This page is one of several pages which are based on articles in our book entitled Royal Leamington Spa, A History in 100 Buildings which was published in 2018 and is no longer in print.
Abbotts’ Baths (or Well) were a key factor in the step-change in the fortunes and growth of Leamington Priors. The man they were named for was William Abbotts who ran The Dog Inn (sometimes the Black Dog) on the south side of High Street from 1776 to 1793. This inn was to the east of Copps’ Hotel and was eventually incorporated into the new Copps’ Royal Hotel. High Street was commonly known as the Turnpike or London Road at this date. William was born in Long Itchington in 1736.
Around 1780 William inherited land from his uncle. This was in Bath Lane (now Bath Street) on the west side where Abbotts Street (the current street name omits the ‘s’) and Smith Street are now located. Legend has it that the good friends William Abbotts and Benjamin Satchwell discovered a source of saline water on the land in 1782 (some sources state 1784); it is said that Benjamin saw bubbles in the water in a shallow ditch and tasted it. One source is very specific that this event occurred on 14th January 1784. Up to that date the only known source of salt water in the town was a spring to the west of the parish church; this was on the land of the Lord of the Manor, Lord Aylesford, and he would not allow it to be exploited commercially. This was the Original Well and later became known as the Aylesford Well. In the eighteenth century it was supervised by Thomas Dawkes, known as ‘Dawkes the Dipper’.
William and Benjamin saw the commercial opportunity of the use of this new spring and William soon built a primitive, lean-to, bath house on what is now the south-west corner of Smith Street which opened in 1786 (one or two sources state 1784). The digging of the well rock was found at a depth of 18 feet and water was another three feet deeper. The well was later known as the Centre Well.
The baths were announced in the Courier on 19th June 1786 – William Abbotts, at the sign of the Dog Inn, Leamington Priors, near Warwick, respectfully informs his friends and the public in general, that he has opened a new salt bath in Leamington Priors aforesaid. The buildings are entirely new, exceedingly neat and convenient, and are well adapted to the purposes of bathing, there being a handsome dressing room with a fireplace in it. There is one reservoir for warm salt water, and another for cold, and very great convenience for ladies and gentlemen bathing. The new salt spring is in no way inferior to the old one recorded by Sir William Dugdale in his “Antiquities of Warwickshire” and is distant from it about 60 yards . . . etc, etc
Abbotts Baths, sandwiched between buildings highlighted in pink; Bath Hotel is to the right. Source Meredew’s book
Abbotts built the New Inn near the site in 1786 but found it difficult to obtain a licence for the sale of alcohol: the quarter or petty sessions decided that two pubs, The Dog and The Bowling Green, were sufficient for the size of the village. Abbotts left the Dog Inn in 1793 and it was taken over by Thomas Sinker until 1813. The New Inn was soon renamed as the Bath Hotel and it was at No 32.
The Rev James Walhouse was the third member of the group, along with Benjamin Satchwell and William Abbotts, who were widely reported as the founders of Leamington Spa. They frequently met at Satchwell’s cottage and also started the Leamington Spa Charity to raise donations to fund free salt baths for local people who did not have the means to pay.
William Abbotts died in 1805 and his widow handed the Bath Hotel and the baths to her son in law, William Smith, and the baths were renamed Smiths Baths. By 1814 the baths were one of six in the embryonic town. The others were Wise’s, Robbins’s, Curtis’s, Smart’s/Marble baths and the Royal Pump Room. Abbotts baths were rebuilt by Mrs Smith in 1815 and they were again rebuilt in 1826.
In 1819 the sale was announced of the Bath Hotel, the adjoining baths (the original baths) and three newly erected houses and plots for 24 more houses to make three new streets, Abbotts Street, Smith Street and Bath Place. This sale was by Mrs Smith, now Mrs Potterton. The sale also included a pew No 28 for 10 people in the parish church.
As early as 1790 Abbotts was selling salts manufactured from his well-water and Smith was advertising salts in 1826. In 1836 Beasley and Jones were advertising Leamington Salts as made by W Abbotts and W Smith.
In 1836 the baths came into the hands of John Goold, who was probably a local plumber, and he modified the baths with two new shopfronts on Abbott Street and Bath Street.
In 1846 an early design for the new Great Western railway showed a suspension bridge across Bath Street between Smith Street and Abbotts Street; it was to be 22 feet high and 35 feet long. It is not clear what might have happened to the baths below the bridge. The well-loved drapers firm of Francis’s was at Nos 34 to 38 in Bath Street in 1867 when they acquired the baths and built a new shop on the site. After over 80 years the Abbotts Baths were no more.
Following the demise of Francis’s between 1985 and 1995 the premises were rebuilt again and became Comet Electrical. The site is now (2025) within a branch of Majestic Wines. There is a plaque on the wall drawing attention to its history.
Sadly, there are no remains of the baths to be seen.
Michael Jeffs, 2025