Local residents Graham Cooper, Michael Wills and Mr Murray all have memories of a Military Camp on the site of the present North Leamington School playing fields, between Kenilworth Road and Cloister Crofts. Access to the camp was by gates on Kenilworth Road, where until recently traces of the gateways could still be seen in the hedgerows … Read more
Lyndon F (Toby) Cave, Dip Arch. M Phil. FSA. (1923 -2014) The Leamington History Group is saddened to hear that our President, Toby, passed away on 12th May 2014. We are grateful that his son has allowed us to reproduce this tribute to his father. Lyndon F Cave, known to his family and friends as Toby, … Read more
In 1962 my family were packed off to 19 Waverley Road on the Rushmore Estate, a modern area built on the old Rushmore Farm land in the mid 1920s and early 30s. For us there was a new life to be made and a wealth of new discoveries to be made, starting with the Eagle … Read more
Jane Elizabeth Tolson was born in Yorkshire in 1879, and followed her older brother John Edwin into the teaching profession. A qualified teacher, geography specialist, member of the Royal Geographical Society able linguist and inveterate traveller, Miss Tolson held a series of teaching posts, becoming a head teacher for Staffordshire County Council by 1911. It … Read more
George Edward Stowe was born in 1891 in Leamington, where his father was a builder and joiner. He too became a carpenter and joiner and at the end of the Great War, Cecil Smith of 58 Bath Street lent George £50 to start his own building business. By the 1930s, George Stowe’s business was considered … Read more
Following the Festival of Britain in 1951, for a whole decade, Royal Leamington Spa and Jephson Gardens became THE autumn venue for hundreds of people from all over Britain. Thousands of coloured electric lights transformed the Gardens into a wonderland for both children and adults. In August and September each year, the streets of the … Read more
On a Spring day in 1970 Malcolm Sayer suffered a fatal heart attack on the main street of his adopted home town Leamington Spa, he was 53 years of age. In the years since his death, his achievements as a designer have been celebrated locally by the erection of a Blue Plaque on his … Read more
Mrs. E. A. Ashwin – 90 and wants to fly A nonagenarian wanting to fly for the first time would undoubtedly make headlines in any newspaper, even in 2014. The headline above was published in the Leamington Spa Courier as long ago as 4th June 1954, which makes Mrs Elizabeth Anne Ashwin from Shrubland Street … Read more
A look at a seasonal pursuit tinged with real sadness. I admit to never having owned or even to have put on a pair of ice skates and you will be pleased to hear that I have no immediate plans to take up skating. It does however say much about our indomitable ancestors that many of them looked upon ice skates as essential … 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
Leamington’s Motor Car Heritage: Charles T Crowden 1859 -1922 Charles Thomas Crowden, an early automotive designer and engineer, settled in Leamington with his family, in Eastnor Grove in the 1890s. Charles Crowden came to Leamington and the motor trade via an early interest in engineering and tool-setting in Bath, fire-engine design in London, safety-bicycle development, and finally, the Great … Read more
A lot has been written about Leamington’s wells and churches, and everyone now surely knows all there is to know about its beginnings. I am writing of life, seen through the eyes of a child during the 1950s in the side streets, away from the town centre, in the streets where ordinary people lived ordinary … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
September 9, 2026
August 12, 2026
August 8, 2026