Site-Search
Coming Soon
|
Site-Search |
|
Page and site |
|
Leamington-Priors in Warwick County England History and GeographyLEAMINGTON-PRIORS, a parish and fashionable watering-place, in the Kenilworth division of the hundred of KNIGHTLOW, county of WARWICK, 2½ miles (E.) from Warwick, and 90 (N.W.) from London, containing 2183 inhabitants. This place derives its name from the river Leam, on which it is situated, and from its having originally belonged to the priory of Kenil-worth. From an obscure hamlet consisting only of a few cottages it has, within the last twenty years, from the celebrity of its mineral springs, risen with unprecedented rapidity into a large and populous town, which, for the spaciousness of its streets, the elegance of its houses, and the beauty and interest of the surrounding scenery, is not excelled by any watering-place in the kingdom. It is visited during the season by numerous families of distinction, and by invalids who frequent it for the benefit of the waters; and, from the salubrity of the air, and the mildness of its temperature, it has become the permanent residence of a number of respectable families, who have erected handsome dwelling-houses in various parts of the town and its immediate vicinity. So rapid has been its increase that it has, within the short space of twenty years, quadrupled its population, which upon a moderate computation must have been more than doubled since the last census. The town is situated in a fine open vale, sheltered, from the severity of the winds by gentle acclivities richly clothed with wood, and surrounded by a fertile and highly-cultivated tract of country, abounding with objects of historical interest, and with scenes of impressive beauty. The river Leam, over which is a handsome stone bridge connecting the old with the new town, and the river Avon, wind through the adjoining meadows, enlivening the landscape; and in the distance are seen the stately towers of Warwick castle and church, rising above the intervening groves, and presenting themselves in various points of view with increasing beauty and effect. The mineral springs are of three kinds, sulphureous, saline, and chalybeate: the water of the sulphureous spring, according to the analysis of Dr. Loudon, a resident physician, contains sulphuric acid, chlorine, soda, lime, and magnesia; the gases are oxygen, azote, carbonic acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen. The saline water contains chlorine, lime, sulphuric acid, magnesia, silica, peroxide of iron, and soda; the gases are oxygen, azote, and carbonic acid. The chalybeate water contains chlorine, sulphuric acid, lime, magnesia, sodium, silica, and peroxide of iron; the gases are oxygen, azote, and carbonic acid; the saline and chalybeate waters differing chiefly in the proportions of their respective ingredients. There is a constant and plentiful supply of the mineral waters for drinking and for bathing, and the varieties of the several springs comprehend the respective properties and rival the efficacy of the Cheltenham, Harrogate, and Tunbridge waters. The spring first discovered here, and now called the Old Well, is described by Camden, Speed, and Dugdale; its water was analysed in 1688, and it has recently been enclosed by Lord Aylesford, who has erected a neat pumproom over it, containing a marble font, from which a pipe is conducted on the outside of the building, for the use of the poor. The second spring was discovered in 1784, by Mr. Abbots, who erected six warm baths, a cold bath, and shower baths, with dressing-rooms adjoining; since that time, numerous establishments have been fitted up in various parts of the town, all similarly conducted, of which the principal are the Royal Spa, a hand-some stone building, with a fine colonnade of the Doric order, extending the whole length of the front, and having an entrance near each end leading respectively to the gentlemen's and ladies' baths, and into the pump-room, which is in the centre. This establishment contains fifteen hot, cold, and shower baths, of which two are provided with cranes for lowering and raising invalids in a chair: the baths are furnished with dressing-rooms and every requisite accommodation; the pump-room, eighty-five feet long, thirty-six wide, and of proportionate height, is lighted by a range of upper windows; the walls are ornamented with Doric pilasters supporting a handsome entablature: at one end of the room is the pump, with two pipes, one of sulphureous, the other of saline, water; and at the other end is an orchestra, in which a well-selected band performs during the hours of attendance: this elegant building, which forms one of the principal ornaments of the town, is situated on the banks of the river Leam, between the old and the new town; the grounds