street, and the Temperance hall, in Warwick street, are used for public meetings, concerts, and assemblies. The town hall, with police station, in High street, was erected in 1831, at a cost of £2, 000. The theatre, in Clemens street, was opened in 1849, and superseded a previous one in Bath street of 1814. The tennis court, in Lower Bedford street, was erected in 1847; includes a tennis court proper, an open racketcourt, and a covered racket court; and has attached to it a reading room and a library. The public library and reading room, in Bath street, was established in 1857; and has upwards of 3, 000 volumes, and a good supply of newspapers. The militia stores and armoury, in Radford road, are a quadrangular brick structure. The parish church, or All Saints, stands near Bathstreet; was originally a chapel to the parish of LeekWootton; underwent enlargement in 1816 and subsequent years; was reconstructed and further enlarged in 1843 and following years; is in the decorated English style; comprises nave, chancel, transept, and apse, with tower and spire; measures 126 feet in length, 64 in width, and 76 in height; has a W seven light window of stained glass, 42 feet high and 20 wide; and contains monuments to Chief-Justice Willes and Messrs. Abbotts and Satchwell. St. Mary's church, near Radford road, was built in 1839, at a cost of £5, 495; is in the style of the 15th century, of cemented brick; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with embattled tower; and contains 1, 200 sittings. Christ church, in Beanchamp square, was built in 1825; is in the Norman style; and has a low square tower. St. Luke's church, in Augusta place, was built in 1851. Trinity church, in Beauchampsquare, was built in 1847; and is a cruciform structure, of nave, aisles, and chancel. Milverton church, on Milverton hill, was built in 1836; is in the Doric style; has a tetrastyle portico and a circular bell tower; and contains about 1,800 sittings. The Independent chapel in Spencer street was built in 1836; is a fine brick structure; and has a massive portico. The Independent chapel in Holly walk was built in 1849; and is a fine brick structure in the pointed style. Lady Huntingdon's chapel, in Mill street, is a neat Gothic edifice of 1829. The Baptist chapel in Warwick street was built in 1834; is a neat brick structure; and is noted for the ministry of the voluminous religions writer, Dr. O. Winslow. There are also another Baptist chapel, one of Wesleyans, one of Primitive Methodists, one of United Free Methodists, and one of Plymouth Brethren. The Roman Catholic church in George street was built in 1828; is in the style of the Ionic temple of Ilissus; and contains about 400 sittings. Another Roman Catholic church was built in 1864, at a cost of about £8, 000; is in a semi Byzantine style, of brick with stone dressings; has an elaborately decorated interior, 102 feet long and 75 feet high; and was designed to have, at some future time, a tower and spire 200 feet high. A new cemetery, on Whitnash road, was formed in 1851, and has a chapel.-The Leamington college, in Binswood crescent, was built in 1847; is in the pointed style, of red brick, interlaced with grey; presents a frontage of 155 feet; contains a hall 95 feet long and 32 feet high; was founded for sons of the higher classes, on Church of England principles; trains pupils also for the army and the navy; and has an exhibition at one of the universities. There are national schools, three parochial schools, two schools of industry for girls, three infant schools, and several denominational schools. - The Warneford hospital was erected in 1832, for gratuitous medical advice and baths to the poor; was enlarged with two wards and a receiving room in 1838; and was further enlarged, with a sanatorinm for fever patients, in 1862. The female penitentiary, in Wise street, was established in 1839; and the young girls' daily home, in Queen street, was instituted in 1854. The spas are twelve in number; are variously saline, sulphureous, and chalybeate; are used both externally and internally; and are regarded as beneficial in diseases of the skin, the stomach, and the viscera. The one first discovered, now called the old spring, is in the vicinity of the parish church, and was inclosed within a small edifice, in 1803, by the Earl of Aylesford. The Royal baths, and pump rooms were erected there in 1812, at a cost of £25, 000, by the Earl's grandson; they had a frontage 106 feet in length and 30 feet in height, flanked by two wings each 30 feet in length, and surrounded on three sides by a handsome Doric colonnade; and they recently were reconstructed at a cost of nearly £15, 000. The old pump room was converted into a spacious saloon for balls and concerts; the hot and cold saline baths were entirely renovated; a large swimming bath, and Turkish baths were added; and attached gardens were beautifully adorned.. Baths, formerly called the Original, now called Wood's, are in Bath street; and comprise warm and cold mineral water baths, and vapour and hot airbaths. Hudson's baths are in High street; and comprise warm sulphureous baths, and cold and warm saline baths. Oldham's open air swimming baths are near Leam terrace; are enclosed by a high wall; and have convenient small dressing rooms. A hydropathic establishment is on an elevated spot, at a short distance from the town; was erected in 1863; draws its supply of water from a perennial open spring; and has accommodation for 40 visitors. The arboretum is on the Lachbrook road, adjacent to the hydropathic establishment; covers about 15 acres; is ornamentally disposed in walks and terraces; belongs to John Hitchman, Esq.; and is open to the public. The Jephson gardens are near the foot of Lower Parade; have two handsome small lodges at their principal entrance; are traversed by ornamental paths, and beautified with a large artificial lake, and with the waters of the Leam; contain a Corinthian temple, with a marble statue of Dr. Jephson; are vested in trustees, for the uses of the public; and are the scene, in summer, of daily performances of an instrumental music band, and of occasional archery fêtes, galas, and horticultural exhibitions. Many attractive objects and places are in the near neighbourhood, or within easy distance; including Warwick Castle, Guy's Cliff, Kenilworth Castle, Hatton, Stoneleigh Abbey, Coventry, Stratford-on-Avon, and Combe Abbey. The town has a head post office ‡ in Bath street, receiving post offices in Upper Parade and Clarendonsquare, five postal pillar boxes, two railway stations, and two telegraph offices; publishes two weekly newspapers; and is governed by a local board of health, established in 1852, and possessing police powers. Little trade, except subordinately to the resort of visitors, is carried on; but there are iron foundries, and a large brewery. The town, as outlined by the superintendent registrar of births and deaths, includes all the parish of Leamington-Priors, and parts of the parishes of Milverton and Lillington. Pop. in 1851, 15, 692; in 1861, 17, 958. Houses, 3, 257. Pop. of the Milverton portion, 341; of the Lillington portion, 215. The parish comprises 1, 720 acres. Real property, £112, 298; of which £2, 925 are in gas works. Pop. in 1851, 15, 724; in 1861, 17, 402. Houses, 3, 160. The parochial living is a vicarage, and the other livings are p. curacies or chapelries, in the diocese of Worcester. Value of the vicarage, £255; * of the p. curacies or chapelries, not reported. Patron, of the vicarage, Mrs. E. Wise; of St. Mary, Trustees; of Christ Church, the Proprietor; of St. Luke, the Rev. E. Clay; of Trinity, the Rev. W. H. Lambart; of Milverton, the Earl of Warwick.—The sub-district contains the parishes of Leamington-Priors and Milverton. Acres, 2, 900. Pop., 18, 768. Houses, 3, 441.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Leamington CP       Leamington SubD       Warwickshire AncC
Place: Royal Leamington Spa

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