“Don’t touch it with a barge pole!” A piece of advice that the Hampson family did not heed when purchasing no 8 Lansdowne Circus in 1966. Its bulging gable end wall, run down condition and an elegant two-storey staircase painted ‘fire-engine’ red did not deter us, – it was definitely a heart buy. We loved … Read more
I was recently in Clarendon Street watching the demolition of the old chapel, originally known as the Free Baptist Chapel. The construction came about when a group broke away from the Warwick Street chapel, ostensibly over the lack of provision of a school. The new chapel cost some £2, 098 and was opened in June … Read more
Like its former distinguished Headmaster Dr Joseph Wood, seen here, the old Leamington College building in Binswood Avenue has recently passed into history . . . as a school. Designed by the architect David Squirhill and opened in 1848 it was the first purpose-built school in Leamington. Apart from a brief period as … Read more
Jill Walters, now living in Norfolk, remembers her first school, St Albans Preparatory School, 28 Clarendon Square, (North side) Leamington Spa My parents had a disagreement when I was a five-year old about to start school. My father wanted me to go to the local authority school nearby, but my mother, thinking I would be … Read more
A Detective Story – Last Orders in William Street Strange how we often fail to pay much attention to buildings that we frequently walk past. I have often walked along William Street at the rear of Brandon Parade, but it wasn’t until I had passed that way several times that I noticed the large two storey building adjacent to an … Read more
Sunshine House Nursery School 15 Warwick New Road The Ordnance Survey map of 1886 shows 15 Warwick New Road approached by a sweeping drive, a substantial house and attached stable block set in good-sized gardens well-planted with trees. Named Milverton Lawn, it was built for the Company Secretary of the Warwick and Leamington Bank, Hubert … Read more
Newbold Beeches was an imposing mansion built on a hilltop site overlooking the Leam and most parts of North Leamington. The house was sited on a parcel of land acquired from Lady Willes, on the side of a steep hill. To create a sufficiently large flat site some quite serious engineering work was required. … Read more
Leamington had many chapels, some are long gone, others have been put to alternative uses, and some lie empty, probably damp and derelict, awaiting their fate. The ex- Baptist chapel on Clarendon Street is one such, being proposed currently for demolition and replacement by housing. There are two chapels however that seem unlikely to face … Read more
Housing, Inhabitants, and the Impact of Public Health Reforms Many books and commentaries have been written in praise of Leamington, of its architecture, spa waters, doctors, parks and gardens, and were published to promote the town as a healthy place to visit and live. Naturally, anything that may have contradicted this picture was excluded, suppressed … Read more
In a town replete with Regency architecture, it comes as something of a surprise to stumble on a fine Tudor façade a short distance from The Parade. The building in question is the old Leamington College in Binswood Avenue, designed in Tudor Gothic style by local architect Daniel Squirhill and built in 1847 as … Read more
Milverton Lawn, better known to many Leamington residents as The Sunshine Home, is now apartments, and renamed Goodway House, but it was once a substantial Victorian family home, with a fine multi-coloured marble staircase, and a double height ballroom.. The house was built in the early 1860s for the Company Secretary of the Warwick and … Read more
The Leamington Theatre Company was formed in 1881 and it commissioned London architect C J Phipps to design a 1,200 seat theatre for its site adjoining Denby Buildings in Regent Grove. Charles John Phipps was the foremost theatre architect of his day and in a long career designed over thirty theatres including some of the … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
September 9, 2026
August 12, 2026