are tastefully laid out in lawns, shrubberies, and walks, affording a fine promenade, and, during the hours of walking, an excellent band is in attendance. The Imperial Fount and marble baths in Clemens-street contain a complete arrangement of twelve hot, cold, sulphureous, vapour, fumigating, and shower baths, with jets d'eau for topical application, and a pump of sulphureous, saline, and chalybeate water, with every requisite accommodation and attendance. Wise's baths, at the corner of Bath-street; Robbins' bath, near the bridge; Smith's original baths, in Bath-street; and various similar establishments, are all arranged with due care, and attended with every regard to the accommodation of the persons frequenting them. In proportion to the number and rank of the visitors are the hotels and lodging-houses provided for their accommodation. Among the numerous establishments of the kind, the most conspicuous are, the Regent's and Copps' hotels: the former is an extensive and elegant range of building in the new town, splendidly fitted up as a family hotel and public boarding-house; it has stabling for upwards of one hundred horses, with proportionate standings for carriages. Nearly adjoining the hotel is a private lodging-house belonging to the proprietor, a beautiful structure in the later English style of architecture, containing several spacious rooms, and a suite of offices, in every respect adapted for the residence of a family of distinction, with gardens and pleasure grounds tastefully laid out. Copps', or the Royal hotel, in the High-street, formerly consisting of several houses, has been partly rebuilt, and now forms a splendid establishment, having a very handsome facade in the Grecian style of architecture, with an elegant portico of the Corinthian order: the accommodations, in every respect, are adapted to the reception of families of the highest rank, and the domestic regulations are calculated to promote the comfort of its numerous guests: it has accommodation for ninety horses, and carriages in proportion. The Bedford hotel, in Union Parade; the Blenheim hotel, in Clemens-street, and numerous others on a smaller scale, are all under excellent regulation; and there are numerous private boarding and lodging-houses of every grade, suited to the taste, condition, and requirements of the various classes of visitors. The town is well paved, and lighted with gas under the direction of commissioners appointed under an act of parliament obtained for that purpose, and amply supplied with water; the streets are spacious, and intersect each other at right angles; the houses are handsomely built, and fronted with Roman cement; and many of them display elegant specimens of Grecian and other kinds of architecture. The public library and reading-rooms, in Bath-street, constitute a handsome structure, with a colonnade of six Ionic pillars, supporting an entablature and pediment, and resting upon a piazza, which forms the entrance; the reading-room is forty feet long, and thirty-six feet wide, with a circular end, separated from the principal area by two Ionic pillars, and two pilasters of green porphyry, and opening by folding doors into a pleasant lawn, in which are a fountain, and a small orchestra; contiguous to the principal reading-room is one smaller, which is generally used in the winter season. Above the reading-rooms and library is a spacious and elegant assembly-room, eighty feet long, and forty feet wide, chastely ornamented, and lighted by three magnificent chandeliers suspended from the ceiling; at one end of the room is a noble mirror of plate glass, twelve feet high, and eight feet wide; the card and refreshment rooms are equally splendid, and the whole suite is admirably adapted for either for public or private meetings. The upper assembly-rooms, in the Union Parade, comprise a ballroom ninety-six feet in length, forty-five feet in width, and twenty-six feet high, lighted by a range of seven windows on one side: the walls are ornamented by a row of pilasters of the Ionic order, and the ceiling is divided into compartments, from which are suspended three elegant chandeliers; attached to the assembly-room are card and refreshment rooms, of uniform character: subscription assemblies take place here every fortnight during the winter, and every week during the summer: the Philharmonic concerts are held here four nights during the summer season. The buildings, which were erected in 1812, comprise also a news-room and a billiard-room. Bisset's museum and picture gallery is a place of general resort: it contains a collection of British and foreign birds, beasts, fishes, and insects; the arms, dresses, and musical and warlike instruments, of barbarous nations; and an extensive collection of pictures. The theatre, a small building