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Leamington Spa

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Royal Leamington Spa
Population45,114 
OS grid referenceSP3165
Civil parish
  • Royal Leamington Spa
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLEAMINGTON SPA
Postcode districtCV31, CV32, CV33
Dialling code01926
PoliceWarwickshire
FireWarwickshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Warwickshire

Leamington Spa, properly Royal Leamington Spa but commonly just Leamington, (pronounced Lemmington — IPA: [ˈlɛmɪŋtən]) is a spa town in central Warwickshire, in England. According to the 2001 census the town had a population of 45,114. It is named after the River Leam which flows through the town. Leamington lies near the centre of England - indeed, a young tree called the Midland Oak, at Lillington, just to the north-east of the town centre, is marked by a plaque claiming that it marks the very centre of the country.

Geography and character

Leamington is the most populous town in the southern half of Warwickshire (the county is almost split in two by the West Midlands). The town is split north and south by the river Leam, which can flood at times (notoriously so around Easter 1998). The town is extending rapidly, particularly to the south. Industry in the town is light to medium and is concentrated along the route to the M40, south of the town. Many people commute from Leamington to Coventry, 10 miles north and Birmingham, 25 miles northwest. As a result of the commuter rush, traffic during rush hour can be quite heavy in the town.

The Royal Pump Rooms and Baths

The town is noted for its parks and gardens, particularly the The Jephson Gardens, close to the Royal Pump Rooms and next to the River Leam. These were seriously damaged in the floods of 1998, but have been restored, and even improved with funding from the National Lottery. The other side of the River Leam, on Priory Terrace close to the Parish Church, features a 19th century slipway down to the river which was specifically constructed so that circus elephants in winter quarters in Leamington could be watered. The central part of the town is the Parade, a street which hosts the Royal Priors shopping centre and a wide range of high street chains.

A large number of students and staff of the University of Warwick, which is on Coventry's southern outskirts, reside in Leamington, which as a result has a vibrant nightlife with a wide range of restaurants and bars, ranging from cheap to extravagant.

There is much Georgian and early Victorian architecture, including numerous Georgian townhouses, giving Leamington a somewhat grand appearance. It is generally considered as one of the most prosperous and affluent towns in the English Midlands. Population growth has led to Leamington forming a small conurbation in excess of 85,000 inhabitants with the neighbouring town of Warwick and several sizeable satellite villages such as Cubbington, Whitnash and Radford Semele.

Transport

Leamington is close to the M40 motorway which links it to Birmingham and London. It is also served by the A46 which links it to Coventry.

For rail Leamington railway station is served by the Chiltern Main Line which links London (Marylebone) to Birmingham (Snow Hill). Fast train services on this route are operated by Chiltern Railways. Central Trains operate local services to Birmingham and onwards to Worcester.

There is also a line connecting Leamington Spa to Coventry which is used by Virgin Trains cross-country services to Reading and Oxford to the south. And to Coventry, Birmingham (New Street), Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh to the north.

The Grand Union Canal also runs through the town.

Regular bus services operated by Stagecoach and Travel West Midlands run to Coventry (frequently via the University of Warwick and Kenilworth), Warwick, Banbury, Stratford Upon Avon and Rugby.

Lansdowne Crescent

Education

Its main secondary schools are North Leamington Community School and Arts College, Campion School, Trinity Catholic School and Kingsley School, an independent school for girls. Myton School, Warwick School and King's High School in Warwick also have substantial numbers of pupils from Leamington who attend them. The main campus of Warwickshire College is also in Leamington. The college also has centres in Moreton Morrell, Rugby and Henley, and the newest Trident Park centre just outside of Leamington.

History

The Parish Church of All Saints

Leamington is a fairly modern town, which barely existed before the 19th century. Until the beginning of the 1800s the town was actually little more than a village which went by the name of Leamington Priors, to distinguish it from another Warwickshire village, Leamington Hastings. Leamington was first mentioned in the domesday book of 1086 as Lamintone. For 400 years the settlement was under the control of Kenilworth Priory.

