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.
This pair of terraced cottages on the east side of Church Street (previously Church Lane), numbered 15 and 17, are a survival from about 1700. No other cottages from this date or previous to it, are known for sure in Leamington Spa. There is an isolated cottage at the eastern edge of Packington Place, behind the old George Inn, which may also date from this period. Lillington Manor probably also has parts which are before 1700. The description of the cottages in the Listing by Historic England is as follows:
A pair of houses. c1700 with later additions and alterations. The cottages are timber-framed with painted stucco facades and reddish-brown brick stacks. There is a Welsh slate roof to No.15 and plain tiles to No.17. The interior of No 17 has evidence of timber framing to the first floor. Photographs of No.15 taken in 1974 before re-stuccoing show timber framing with wattle and daub infill.
No 15 has a through-passage plan and No 17 has a lobby-entry plan.
The exterior has two storeys, three first-floor windows, arranged 2:1. First floor: pairs of 6-pane casements which break the roofline and are gabled with decorative bargeboards and finials. Ground floor: 2 canted bays with multi-pane casements to No.15 and 1 canted bay with 3/6 sash between 1/2 sashes to No.17; bays have individual roofs. Central entrance to No 15 a part-glazed, 4-panel door with over-light in projecting solid gabled surround. Entrance to No.17 to left, 4-panel door with over-light, in cambered surround with vermiculated keystone. Further keystone to right. Huge ridge stack with cornice above entrance to No.17 serves both houses.
The interior of No 15 has boxed beams, 4-panel doors, small plank doors, remains of timber-framing visible to cellar staircase. No.17 has evidence of timber framing to the first floor.
The pair of cottages appears to be numbered No 31 in the map of 1851 with No 32 adjacent to the north and an empty site to the south. In 1851 there was a long garden at the rear with, possibly, a dwelling on the north side of the garden. By 1881 an alley from Clinton Street was the eastern boundary of the garden and it led to a row of seven dwellings built on much of the old garden.
For many years the cottage on the left, No 15, was used as Bob Chimes’ Barber’s Shop. Bob came from Malta after the First World War, bought the “oldest house” in Leamington and set up the family business. Later, he formed a dance band called “The Serenaders”. The band was made up of his five sons who played various instruments and they performed in dance halls all over Warwickshire. Later, “old” Bob’s son took over the business and lived there until 1981 when he sold the house to the Brown family from Jamaica. Until quite recently a small court yard and the remains of the old coach house remained at the rear.
Church Street runs along the eastern end of the parish church of All Saints. The parish church is believed to have existed from the twelfth century. It is certain, therefore that there were dwellings in this vicinity for many centuries and that they have probably been replaced several times. The buildings in the street in 2017 date from many different periods including three or four decades in the nineteenth century and, also, later buildings from the twentieth. This street was close to the centre of the community and was home to many traders from time to time as was the High Street (London Road or Turnpike) at its southern end. The Bowling Green Inn was near the junction with High Street on the west side around 1800. Benjamin Satchwell’s cottage was only a stone’s throw away at the west end of what is now New Street; he ran the post office around 1800 and was a shoemaker. He is perhaps best known now for his involvement with the establishment of the first saline baths and an important charity as the village became a town.
Margaret Rushton, 2018