neatly fitted up, is open three times in the week during the season; and the races which take place at Warwick, in the spring, from the patronage of the resident gentry, may be almost considered as belonging to this place; the ladies of Leamington contribute fifty guineas to the sweepstakes at these races; and the gentlemen, the Leamington cup, of fifty guineas value. Ranelagh gardens, occupying ten acres, and neatly laid out in walks and shrubberies, form a pleasing promenade; a botanical collection is now in progress, and hot-houses and green-houses have been erected on an extensive scale. The market is on Wednesday, and is abundantly supplied with provisions of every kind. The Warwick and Knapton canal, passing through the town, supplies the inhabitants, at a moderate price, with coal from the pits in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Coventry, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £6. 10., and in the patronage of the Rev. Henry Wise. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure in the decorated style of English architecture, with a tower surmounted by a spire; it has been considerably enlarged, and has undergone many recent alterations. An episcopal chapel in the upper town was erected after the design, and at the expense, of the Rev. R. Downes, the present vicar, and has been licensed, but not consecrated: the building is professedly after the Norman model, and in some respects the details of that style have been partially imitated: the interior is darkened by the adoption of the massive round column, and the deep-toned painting of the glass in the windows; and the exterior forms a solitary and a striking deviation from the good taste which prevails generally in the architectural features of the town. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists, and a Roman Catholic chapel, a small, but handsome edifice, having, in a niche over the entrance, a whole-length figure of St. Peter, with a key in his right hand, finely sculptured. The National school is a neat and commodious building, having, on the ground-floor, a school-room for boys, and above it one of equal dimensions for girls, together with apartments for the master and the mistress. Baths have been erected for the gratuitous use of the poor, and there are various bequests for charitable purposes. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
Readers of this page were also interested in: Burwell (St. Mary) in Cambridge County England History and Geography BURWELL (ST. MARY), a parish in the hundred of STAPLOE, county of CAMBRIDGE, 4 miles (N.W. by W.) from Newmarket, containing 1518 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, with which the rectory of Burwell-St.-Andrew is consolidated, in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, and diocese of Norwich, rated jointly in the king's books at £30. 14. 2 Kingsclere in Southampton County England History and Geography KINGSCLERE, a parish comprising the market town of Kingsclere and the chapelry of Sidmonton, in the hundred of KINGSCLERE, and the chapelry of Ecchinswell in the hundred of EVINGAR, Kingsclere division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON, and containing 2851 inhabitants, of which number, 2296 are in the town of Kingsclere, 9 miles (N.E. by N.) from Whitchurch, 21 (N.) from Winchester, and 55 (W. by S Kingston upon Hull in York County England History and Geography KINGSTON upon HULL, a sea-port, borough, and county of itself, locally in the East riding of the county of York, comprising, within the borough, the parishes of St Tilbury (West) in Essex County England History and Geography TILBURY (WEST), a parish in the hundred of BARSTABLE, county of ESSEX, 3¾ miles (E.) from Grays-Thurrock, containing 249 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £20, and in the patronage of the Crown. The church is dedicated to St. James Wapping in Middlesex County England History and Geography WAPPING, a parish adjoining the eastern portion of the city of London, in the Tower division of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county of MIDDLESEX, containing 3078 inhabitants. This place, originally overflowed by the Thames, was first recovered from inundation, and denominated Wapping Wash, in the reign of Elizabeth, under whose auspices it was enclosed and defended by walls Wellingborough in Northampton County England History and Geography WELLINGBOROUGH, a market town and parish in the hundred of HAMFORDSHOE, county of NORTHAMPTON, 10 miles (N.E. by E.) from Northampton, and 67 (N.N.W.) from London, containing 4454 inhabitants. The name is derived from the wells, or springs, that abound here, of which that denominated Red Well was formerly in such repute for its medicinal properties, that, in 1626, Charles I |