Leamington would have probably remained as a small village near Warwick, had it not been for the rediscovery of the healing properties of spa waters (they had been known about in Roman times). The first spring to be used for commercial purposes was discovered in Leamington in 1784 by William Abbotts and Benjamin Satchwell, and steps were soon underway to develop the town.

At first development only took place on the southern bank of the River Leam which now runs through the centre of the modern town. Soon however speculative builders, tired of building around the old village concentrated much of their effort to the land north of the river.

In 1814 the Royal Pump Rooms and Baths were opened close to the River Leam. This grand structure attracted many visitors, hoping to soothe various aches, pains and ailments by bathing in pools filled with the salty spa water. It also included the world's first gravity fed piped hot water system in modern times, which was designed and installed by the engineer William Murdoch. Leamington soon became a popular spa resort which attracted the wealthy and famous, and construction began of numerous Georgian townhouses to accommodate visitors.

The town hall with Queen Victoria's statue

Leamington's reputation soon spread. The town gained its "Royal" prefix in 1838, granted by Queen Victoria, who visited the town as a Princess in 1830 and as Queen in 1858, and whose statue still stands in the town. The statue was almost destroyed by a German bomb during World War II, and was actually moved by an inch on its plinth in the blast. The statue was not returned to its original position, and in fact a small plaque on the statue's plinth makes note of this incident.

The function of the Pump Rooms changed several times over the following years. From around the end of the Second World War it served as a medical centre, and at some point after became a public swimming pool. In 1996 the local district council finally closed the facility and in 1999 re-opened the building as a culture and heritage centre. It features the Leamington Art Gallery, a museum and library as well as a Tourist Information Centre and café. Spa water can still be sampled at the museum, although it is said to be undrinkable.

View across the River Leam to the Parish Church from Jephson Gardens

In the mid 19th century, spa resorts went out of fashion. Whilst Leamington suffered something of a financial 'crash' as a result, it became a popular place of residence for retired people and for prosperous members of the middle-class moving out from Coventry and Birmingham. The spending-power of its wealthy residents led to the development of Leamington as a popular place for shopping.

By 1901 the population of Leamington had grown from a few hundred to nearly 27,000. During the twentieth century, the population has grown further, to over 45,000.

Leamington has subsumed the villages of Lillington and New Milverton (though the village of Old Milverton still exists just outside of the town) to the north. The area of modern and more run-down housing, Sydenham, to the south-east is a major suburb of Leamington.

Leamington is closely associated with the foundation of the game of Lawn Tennis, and the first tennis club in the world was formed in 1872 just behind the former Manor House Hotel. It was in Leamington Tennis Club that the modern rules of Lawn Tennis were drawn up in 1874.

During the Second World War, Leamington Spa was home to the Free Czechoslovak Army. A memorial in the Jephson Gardens commemorates brave Czechoslovak parachutists from Warwickshire.

Administration

Leamington Spa is administered by several local authorities, each with different responsibillities, the two main authorities are Warwickshire County Council and Warwick District Council. Since 2002 Leamington has also been a civil parish and therefore has its own Town Council.[1]

Between 1875 and 1974 Leamington was a municipal borough.[2]. As part of the 1974 local government reform it was merged with Warwick, Kenilworth and surrounding rural areas into the Warwick district, the headquarters of which are based in Leamington.

Leamington is part of the Parliamentary constituency of Warwick and Leamington. Since the 1997 general election the sitting MP has been James Plaskitt of the Labour Party, but before then was considered a safe Conservative constituency, with former Prime Minister Anthony Eden once a Leamington MP. At the 2005 general election, James Plaskitt had a majority of just 266 votes.

Associations

See Category:People from Leamington Spa for a list of biographies of people from Leamington Spa.

Leamington has been featured in a number of television series, including the BBC situation comedy Keeping Up Appearances, the drama Dangerfield, BBC's comedy children's show on CBBC ChuckleVision and comedy detective series Mayo.

