Leamington Priors Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833

Leamington Priors, co. Warwick.

P. T. Warwick (90) 2½ m. E. Pop. 2183.

A parish in Kenilworth division of the hundred of Knightlow, situated nearly in the centre of the county, and comprising within its limits the fashionable watering-place called Leamington Spa.

Since the year 1797, the mineral waters have been rising in reputation, on account of their efficacy in the treatment of cutaneous diseases, glandular obstructions, bilious and dyspeptic complaints, and other maladies, for which they are used both internally and externally. Various new springs have been discovered within the last twenty or thirty years, and Leamington, from an inconsiderable village, has become a place of crowded resort for the votaries of health or pleasure.

The public spring is enclosed in a handsome stone edifice; and a pump-room and baths of elegant architecture, ornamented with a spacious Doric colonnade, have been erected at a great expense, for the accommodation of visiters.

The baths, more than twenty in number, are handsomely and tastefully fitted up, abundantly supplied with the mineral water, by means of a powerful forcing-engine; and adjoining them are commodious dressing-rooms. Here, as at Cheltenham, the different springs are variously impregnated. The original Spa, which is mentioned by Sir William Dugdale, in his “History of Warwickshire,” contains a large proportion of common salt, besides sulphate of soda, muriate of magnesia, and sulphate of lime; and there are also chalybeate and sulphureous springs, the water of the latter being chiefly used externally.

The living is a dis. vicarage in the archdeaconry of Coventry and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry; valued in K. B. 6l. 10s.; ann. val. P. R. 141l. 5s.; patron (1829) the Rev. H. Wise. The church, dedicated to All Saints, was originally erected as a chapel of ease to the neighbouring parish of Wootton. There are also another episcopal place of worship, a chapel called Union Chapel, a chapel appropriated to the Roman Catholics, a third to the Independents, and a fourth to the Wesleyan Methodists.

Among the charitable institutions established here are national schools, a general hospital and dispensary, and free baths for the benefit of pauper invalids.

One of the principal ornaments of Leamington is the bridge over the river Leam, which connects the New Town with the original village of Leamington, called, by way of distinction, the Old Town. The houses on both sides of the river are well built, and many of them are splendidly and elegantly furnished, as boarding or lodging houses for visiters.

Among the public buildings not already mentioned are the assembly-rooms, erected in a style of grandeur and elegance rarely excelled, and comprising a ball-room, a refectory, billiard-rooms, card-rooms, and reading-rooms. There is likewise a new suit of concert and ball rooms; and in 1814 was erected a handsome theatre. Two public libraries, a spacious picture-gallery, a museum, and Ranelagh Gardens, contribute towards the accommodation and amusement of the visiters of this place.

The local police of the town is under the direction of commissioners appointed by act of Parliament, subject to whose regulation the streets are paved and lighted with gas. A customary market is held on Wednesday, which is abundantly supplied, especially with provisions.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. III; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.