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Beginnings In 1784 Benjamin Satchwell and William Abbotts discovered a spring in Bath Lane in the hamlet of Leamington Priors, and 2 years later opened Abbotts Original Baths. At this time, much of the hamlet and surrounding land was owned by a handful of wealthy families, including the Wise family. In 1783 Bath Lane (not … Read more
Leamington has lost, over the last hundred years or so, three towers. None of these has been of any great architectural merit, although they all have had a measure of curiosity value. The earliest is the so called ‘Pepper pot chapel’, although the Milverton Chapel was its formal title. The chapel, as it was not … Read more
With special thanks to Jeff Clarke for his contribution to this history of Clemens Street Clicking on the images will bring up a larger more detailed picture. Leamington or ‘Lamintone’ was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as “240 acres of land worth £4 with two mills worth 24 (old) shillings”. On an early … Read more
1875-1880 Mr Charles Pratt Charles Pratt was a Picture Dealer who had been born in Leicester in 1825. In 1871 Charles was living at 10 London Road Leicester were he owned an old China and Earthenware shop, Working for him as a servant was Elizabeth Ann Westbury, aged 22. She had come to Leicester to … Read more
Many people refer jokingly to discoveries, inventions, memoirs, as jottings ‘on the back of an envelope’. This is the real thing. In 2011 Leamington History Group inherited an intriguing little archive from local historian Toby Cave. At first sight it was just a small brown cardboard box full of all kinds of scraps of paper … Read more
Do you recognise this building with its decorative carved columns? It’s one known to generations of Leamingtonians as Sabin’s, – the Leamington bread shop and bakery in years gone by. Mona Radford, nee Sabin, was born at the shop in Farley Street, into a family business started by her great grandfather Joseph, who seems to … Read more
James Hill bought the plot of leasehold land in Bath Street and the buildings thereon from the Surcombe estate in 1832, and built numbers 21 to 23 Bath Street. Hill also purchased Elizabeth Surcombe’s land at Newbold Comyn which had been mortgaged to Robert Campion. James Hill was born in about 1801 in Warwick, the … Read more
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. In July 1853 he was appointed US consul in Liverpool by President Franklin Pierce, and during the ensuing 5½ years in England spent 2 periods in Leamington, in 1855 and 1857. At the end of his term of office, the family toured France and Italy, … Read more
Elizabeth Surcombe the Elder The Surcombes came from the village of Lifton near Tavistock, Devon. William Surcombe married Mary Crocker and they had four children: Mary, Ann, William and Elizabeth who was born about 1766. It is not known when Elizabeth Surcombe came to Leamington Priors but an early rate book of 1813 shows her … Read more
Priory Terrace is a short street near the centre of Leamington Spa. One end is between All Saints Parish Church and the main Post Office, near the Pump Rooms; the other end runs into Leam Terrace at the junction with Mill Street. Click on any of the pictures below to enlarge them. The street runs … Read more
Lyndon F (Toby) Cave (left), former architect and noted local historian, who has now relocated to Dorset, presenting a parting gift to Jeff Watkin of Leamington Art Gallery and Museum. The fox is one of the earliest surviving artefacts associated with the ‘new town’ built north of the river in the early 1800s and was … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
August 12, 2026
August 8, 2026