The John Betjeman poem Death in Leamington portrays one view of Leamington's milieu.

Leamington was the birthplace of the infamous mystic Aleister Crowley.

The Sound of Leamington Spa - A multi-volume CD compilation of indie bands from the 80s.

Charles Dickens used the town for a scene in his story Dombey and Son, and gave readings from his work there in 1855 and 1862. Nathaniel Hawthorne also lived in the town, in Lansdowne Circus.

The inventor of the jet engine Frank Whittle, and the biographer Lytton Strachey both attended Leamington College for Boys.

The boxer Randolph Turpin was born in Leamington. He defeated Sugar Ray Robinson to become the world middleweight champion in 1951.

Culture

For over 25 years Leamington has held an annual Peace Festival, a celebration of alternative culture, at the Pump Room gardens. Leamington Music, the successor organisation to the Warwick Arts Society, organises many classical music concerts in the Leamington area. The separate Leamington Spa Competitive Festival for Music Dance and Drama, which has run annually since 1910 continues to thrive. There are two theatres in Leamington, the Spa Centre and The Loft, plus two cinemas.

The town is colloquially referred to as "Leam" by some locals and is commonly thought to have a north-south divide by the majority of residents. The "North" of Leam contains prestigious townhouses, where the "South" (thought to start by the railway bridge) contains poorer quality, more densely populated housing often occupied by students from the University of Warwick, a major demographic group in the town.

Leamington also has a thriving music scene. In the punk era, the most well-known band were The Shapes, led by singer Seymour Bybuss and bass guitarist Brian Helicopter, who released an E.P. called "Part Of The Furniture" in 1979, and went on to record a session for John Peel and played with bands such as The Cure and The Fall. Anti-establishment musical revolutionaries the Edgar Broughton Band hail from Warwick and after four decades are still going strong with their own brand of clever, counter-cultural rock. There is now a thriving local music scene with local bands playing most nights in the town's bars. In December 2005 the Leamington band Nizlopi, a product of the Leamington scene, reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart with The JCB Song. The Woodbine Street Recording Studios has been used by several well known music acts such as Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene and The Specials.

Leamington has many bars and three night clubs of note. There's a vibrant scene, especially in university term time. Smack, formerly Sugar, is popular on Tuesdays and Evolve on Thursdays. At the weekend the many bars and all the clubs are busy, as the Spa swells with revellers from neighbouring towns and villages.

Suburbs

Lillington, Milverton, Sydenham and Campion Hills are the four main suburban districts within Leamington proper. The district of Myton, 3 km to the west, is considered a suburb of neighbouring Warwick.

Cubbington is a sizeable village which merges with the Leamington urban area to the northeast and is often regarded as a suburb of the town.

Similarly, Whitnash is a small town which merges with Leamington directly to the south of the town and is now generally considered as a suburb.

The village of Radford Semele only 4 km to the east is often referred to as one of the town's suburbs, however it does not merge with Leamington's urban area at any point and is distinctly separate.

Nearby places

  • Warwick - 4 km (2.5 miles) west (the two towns have become joined together through growth)
  • Whitnash - 3 km (2 miles) south (a small town which has become a southern suburb)
  • Cubbington - 3 km (2 miles) northeast (a large village which has become a northern suburb)
  • Kenilworth - 7 km (4.5 miles) north.
  • Southam - 9 km (5.5 miles) east.
  • Coventry - 16 km (10 miles) north
  • Stratford-upon-Avon - 18 km (11 miles) southwest
  • Rugby 23 km (15 miles) northeast.

Twin towns

Leamington is twinned with:

Leamington has friendship agreements with:

References

  1. ^ http://www.leamingtonspatowncouncil.gov.uk//?p=3. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10108688. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Further reading

  • Lyndon Fraser Cave (1988). Royal Leamington Spa: Its History and Development. Phillimore & Co Ltd.

External links

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